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SA AMSAT PAYLOAD ON
SUMBANDILE SATELLITE
A Project sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology
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SUMBANDILASAT INTRODUCTION South Africa’s entry into the space age was in 1999 with the launch of SUNSAT 1, a modest satellite built by students and lecturers at the University of Stellenbosch. The satellite carried various experiments and an amateur radio transponder that delighted radio enthusiast world-wide. From this modest beginning grew SunSpace (Pty) Ltd, today a successfully company involved in the space communications field. Soon South African will get another voice in the sky when the second satellite, named SumbandilaSat is launched in the May 2007 time frame. The naming of the satellite in itself is an interesting story. A competition was held amongst high school students. Entries in various languages were received but ultimately the Venda language version was chosen “Sumbandila”. It means showing or pointing the way. Freely translated into English “Pathfinder” Sumbandila is a very appropriate name for a satellite project that is paving the way for a number of satellites planned for launch over the next few years. SumbandilaSat is sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology and is being built at SunSpace in cooperation with the University of Stellenbosch. The amateur payload will offer similar activities than that of SUNSAT but implemented in a new innovative way. SumbandileSat Payloads The main payload is a multi-spectral imager with a 6.5m Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) with 6 spectral bands and will be supported by an on-board storage of 6 Gigabyte, expandable to 24 Gigabyte. In additions there are several experimental payloads including • SA AMSAT – 2m/70cm amateur radio transponder and digitalker • Stellenbosch university - Architectural radiation experiment for commercial off the shelf devices (ARECOTS) • Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University - forced vibrating string experiment
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University of KwaZulu- Natal -
Very low The Amateur Radio Payload will be operating in conjunction with the University of Stellenbosch Software Defined Receiver project as it will share the VHF receiver and UHF transmitter used by the SDR project. SA AMSAT has designed and built a control system to facilitate the following operations: · V/U voice transponder with an uplink in the 2 metre band and a downlink in the 70cm band. · A parrot repeater (voice digipeater) · A voice beacon
If the tone received indicates parrot operation, the interface unit will record 20 seconds of audio on its VHF uplink receiver and replay the recorded audio on the UHF downlink. Should, for a predetermined period, there be no tones received, the controller will initiate a voice beacon, transmitting a pre-recorded message at regular intervals. This facility will offer many opportunities for educational projects. The technical team comprising of Andrew Roos ZS6AAA and Hannes Coetzee ZS6BZP have faced a real challenge to complete two prototypes of the controller in time for evaluation and integration in the main unit by end July. The launch of the satellite is scheduled for early December. Sumbandila is expected to be followed by two or more satellite projects and with more time available a more sophisticated amateur payload is envisaged. The mission of the project is the development and growth of people and institutions, providing satellite data for applications addressing the needs of society and understanding the modalities of a small satellite programme in order to inform the space policy process in South Africa. There are several additional benefits that will accrue from the project including: technology demonstrator of new generation satellite avionics for future satellites, international and regional benefit through imaging and data provision and a platform for international interaction through joint missions and constellations. Unusual Launch Discussions have been concluded with the Russian State Rocket Centre in Makayev to launch Sumbandila Sat into orbit on a Shtil launch vehicle from a sub-marine. The Shtil is a 3 stage launch vehicle that uses liquid propellant. It is the first launch vehicle to successfully launch a payload into orbit from a submarine, although launch from land based structures is possible as well. TubeSat was successfully launched on a Shtil (meaning Calm Weather). The launcher has a remarkable track record with 51 successful launches and only 1 failure. An educational challenge Like Sunsat, the Sumbandile Project presents several educational opportunities at various levels from learners at school to Post Graduate students at University The satellite development kit provides for three main areas of training. Students will be exposed to hands-on system level building of complete satellites in their own country with satellite engineering laboratory infrastructure established. The training is intertwined with a specific satellite mission including AIT Laboratory Establishment and Training, In-orbit commissioning and training and In-orbit operational training. The third component is specialised satellite engineering training including detail design of components and sub systems. A steady stream of 18 students, 19 Master Degree students and 3 PhD students plus a post doctorate position is fully funded. In addition between 5 and 8 internships have been created for the building of a satellite knowledge base and capacity in Industry Another outflow of Sumbandila Sat and the constellation of satellites planned for the future is that it offers scientist at other institutions the opportunity to develop scientific experiments which will be included in the programme. The next satellite in the series offers 2 kg of payload capacity. It is expected that SA AMSAT will have further opportunities for amateur radio payloads in the constellation of satellites planned. Another important component is the expansion of the SUNSTEP programme. SUNSTEP is a joint venture by sponsors and the University of Stellenbosch to reach out to learners and increase their Science, Electronics and Technology knowledge. During the past 9 years 164 850 learners and 5039 teachers have been touched. Learners generally love the fun, dynamic "hands and minds-on" approach followed and as a result many have realised that the ability to study towards engineering is in fact within their reach. Once in orbit Sumbandile Sat will provide increased scope for the SUNSTEP programme and expansion to all provinces of South Africa. The Amateur Radio payload will be used extensively in youth programmes with the objective of bringing the youth into amateur radio.
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 Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa, Mr. Mosibudi Mangena and SA AMSAT President Hans van de Groenendaal at the official handover of SumbandilaSat by SunSpace and the University of Stellenbosch to the Department
Hannes Coetzee ZS6BPZ and Andrew Roos ZS6AAA, two amateurs who developed the amateur payload on Sumbandila Sat.
Minister and Team form SunSpace and the University
Deputy Minister Derek Hanekom and Pontsho Maruping, Director: Frontier Programmes, Department of Science and Technology
Sumbandila Sat will be launched from a Russian Submarine
Why an entry level satellite? Amateur Radio is at the crossroad. It is confronted with an aging population coupled with a relatively slow intake of new younger enthusiast. The South African Radio League has embarked on a programme to attract young people into Amateur Radio and an easy to use satellite will go a long way to fire their imagination. In the words of late Bill Orr W6SAI about the launch of OSCAR 1: “the spirit of adventure lies buried in very man’s soul. Strike the spark and ignite the soul and the impossible is accomplished”.
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