[amsat-bb] Re: Nanosail-D (what are we listening for???)

Thu Jan 20 07:27:37 PST 2011

Hi All,

I've just tracked a pass over Delft (PA-land) of nanosail-d
Sounds like ordinary 1200BPS AFSK to me.
Tomorrow I will have a TNC connected in monitor mode + maybe the TH-D7.
I've used the tracking yagi's of the ISIS ground station.

I expect the beacon to be UI frames. Their website does not say so on
the front page.
However, they have hidden a PDF away on the data submission page.
Direct link: http://beacon.engr.scu.edu/BeaconProcessingSystem/NanoSailDBeaconDecoding.pdf
Additionally, Bob is right, there is NO bitrade or modulation type in
this document.

73s

Wouter Weggelaar
PA3WEG

On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 12:12 AM, Bob Bruninga <bruninga at usna.edu> wrote:
> Would someone pass back to the FASTSAT and NANOSAT folks that they should
> tell us what we are listening for?  AX.25?  1200 baud, 9600 baud? CW?  What
> are we listening for?
>
> I just had an overhead pass, but by the time I went through all their web
> pages and links, I found NOTHING useful.  By the time I gave up, and got
> back to the radio, I really missed the whole pass.
>
> Bob, Wb4APR
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On
> Behalf Of Dave Taylor
> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 4:24 PM
> To: amsat
> Subject: [amsat-bb] Fwd: NanoSail-D Ejects; NASA Seeks Amateur Radio
> Operators' Aid to Listen for Beacon Signal
>
> 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
>>
>> Follow Marshall news and interact with the NASA Marshall community on
>> Facebook, Twitter and Flickr:
>>
>> http://www.facebook.com/nasamarshallcenter
>> http://twitter.com/NASA_Marshall
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets
>>
>
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