ARLA/CLUSTER: ESA anunciou os radioamadores vencedores do desafio "listening out for three new orbiting CubeSats."

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

ESA announces winning Radio Hams

On April 21, 2016, ESA’s Education Office set a challenge for the
worldwide radio amateur community to start listening out for three new
orbiting CubeSats. The results have now been released

ESA’s Education Office published the transmission frequencies of the
student-built satellites that were about to be launched as part of the
Fly Your Satellite! programme, and invited the radio amateur community
to listen out for them.

The first three radio amateurs to send a recorded signal from AAUSAT4,
e-st  r-II or OUFTI-1 would receive a prize from ESA’s Education
Office. Hundreds of radio amateurs from around the world joined in the
friendly competition.

The CubeSats started sending signals after their release from the
Soyuz VS-14 rocket and the triggering of their automatic activation
sequence. Participants from Russia, USA, Poland, France, Belgium,
Netherlands, Brazil, Italy, Denmark, and more tuned their receivers
and listened.

Thanks to skill and patience on the ground, the winners come from
Russia, the United States of America, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Contact with the first CubeSat came at 00:53:51 UT on April 26, 2016,
within an hour of its separation from the launcher. Dmitri Paschkow
R4UAB, Russia, heard the signal from OUFTI-1 using two receiving
stations, in Kemerovo and Ruzaevka. Upon hearing OUFTI-1, he
communicated the news immediately. “I understand that the students are
worried [to hear from their satellite] and decided to please them!”
says Paschkow.

Just over an hour after the first signal from OUFTI-1 was recorded,
the next CubeSat checked in.

AAUSAT-4 was heard over California, US, by Justin Foley KI6EPH of
California Polytechnic State University. He had a personal interest in
the mission because some of his colleagues had developed the P-POD
deployer that was used to eject the CubeSats into orbit.

He was ready at the receiver from the moment of deployment but heard
nothing on that first pass, probably because the activation sequence
had not yet completed. The signal came through on the second pass,
arriving at 02:02 UT.

“It was extremely exciting to see signals from the newly launched
satellite, and witness the beginning of a space mission”, says Foley.

Then the wait began for e-st  r-II. At 05:40:58 UT, something dimly lit
the screen of Mike Rupprecht DK3WN in Germany.  But something was not
quite right. It certainly looked like a signal from the last remaining
CubeSat, but why was the message so faint?  It galvanized the amateur
radio community to look harder.

Jan van Gils PE0SAT had to wait until May 2 at 16:38:05 UT to receive
a signal from e-st  r-II  that was strong enough to be decoded.
Why e-st  r-II was only transmitting weak signals is under
investigation, but the most important news is that all three CubeSats
are functioning and transmitting, and their signals can be decoded.

A special mention goes to a young radio amateur who scored a personal best.

Twelve year-old space enthusiast Matteo Micheletti from Belgium caught
the OUFTI-1 signal with a portable log periodic antenna and a portable
receiver.
His triumph occurred on May 1, 2016 between 17:34 and 17:39 UT.

To mark their success, the radio amateur winners will each receive a
Fly Your Satellite! Poster, a goodie bag and a scale 1:1 3D printed
model of a CubeSat from ESA’s Education Office.

Read the full ESA story at
http://www.esa.int/Education/CubeSats_-_Fly_Your_Satellite/CubeSats_competition_winners

Three new CubeSats now in orbit
https://amsat-uk.org/2016/04/26/three-new-cubesats-now-in-orbit/

D-STAR satellite to launch from Kourou
https://amsat-uk.org/2016/04/05/d-star-satellite-to-launch-from-kourou/