ARLA/CLUSTER: Criatividade e inovação fazem renascer o SumbandilaSat

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

SumbandilaSat amateur radio operation may resume soon

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
eason (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.

More on recovery efforts are on line at www.amsatsa.org.za.


Fonte: The South African Radio League