Keeping Amateur Radio in Space 21st Century Challenges and Opportunities for AMSAT Daniel Schultz N8FGV for the AMSAT ASCENT Team n8fgv@amsat.org ASCENT - Advanced Satellite Communications and Exploration of New Technology
"Getting the early OSCAR satellites approved for launch was a highly political process. I was a 21 year-old just starting out in the field and was tremendously impressed by the talents of the OSCAR Board of Directors. The challenges the board faced in obtaining the permissions from the various government agencies and Lockheed were enormous. We had to keep in mind that ejectable subsatellites were unknown at the time. And, convincing the various agencies that this honor should go to a home built satellite with no official credentials was seen as a big risk. A premature release of the OSCAR satellite would keep the Agena satellite from deploying its booster adapter and would be a catastrophic end to the main mission. There were numerous meetings with government and military representatives, including many well-connected hams. These discussions and the creation of the OSCAR White Paper, helped establish the political and technical credibility we needed to obtain launch permission. The bureaucratic efforts probably exceeded those required to build the satellite." - Lance Ginner
What could possibly go wrong? Oscar 3, March 9, 1965: "While observing the launch from the small tracking station and listening to the launch commentary, we got a report that the deployment switch for the OSCAR 3 satellite showed deployed. If this were true, then the entire mission was going to fail as the OSCAR would wedge between the Agena space vehicle and the booster adapter and keep it from separating and performing the final rocket burn to orbit. The next few minutes were the worst of my life. If the telemetry was correct then that would be last of the OSCAR program (and probably my career as well) as I had designed the deployment mechanism and certified the spacecraft was qualified. Fortunately the separation was successful and later investigation found that the separation indicator switch on the Agena side of the interface had been misadjusted prior to launch." - Lance Ginner
21st century New Challenges for AMSAT 1. No more free launches AMSAT was once the only small satellite organization in the world. Then Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd was founded (by Martin Sweeting, an AMSAT alumnus). Then CubeSats were invented (by Bob Twiggs, an AMSAT member). Every university on Earth is building a CubeSat, launches that might have carried an AMSAT satellite in previous years are now packed full of CubeSats. This is known as the Attack of the CubeSats. AMSAT and Project OSCAR created the small satellite industry, and now we must compete for launches with this industry.
21st century New Challenges for AMSAT 2. Loss of radio spectrum Commercial pressure for release of more microwave spectrum is causing governments around the world to revoke amateur radio access to the microwave bands. We have a hard time holding on to these frequencies if we cannot launch the satellites that use them.
21st century New Challenges for AMSAT 3. International Traffic in Arms Regulations AMSAT is now an international munitions dealer! The State Department really doesn't understand the concept of satellites built by hobbyists. Phase 3D / OSCAR-40 was a collaboration of AMSAT organizations from a dozen different countries in a pre-itar environment. Building this satellite would have been impossible under present day ITAR rules. ITAR has forced AMSAT-North America to disengage from other AMSAT organizations around the world, and destroyed the international cooperation that made complex projects possible! In one recent year AMSAT spent more money on legal fees than it spent on satellites.
If you can't beat them, then join them: AMSAT Fox-1 CubeSat launched October 2015 (now AO-85). It is a single user FM satellite in Low Earth Orbit, which some people love and some people hate: More Fox satellites are in the pipeline, some with linear transponders. Note that a 1U CubeSat measures 10x10x10 cm (4x4x4 inches) and has a maximum 1 Kg mass.
CubeSats are getting larger- 3U Satellites are now common, 6U satellites (10x20x30 cm) are in the pipeline. CubeSats were originally for students to gain practical experience before graduation. The mission was considered successful if the students graduated on time, if it worked on orbit that was a nice bonus. Today the science and engineering community is taking notice, and many serious CubeSat missions are being proposed and designed. Scientists like the idea of having a satellite all to themselves that they don't need to share with other research groups. They are working hard to develop miniature science instruments to fit inside a CubeSat. NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) and Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ElaNa) now provide free launches on government launch vehicles for satellites that fulfill one of NASA's scientific, technological or educational missions. However, ham radio satellites are not one of NASA's missions. We need to carry payloads that will appeal to NASA and get us a ride into space.
AMSAT Geosynchronous satellite mission (AT LAST!) The possibility exists to place a hosted amateur transponder payload on the US Air Force Wide Field of View satellite, to be built by Millennium Space Systems in San Diego.
The amateur radio payload will be a digital transponder with 5.65 GHz uplink and 10.475 GHz downlink. Digital forward error correction will allow much better link performance than an analog transponder could provide. Open source voice CODECS are now available to provide digitally encoded voice QSOs with as little as 2.4 kilobits per second per voice channel. Many different voice QSOs can occur simultaneously. The satellite will be available 24 hours per day, always parked in the same part of the sky. Communications will be about as challenging as using a telephone, but quite valuable for emergency and public service communications. These hams are not experimenters, they want to obtain a prepackaged box to plug in and start communicating. WE FINALLY HAVE A CHANCE TO MAKE SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS A MAINSTREAM HAM RADIO ACTIVITY!!! The challenge is to design a ground station kit simple enough for any ham to use, and to design and produce it to sell at the lowest possible cost. THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN HELP!!!
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.01, July 25, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.01 AMSAT-NA, AMSAT-DL, and Virginia Tech Announce Potential Phase-3E Opportunity Virginia Tech has approached the US Government to fly the Phase 3-E space frame into High Earth Orbit (HEO) in order to support scientific payloads as well as serve as an amateur radio satellite. During the AMSAT-DL Annual Meeting on 4 JUL 15, the AMSAT-DL membership approved the concept, agreeing to allow the Phase 3-E space frame that is currently stored in Germany to be shipped to Virginia Tech in the USA for further construction, testing and preparation for eventual launch to HEO should the US Government formally agree to fund such a mission. Should the project move forward, AMSAT-NA will apply for frequency coordination from the IARU Satellite Advisor and satellite licensing from the FCC as the satellite's initial operator.
NASA Lunar CubeQuest Challenge (CQC): A government sponsored contest to award three 6U CubeSat launches on the first flight of the Space Launch System. AMSAT is partnered with Ragnarok Industries to provide communications expertise for their contest entry. If selected for launch, the satellite will be ejected Into a trans-lunar trajectory after the Orion capsule is deployed. Uplink will also be 5.65 GHz, downlink 10.475 GHz, compatible with the GEO ground station kit, although a larger dish will be needed to receive signals from the moon.
New missions for AMSAT: The Ragnarok lunar CubeSat, with minor modifications, could be placed into a high altitude GTO or Molniya orbit to serve as an amateur transponder. The geosynchronous satellite will provide 24 / 7 coverage, but a high altitude satellite in elliptical orbit provides more countries and grid squares for hams. Ideally we could launch a new satellite every 4 to 5 years to replenish the constellation. The Phase 3E satellite is probably a one-of-a-kind mission. Commercial rate for 3U CubeSat launched to GTO starts at $750K. To obtain a NASA sponsored CubeSat launch, we need to have a mission that fulfills one of NASA's objectives under the ELaNa program. Amateur Radio communications is not one of NASA's objectives. We seek partnerships with science and technology organizations to carry a small payload in return for a NASA sponsored launch. THE CHALLENGE: HOW DO YOU FIT 90 KILOGRAMS OF SATELLITE INTO A 6 KILOGRAM BOX?
HEO is different from LEO, more like the problems of cislunar or interplanetary space- Cubsats that work well in LEO need to be redesigned for missions farther from Earth. LEO Easy communication with simple antennas Warm Earth fills half the sky Benign radiation environment Strong magnetic field for attitude control HEO Directional antennas and higher transmitter power Thermal environment is challenging Difficult radiation environment Weak magnetic field requires more complex attitude control Technology needed for a HEO satellite is similar to what is needed for Lunar or Interplanetary Cubesat missions. We don't know if CSLI will provide 6U launches to GTO or Molniya orbit. To discuss this with them, we need to submit a proposal.
Contact information: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/phase4 https://github.com/phase4ground References 11 16 in the Proceedings --------------------------------------------------------------------------Sample Link Budget: https://github.com/phase4ground/documents/blob/master/engineer ing/link_budget/p4.txt --------------------------------------------------------------------------These slides available at http://www.qsl.net/n8fgv/superconference.pdf