[amsat-bb] Delfi-C3 status update 7 May 12:00 UTC

[Wouter Jan Ubbels]

Hi all,

another status update of the Delfi-C3 satellite:

1. Delfi-C3 is now in orbit for over a week, and continues to perform well.

2. We are aware of the transmitter distortion and drop outs occurring. These
two are related, and are not related to the transmitter itself, but are the
result of a power / attitude issue combined with the way our Electrical
Power System works. Thanks to all your reports we now have a clear view of
what is happening, and are in the process of taking corrective actions while
the s/c is over our groundstation. We are taking these actions step by step
so the phenomenon will continue to occur over the coming days. Your reports
on this phenomenon are welcome.

3. We are still not sure which TLE's correspond to Delfi-C3, so it is indeed
kind of like a lottery hi:) Time will tell, since the s/c will drift further
apart over time, so that we can discriminate better between the individual
satellites. During the last days, our groundstation has been using object
#32789 with good results.

4. There have been a number of orbits where the spacecraft entered
"emergency mode". Up till now, every eclipse (reset) has cleared these
issues. We think we have an understanding of what causes this. If you hear
the satellite in emergency mode, your reports are appreciated, either on the
BB or at missioncontrol at delfic3.nl

5. Today we tried listening to the satellite using handheld receivers and
Arrow antennas, on the groundstation roof. Delfi-C3 was nice and strong
during this overhead pass, we had a tremendous amount of fun as you can see
from the photos at

http://www.delfic3.nl/photoblog/

It was a magnificent feeling to be staring into the blue sky knowing that
our spacecraft was somewhere up high.

6. Up till now we have received 70000+ AX.25 telemetry frames from the
satellite on our servers, thank you all for listening and submitting
telemetry!


73 on behalf of the Delfi-C3 team,

Wouter Jan Ubbels PE4WJ