[amsat-bb] Fwd: NanoSail-D Ejects; NASA Seeks Amateur Radio Operators' Aid to Listen for Beacon Signal

[Dave Taylor]

For those interested...

-- Dave, W8AAS


>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> RELEASE: 11-009
>
> NANOSAIL-D EJECTS; NASA SEEKS AMATUER RADIO OPERATORS' AID TO LISTEN  
> FOR
> BEACON SIGNAL
>
> HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 11:30 a.m. EST, engineers at
> Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., confirmed that the
> NanoSail-D nanosatellite ejected from Fast Affordable Scientific and
> Technology Satellite, FASTSAT. The ejection event occurred  
> spontaneously
> and was identified this morning when engineers at the center analyzed
> onboard FASTSAT telemetry. The ejection of NanoSail-D also has been
> confirmed by ground-based satellite tracking assets.
>
> Amateur ham operators are asked to listen for the signal to verify
> NanoSail-D is operating. This information should be sent to the
> NanoSail-D dashboard at: http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm.
> The NanoSail-D beacon signal can be found at 437.270 MHz.
>
> The NanoSail-D science team is hopeful the nanosatellite is healthy  
> and
> can complete its solar sail mission. After ejection, a timer within
> NanoSail-D begins a three-day countdown as the satellite orbits the
> Earth. Once the timer reaches zero, four booms will quickly deploy and
> the NanoSail-D sail will start to unfold to a 100-square-foot polymer
> sail. Within five seconds the sail fully unfurls.
>
> "This is great news for our team. We're anxious to hear the beacon  
> which
> tells us that NanoSail-D is healthy and operating as planned," said  
> Dean
> Alhorn, NanoSail-D principal investigator and aerospace engineer at  
> the
> Marshall Center. "The science team is hopeful to see that NanoSail-D  
> is
> operational and will be able to unfurl its solar sail."
>
> On Dec. 6,, 2010, NASA triggered the planned ejection of NanoSail-D  
> from
> FASTSAT. At that time, the team confirmed that the door successfully
> opened and data indicated a successful ejection. Upon further  
> analysis,
> no evidence of NanoSail-D was identified in low-Earth orbit, leading  
> the
> team to believe NanoSail-D remained inside FASTSAT.
>
> The FASTSAT mission has continued to operate as planned with the five
> other scientific experiments operating nominally.
>
> "We knew that the door opened and it was possible that NanoSail-D  
> could
> eject on its own," said Mark Boudreaux, FASTSAT project manager at the
> Marshall Center. "What a pleasant surprise this morning when our  
> flight
> operations team confirmed that NanoSail-D is now a free flyer."
> If the deployment is successful, NanoSail-D will stay in low-Earth  
> orbit
> between 70 and 120 days, depending on atmospheric conditions.  
> NanoSail-D
> is designed to demonstrate deployment of a compact solar sail boom
> system that could lead to further development of this alternative  
> solar
> sail propulsion technology and FASTSAT's ability to eject a
> nano-satellite from a micro-satellite - while avoiding re-contact with
> the FASTSAT satellite bus.
>
> Follow the NanoSail-D mission operation on Twitter at:
> http://twitter.com/nanosaild
>
> For additional information on the timeline of the NanoSail-D  
> deployment
> visit:
> http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/501204main_NSD2_timeline_sequence.pdf
>
> To learn more about FASTSAT and the NanoSail-D missions visit:
> http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats
>
> -end-
>
> News release
> http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2011/11-009.html
>
>
> For releases sent directly to you, contact: betty.humphery at nasa.gov.
>
> Marshall Space Flight Center
> Public Affairs Department
> 256-544-0034
> 256-544-5852 (fax)
> http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news
>
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>
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>