Today, November 21st 2019, marks the sixth birthday of our very first CubeSat mission, FUNcube-1.
After a very brief check out, we were able to switch the transmitter to full power, again at the very first attempt, and were quite amazed at the strength of the signal from the 300mW transmitter on 145.935 MHz. The transponder was then switched on and successfully tested.
We finished the day with a request to AMSAT-NA for an Oscar number and were delighted to receive the AO73 Oscar 73 designation!
Since then, FUNcube-1, with a launch mass of less than 1kg, has operated continuously with only a very few interruptions. In excess of 32000 orbits, 750 million miles travelled, and with more than 7 million data packets downloaded and stored in the Data Warehouse.
The spacecraft is presently in continuous sunlight and to convert as much of the sun’s thermal energy into RF (to help keep it cool), it remains in continuous high power telemetry mode. We anticipate this situation will continue until early May next after which we expect to have 3 months with some eclipse periods.
Of course, EO88 – Nayif 1 continues to operate autonomously with the transponder active when in eclipse and JO99 – JY1Sat, which includes image downloads, and which was launched just under a year ago, also remain active on a 24/7 basis.
We still receive many requests for Fitter message uploads for school events…please contact us by email to operations@funcube.org.uk giving us at least two weeks notice.
We continue to be very grateful to all the many stations around the world that continue to upload the telemetry that they receive to our Data Warehouse. We really need this data to provide a continuous resource for educational outreach.
With that in mind, here is a link to a previous update which shows the correct current Data Warehouse address and the Dashboard software that can be used for each spacecraft . https://funcube.org.uk/2019/01/21/funcube-dashboard-summary-update/
ESA have just released a new mission update for the ESEO Mission. It can be seen here https://www.esa.int/Education/ESEO/ESEO_mission_updates
We are delighted that the BPSK telemetry transmitter, on our payload, was enabled for a period of just over 200 minutes in orbit!
Although we were not able to announce this activation in advance, more than ten stations around the world successfully received the telemetry on 145.895 MHz and submitted it to the FUNcube Data Warehouse. We are very grateful to them for their support.
Over 50 channels of Real Time and Whole Orbit Data were collected. For example, a number of on-board temperatures are shown in this graph which covers the period from 11:58 to 13:36 UTC
The very last frame received was captured by PQ2HX in Brazil at around 14:17 UTC
We are keenly awaiting further possibilities to exercise more of the payload as soon as this becomes possible but, in the meantime, is good to know that all the telemetry channels reported nominal values.
On Monday
December 3rd 2018, the 50kg ESA Education Office satellite ESEO was launched by
Space-X on the Spaceflight SSO-A SmallSat Express mission.
Following the launch from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg
Air Force Base, ESEO separated from the launch vehicle and automatically
activated the periodic transmission of its telemetry beacon. However, by the
time out of a predefined period, having not received commands from the ground
station, the spacecraft automatically entered into safe mode.
Some initial communications issues were experienced by ESEO in receiving
commands from the ground stations in Forli’ (Italy) and Vigo (Spain), but they
were resolved when the ESEO team of the Observatory of Tartu offered the
possibility to use a ground station in Estonia. This is capable of transmitting
with higher power, for a temporary contingent use. The Estonian ground station
has been configured to be operated remotely by the ESEO MCC team, which
involves students of the University of Bologna.
ESEO then started executing the commands transmitted from ground.
ESEO has now completed the LEOPS (Launch and Early OPerationS) phase of its mission, reaching the platform nominal mode and has begun the process of commissioning the whole satellite: firstly the platform functions, with the payloads functions following.
As part of this commissioning process, but subject to the successful completion of other preparatory tasks of the platform subsystems commissioning, it is anticipated that initial testing of the AMSAT communications payload will be carried out within the next few weeks.
AMSAT-UK will endeavour to provide some advance notice of these tests being undertaken, but the first step will be activation of the 1200bps BPSK telemetry beacon on 145.895MHz. The telemetry format matches previous FUNcube missions and data from this beacon will be forwarded to the FUNcube Data Warehouse using any of the FUNcube dashboards. However, to see the decoded values and graphical displays, please download the dedicated ESEO mission dashboard which is available here https://download.funcube.org.uk/ESEO_Dashboard_v1177.msi
The payload has, additionally, a high speed, 4800bps BPSK data format downlink and also a Mode L/V FM transponder both of which will be tested.
Further information about ESEO can be seen here: https://www.esa.int/Education/ESEO/ESEO_student_satellite_in-orbit_commissioning_has_started
Each satellite carrying a FUNcube payload has a dedicated dashboard and we have updated the one page summary (FUNcube Dashboard Summary v3) of those dashboards, their current version number and a dedicated download link.
Telemetry Dashboard
We have included the recommended warehouse settings for each satellite as well as the “FCD Centre Frequency”. Note that the frequency we quote is 20kHz offset from the published telemetry downlink to allow for the zero hertz spike and close in phase noise that is inherent on SDRs.
Currently, to view the telemetry for a particular satellite, it is necessary to run the dashboard for that satellite. Any telemetry for one of the other FUNcube satellites can be captured and forwarded to the central data warehouse. For this reason, some users tend to run all dashboards simultaneously using the same FUNcube Dongle. Users should remember the that dashboard that was started last, is the one that will control the frequency settings applied to the FUNcube Dongle.
All the dashboards are under continual development and a further planned development is to create a single dashboard that will service all FUNcube Telemetry payloads simultaneously . Keep a look out for further news on this unified dashboard in 2019.
73s Ciaran M0XTD
JY1SAT – Although not finally confirmed, good tracking results are being obtained using 
ESEO – In a similar manner to JY1SAT, the official confirmation has not been received, but the best TLEs are currently 2018-99AL / 43792. The 9k6 downlink signal on 437.00MHz is quite strong and reports and recordings are welcomed. Please continue to check the https://www.esa.int/Education/ESEO website for the latest updates from ESA. We can confirm that the AMSAT payload with a downlink on 145.985 MHz has not yet been activated and that DK3WN and EA4GPZ, working with other collaborators, have developed a decoder for the 437.00 MHz downlink signals. It is hoped that a UI, to show the actual telemetry values, will also be available soon.
With some luck………… Monday December 3rd will see two more satellites carrying FUNcube payloads launched into orbit.
With that launch, JY1Sat and ESEO will join FUNcube-1 (A0-73) and Nayif-1 (EO-88).
The FUNcube team have been busy, not only designing and implementing the payloads, but also working on the Telemetry Dashboards and the Data Warehouse.
Each satellite has a dedicated dashboard and we have created a one page summary (FUNcube Dashboard Summary v1) of those dashboards, their current version number and a dedicated download link.
Telemetry Dashboard
We have included the recommended warehouse settings for each satellite as well as the “FCD Centre Frequency”. Note that the frequency we quote is 20kHz offset from the published telemetry downlink to allow for the zero hertz spike and close in phase noise that is inherent on SDRs.
Currently, to view the telemetry for a particular satellite, it is necessary to run the dashboard for that satellite. Any telemetry for one of the other FUNcube satellites can be captured and forwarded to the central data warehouse. For this reason, some users tend to run all dashboards simultaneously using the same FUNcube Dongle. Users should remember the that dashboard that was started last, is the one that will control the frequency settings applied to the FUNcube Dongle.
These dashboards are under continual development and the next planned development is to create a single dashboard that will service all FUNcube Telemetry payloads simultaneously. Keep a look out for further news on this unified dashboard in 2019.
Telemetry Data Warehouse
All telemety received via the dashboards is forwarded to the central data warehouse, providing you have registered for an account. This has been a very successful part of the FUNcube project as it has allowed for worldwide data collection by amateurs and for all the data to be available to download and used for educational purposes.
With the pending launch of two additional satellites, some changes where required to allow this data capture to continue in an efficient manner. The data warehouse has a new user interface and all satellite data can be assessed with one URL – http://data.amsat-uk.org . Once at the new user interface, simply select the satellite you are interested in, and all the usual telemetry will be available along with the list of current data providers to the database for that satellite.
Both the dashboards and the data warehouse are under continual development, so be sure to check back for updates.
The FUNcube team is very grateful to all radio amateurs worldwide for their continued support and we encourage you all to join in with the reception of JY1Sat and ESEO telemetry upon a successful launch this Sunday.
73s
The ESEO microsatellite includes a FUNcube payload which will provide similar telemetry to its predecessors but will have a more powerful transmitter and thus be even easier to hear. For amateurs, this payload will also provide a single channel L/V transponder for FM. These downlinks will be transmitted on 145.895 MHz and the FM transponder uplink will be on 1263.5 MHz with a 67Hz PLL tone required.
A new Dashboard has been developed for this mission and is available for download here.
The AMSAT FUNcube Payload Downlink Data document gives all the information required to decode the telemetry ESEO_Downlink_Data_1_21a
The new Dashboard will operate in exactly the same manner as those developed for previous missions and general set-up information can be downloaded here.
A new Data Warehouse has also been created. This can be used to view the telemetry from ALL of the FUNcube missions: http://data.amsat-uk.org
We expect that the FUNcube telemetry transmitter will become operational after the launch and subsequent to the completion of initial de-tumbling of the spacecraft.
Thanks for your valuable support for this mission!