CAERUS

CAERUS CubeSat




CAERUS CubeSat of the University of Southern California is born newly.
The orbital element is press-agented after launching.

University of Southern California (USC)
Launch  : 8th Dec 2010, 1400-1722 GMT
Vehicle : SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
Beacon  : 437.600 MHz
Mode    : 1200 baud, AFSK
CallSign: KJ6FIX
Power   : 900 mW

http://www.isi.edu/projects/serc/caerus/
http://www2.isi.edu/research/prj-serc/prj-serc_projects/prj-serc_projects-8.htm
http://www2.isi.edu/research/prj-serc/prj-serc_projects/prj-serc_projects-9.htm


--- Original Message ---
Subject: [amsat-bb] Launch of 'KJ6FIX' Beacon aboard USC CAERUS CubeSat Subsystem
From: Omair Rahman
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:42:45 -0800

Hello Respected Amateur Radio Community,
I would like to announce the expected launch of University of Southern
California's (USC) CAERUS aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, on the 8th of Dec
2010, with a launch window of 1400-1722 GMT.

CAERUS is USC's 1st CubeSat subsystem delivered in May 2010, and was named
after the greek word for "opportunity".  It was developed from authorization to
proceed (ATP) to delivery in 14 weeks. CAERUS is part of the "MAYFLOWER" Next
Generation Technology CubeSat that is a joint effort with Northrop Grumman
NOVAWORKS group.

The satellite would be transmitting beacon data in the Amateur Band, with the
following specifications.
Call Sign:  KJ6FIX
Downlink Frequency:  437.600 MHz
Beacon Output Power:  900mW
Modulation Type:  AFSK, 1200 baud
TLE: Updated on website, right after launch.

It would be greatly appreciated, if you can please collect the beacon data and
email the raw text file to caerus@astronautics.usc.edu. The collection of the
data would help USC in tabulating the performance of our first student driven
endeavour into space.

For further information and TLE updates, please go to the website 
http://www2.isi.edu/research/prj-serc/prj-serc_projects/prj-serc_projects-9.htm
The beacon data can also be translated with the jar applet provided on our
website.

Thanks for all your help,
Regards,
Omair A. Rahman.

## P.S. ##
- If it's raw beacon data file, please have your email subject: Beacon Data and
your info.
- If you have the capability of hooking up a Spectrum Analyzer to the antenna
feed, and can measure the 'Actual' frequency of the downlink, please send that
too, with the Subject: Beacon Frequency. This is very important to us, for a
tracking experiment we are conducting.



How to use CAERUS BeaconDecoder

(1) Download the first published TLE at the following site.
    http://www.isi.edu/projects/serc/caerus/

(2) Receive the signal from the satellite CAERUS
    437.600MHz, 1200baud AFSK
    (Ex.) caerus1209.txt

(3) Find 'beacondecoder.jar' at the following site.
    http://www.isi.edu/projects/serc/caerus_telemetry_data_qsl_card/

(4) Download into your PC.
    (Ex.) D:\caerus

(5) Run DOS_Command Prompt.

(6) Change directory to D:\caerus.

    

(7) Press Enter_key as follows after inputting it.

    java -jar beacondecoder.jar caerus1209.txt

(8) Then it's decoded as follows automatically.

    


(9) Press Enter_key as follows after inputting it to save it in direct a text file.

    java -jar beacondecoder.jar caerus1209.txt > decode1209.txt