[amsat-bb] Next Rocket Lab launch now 20th November UTC

[Mark Jessop]

I've made initial contact, but have received no further information than
that provided in Terry's email. It's worth pointing out that the frequency
this satellite is using is uncoordinated (IARU coordination was not
completed), and overlaps with the frequency of FalconSat-1.

Since we don't have any pre-launch TLEs, I've generated a TLE based on the
information in the launch press kit (
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/assets/Uploads/Return-to-Sender-Press-Kit-RL-Final3.pdf
).

The TLE is as follows:
1 99998U 14900A   20325.07569444  .00000000  00000-0  50000-4 0    01
2 99998  97.3000  90.9426 0001454   0.0000 218.5000 15.21937999    00

This is valid for a 2020-11-20 01:44Z launch. If the launch slips (as is
fairly common with Electron launches), it will need to be re-calculated.
This should be good for the first few hours, after which we should
hopefully have a better fitted TLE based on radio observations.

Information on how I generated the TLE (using open source tools) is here:
https://gist.github.com/darksidelemm/60dd22c74ebe2e6d89bae9e6a845da5e

Updates on post-launch tracking will occur in this thread on the SatNOGS
forums:
https://community.libre.space/t/apss-1-launch-on-rocketlab-electron-20th-november-2020/6950

73
Mark VK5QI

On Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 11:33 AM Wendy and Terry Osborne via AMSAT-BB <
amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:

> The weather at the Launch site doesn't look good for tomorrow so the
> launch is delayed for a day.
> See: https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/1328800285498560513
> The press kit here is worth a read:
>
> https://www.rocketlabusa.com/assets/Uploads/Return-to-Sender-Press-Kit-RL-Final3.pdf
>
> So far nothing new on the Auckland University satellite web page. The
> only new information I have is that the downlink frequency is 435.1 MHz,
> 9600 bps GMSK data, AX25 Space Packet Protocol, with ECSS Telemetry &
> Telecommand  Packet Utilization Standard (PUS) encoding.
>
> 73,
> Terry Osborne ZL2BAC
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