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WG3K > ANS 02.02.25 03:52l 75 Lines 3720 Bytes #177 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS033.1
Subj: MO-122 - Newest OSCAR Alive and Well
Path: IZ3LSV<DB0ERF<DK0WUE<DK0WUE<VK5RSV<K7EK<W0ARP<CX2SA<N3HYM<WG3K
Sent: 250202/0247Z 13228@WG3K.#SMD.MD.USA.NOAM LinBPQ6.0.24
Mark Hammond, N8MH AMSAT Director presented a Commissioning Update at the
October 2024 AMSAT Symposium. His presentation spoke about the launch of
the UMaine MESAT-1 and provided operational details.
MESAT1 is now designated MESAT1-OSCAR 122 (MO-122). He explained, “Maines
first small satellite, a 3U CubeSat, was successfully launched on July 4,
2024 from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
It was NASAs Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission 43 and
included eight CubeSats flying on Firefly Aerospaces Alpha rocket.”
Wikipedia provides an extensive list of ELaNa missions on its Educational
Launch of Nanosatellites page.
Hammond continued, “MO-122 was designed and built at the University of
Maine to use low-cost and low-power CMOS cameras to analyze water
turbidity, identify urban heat islands, and predict harmful algal blooms
from low Earth orbit (LEO). An AMSAT LTM-1 Module provides command/control,
telemetry, and a V/u linear transponder.”
Dr. Ali Abedi, PhD, an extra class amateur KB1VJV and an active VEC, led
the UMaine-Orono WiSe-Net Lab project. The UMaine student team included:
Joseph Patton, Ph.D Candidate (Project Manager/Power System); Travis
Russell, M.Sc Student, (Radio Engineer) and Steele Muchmore-Allen, 4+1
Graduate Student, (Flight Engineer). Scientific papers about the MESAT1
project were published including Travis Russells thesis.
MESAT1 has a multi-spectral (four bands in the 550-1100nm range) remote
sensing instrument based on low-cost consumer-grade cameras, a custom
electrical power supply, an onboard computer based on the Raspberry Pi
compute module, a custom, low-cost deployable spacecraft antenna system,
and a ground station with automated tracking.
Current MO-122 reception reports indicate the AMSAT / UMaine project is
performing well on orbit. Here is information needed for monitoring or
using MO-122:
V/u inverting linear transponder 30 kHz wide
Transponder uplink 145.910-145.940 MHz LSB
Transponder downlink 435.810-435.840 MHz USB
Telemetry downlink (Foxtelem)
435.800 MHz 1200 BPSK
Total power out 1 W
Two Line Elements (TLEs or Keplerian elements) bulletin files are updated
daily in the first hour of the UTC day. The latest data for tracking MO-122
and other satellites may be found here. Also see AMSAT Telemetry Data and
SatNOGs Observations and Map.
Hammond related information about his Command Station equipment. He said,
“Telemetry can be routinely copied with a M2 LEO-Pack using a mast mounted
low noise preamp and my Icom 9700,” suggesting that antenna orientation is
very important.
Teachers, Professors and Science students may experiment with telemetry
data using a low-cost receiving system consisting of a homemade J-pole
antenna, Fox-In-A-Box RPi and Funcube Dongle Pro other good quality
software defined radio (SDR) or device.
More details about the project are available via MaineSat.org and UMaine
WiSe-Net Lab. A YouTube video by M0YKS demonstrates the Amateur Radio
capabilities. Follow NASAs Small Satellite blog for other launch updates.
In his symposium presentation Hammond acknowledged the work of the
commissioning team which included; Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA; Chris Thompson,
VE2TCP/G0KLA; Burns Fisher, WB1FJ; and Paul Stoetzer, N8HM. He also thanked
Eric Skoog, K1TVV for his work on the AMSAT Linear Transponder.
In addition to operating the AMSAT MO-122 Command Station, N8MH has nearly
a quarter century of experience which includes operating command stations
for several other AMSAT projects. A complete list of his extensively
equipped Command Station can be found on his QRZ.com page.
*[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]*
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