KickSat-2 Update

[Zac Manchester]

Hi Everyone,

Here are some updates on the past couple of crazy days:

- We are now consistently hearing the beacon from KickSat-2 during passes over California. The signal is too weak to decode but is clearly audible and matches the length (1.7 sec) and timing (once per minute) of our beacon packets.

- Since we can't decode the packets, we know very little about the state of the spacecraft. Possible causes for the weak signal include failed deployment of KickSat's antenna and the fact that we do not yet have good orbit data to accurately point our antennas at the spacecraft.

- This afternoon we decided to try transmitting deployment commands to KickSat. We did this on two successive passes with about 50 Watts of power through our ~17 dBi yagi antenna. We were not able to transmit and listen at the same time, so I will not know if anything was deployed or not until tomorrow morning. 

- If anyone would like to try listening for the Sprites this weekend, they are on 437.240 MHz and are wider (about 64 KHz) MSK modulated signals.

Best,

Zac

[Zac Manchester]

Hi Everyone,

We've now been able to decode some telemetry data from KickSat-2 and can confirm that the CubeSat is alive and working well aside from a communication issue. It seems likely that the antenna did not deploy properly.

We would appreciate IQ recordings from anyone with a large high-gain antenna as we continue trying to establish communication with the satellite (even if the signal is weak and not decodable using standard methods). I'm working on some fancy signal processing tricks to try to pull some useable data out of these very noisy packets.

Thanks,

Zac

[Aaron Gilliland]

Is there an update to your update?

[Gregg Lind]

From ARRL 

http://www.arrl.org/news/kicksat-2-is-alive-and-being-tracked

KickSat-2 is Alive and Being Tracked, Sprites Deployment Pending

For the first couple of days after the 3U KickSat-2 was deployed from Cygnus NG-10 last November, nothing was heard from the satellite. But in a February 16 post to AMSAT-BB, Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, reported receiving several short and weak transmissions from KickSat 2 -- short telemetry bursts on 437.5077 MHz. Stanford University Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Zac Manchester, KD2BHC, is the principal investigator for the KickSat project, which NASA adopted as an official technology demonstration mission.

"Yes, KickSat-2 is alive," Manchester told ARRL. "We have been tracking it since Thursday, [February 14,] and have been able to decode at least some packets. The signal is weak, and we think the antenna did not properly deploy on the CubeSat."

KickSat-2 may deploy up to 104 tiny Sprite satellites into low-Earth orbit. The Sprites then would transmit on 437.240 MHz at 10 mW, communicating with each other via a mesh network and with command stations on Earth. The Sprites would reenter Earth's atmosphere within weeks. As for releasing the Sprites, Manchester told ARRL, "We're working on it... Stay tuned."

Recently, the FCC imposed a $900,000 penalty on a commercial concern, Swarm Technologies, for launching similar tiny satellites after the FCC had denied permission.

"These spacecraft are...below the size threshold at which detection by the Space Surveillance Network can be considered routine," the FCC told Swarm Technologies.

Zac Manchester, KD2BHC, with the original KickSat in 2014. [Photo courtesy of Cornell University]

A 2018 NASA Early Career Faculty Award recipient, Manchester had been trying without success to convince the FCC to allow him to deploy the Sprites from KickSat-2, but the agency denied permission at the last moment.

Once NASA adopted KickSat-2 as its own mission, however, the applicable regulatory body shifted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and the launch went forward.

In the Swarm Technologies proceeding, the FCC argued that satellites smaller than 10 centimeters on any side were too small. KickSat-2's Sprites are 3.5 centimeters on a side and just 0.2 centimeters thick. Read more.

On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 9:02 PM Aaron Gilliland <das...@gmail.com> wrote:

Is there an update to your update?

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[Rob Fryer in San Diego]

What about AWS GroundStation Service ??

After attempting to get our KickSat groundstation working for 

speeding KickSat MotherShip or Sprites in 2014,

I have become fond of 'good pass' baseband recordings from 

well equipped, often HAM groundstations.   

Post-processing seems to be the name of the game. 

It has become obvious that having a network of groundstations 

around the world would multiply the number of 'good pass' 

recordings from a few a week to dozens. 

All that was needed was a network of groundstations that could 

handle our signal.  

Both FunSat and CarpComm looked like they would grow to 

fill this need, but they have not covered the earth as I had hoped. 

But Mr. Bezos saw the gap. 

AWS GroundStation Service is coming. 

I have hopes for that.     As a supplement to our own recordings - 

Just give AWS GroundStation Service the NASA sat id and pay $$. 

Now the question Zac, "Have you heard anything about AWS GroundStation Service??" 

Will it work for our current situation, to get some recordings?? 

And maybe especially, with luck,   recordings from the Sprite Swarm ??

Or maybe in the future?? 

Currently AWS GroundStation Service is active in only 2 "Regions"   West - Oregon and East 

I am stuck in San Diego and do not qualify, but am working with one of 

our team members in Medford. 

 

AWS GroundStation Service recording standard seems to be VITA 49. 

Seems to be a digital stream recorded at baseband with meta data added.  

May be high quality. 

May be easy to convert to our recording and decoding standards. 

I am crossing my fingers. 

Rob Fryer 

Verne San Diego KickSat Team

 

[Zac Manchester]

Hi Rob,

I have indeed looked into AWS Ground Station. Unfortunately they don’t currently cover the UHF band that KickSat is in.

- Zac

[Janos Tolgyesi]

Comments about the decoded Kicksat-2 telemetry data:

At 22. febr. C. Bassa recorded a 8 min long pass of Kicksat-2 signal at Camras 20 m diameter parabola antenna in Netherland.
The recorded file can be download from the camras ftp server.
I started to process it, the result is 6 data blocks.
About the decoding and the telemetry data I put some comment to our satellite-follower's list, "muholdasok". The comments has an english version too, you can see it here:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/muholdasok/j38kIxYbbFg
t.janos

[Zac Manchester]

If you’re wondering what’s in the packets:

The first number is the uptime of the flight computer in minutes. This should be roughly the number of minutes since the satellite was deployed.

Vb=827 means that the battery voltage is 8.27V

Ib=017 means the battery discharge current is 17 mA

Ic=000 is the charging current from the solar panels (0 mA)

S=01 is a status byte that indicates Sprites have not been deployed.

The rest is compressed data from a bunch of onboard sensors.

- Zac

[Janos Tolgyesi]

Zac,
thank you very much for the clarification. Is it mean, the status of the sat is good? Or at least the battery is in good condition?
best:
t.janos

[Zac Manchester]

The satellite is indeed healthy aside from our communication difficulties.

- Zac

[Janos Tolgyesi]

We discussed in personal mails about the possible amateur solutions to send commands to the sat. One option is to ask the team at Camras ground station
http://websdr.camras.nl:8901/
where the decodable signal was recorded. But this station is busy, need to coordinate a schedule, and find person, who can send the command in a good pass.
Another option to ask Reinhard Kühn, DK5LA, he is a german radio amateur, he has a very good ground station. He was, who sent some commands to the  small chinese satellite dlswp-b, orbiting around the Moon. This command was to scheduled start take good pictures of the Moon.
Here is a tv interwiev with it. You can see his setup, and his antenna system.
https://www.rtlnord.de/nachrichten/sternstunde-fuer-amateurfunker-so-hilft-ein-soeruper-den-chinesen-bei-ihrer-mondmission.html
I dont know the other options, but it remained only limited time to try it.
best:
t.janos

[Michael Turner]

"I have indeed looked into AWS Ground Station. Unfortunately they
don’t currently cover the UHF band that KickSat is in."

Before AWS Ground Station, and by over a year:

https://www.infostellar.net/

Not sure of their coverage. A friend interviewed there last year, and
I wrote them a few months afterward to see if they had any interest in
donating some antenna time, but didn't hear back.

Have a connection into the ARTSAT people (in fact, sent a version of
some of their code, for KickSat 2):

http://despatch.artsat.jp/en/Cooperative_Data_Reconstruction

Unlikely that either can be of help directly, but they might at least
put the world out to people who can


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