SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM 2012

University of KwaZulu-Natal
Saturday 12 May

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SUMBANDILASAT AMATEUR RADIO OPERATION MAY RESUME

time frame unsure

Latest update
SUMBANDILASAT – there is still a recovery opportunity

 The team at SunSpace are still incremental; reading back the program code from the nine power modules in an effort to determine the extent of the corruption. With SumbandilaSat going through eclipses, the satellite is not as much available as the team would like. SumbandilaSat’s batteries failed which means that the satellite is only active when the solar panels are illuminated.

“We need the information to confirm that the changes we made to stop repeated corruption were effective. “ Johann Lochner ZR6CBC who spends considerable of his free time on recovery of SumbandilaSat said. “It is our aim to ultimately reprogram one of the power modules to automatically switch the amateur radio transponder on and off.”

Because of the shorter illumination of the solar panels in the Southern hemisphere and most likely poor orientation of the satellite with respect to the sun, progress is much slower than originally anticipated. “Where we had three passes to work with in January we currently have one”, Johann said.

The Satellite is not dead as reported in the media

Ingenuity and innovation by the SumbandilaSat ground control team has resulted in bringing the satellite back to life with a real possibility that Amateur Radio communication may resume next month while the satellite is in sunlight

The ground stations at SANSA Space operations at Hartbeeshoek and the Electronic Systems Laboratory at Stellenbosch University are receiving telemetry when the satellite's solar panels are illuminated by the sun.

Johann Lochner ZR1CBC said that in early June 2011 for an unknown reason (but probably related to a major radiation event on 7 June) the primary controller on the power distribution unit (PDU) powering the On-Board Computer (OBC) stopped responding to commands from the ground station.

It later appeared that the battery had failed and nothing was heard from the satellite for some time. The ground segment software to monitor the passes over South Africa and to contact the satellite to initiate the recovery procedure was automated. After a month contact was made again. This was mid November." "We set in place a planned recovery procedure and within 3 -4 days we came to the conclusion that the main battery had failed"' Johann said With SumbandilaSat responding when it is in full sunlight Johan Lochner is confident that some operations will be restored even to the point where it may be possible to do some imaging and have the amateur radio transponder back in operation.

 Read the full story here

Listen to the interview with Johann Lochner ZR1CBC

SumbandilaSat first day cover winners

Congratulations to the following who were selected from the received recordings of SO67 QSO's.

Your first day cover will be mailed on 9 December.

Keith Austermiller KB9STR
Jozsef Bukuca
Mario IT9BTX

CPUT satellite HF beacon - a new tool for radio amateurs

The two satellites being built by students of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) include a beacon operating in the 20 m amateur band. The first of the two is a single CubeSat 10 x 10 x 10 cm with a mass of one kilogramme.

While the single CubeSat will be dedicated to the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory science payload supporting the HMO operations in Antarctica, it will provide interesting antenna characterisation opportunities for radio amateurs.

The beacon operating on 14 099 kHz will be used for optimising the SuperDarn HF radar system operated by the National Space Agency Space Science (previously the Hermanus Magnetic observatory).

Read more here

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