Sprites, QIKCOM-1





On June 23, 2017 six tiny satellites were sent into low-Earth orbit as
secondary payloads on the Venta and Max Valier satelites that were
launched on the Indian PSLV-C38 rocket. These six satellites are
comparatively dainty, but punch far above their weight.

Called "Sprites", each is a 4-gram flake of circuit-board just 3.5 cm
on a side, packing solar panels, computers, sensors and communications
equipment into an area equal to a U.S. postage stamp.

One Sprite apiece is attached to the outside of each mothership - the
Latvian Venta satellite and the Italian Max Valier satellite, the latter
of which also holds four additional Sprites awaiting deployment into
space as wholly independent spacecraft. Radio telemetry from minuscule
magnetometers and gyroscopes on the deployed Sprites would then be used
to track the spacecraft as they shift, spin and tumble, to better
understand their orbital dynamics.

[Supplement] Sprites, 437.325MHz
http://amsat-uk.org/2017/07/26/sprite-satellites-deployed/


[amsat-bb] PSAT digi OFF, and QIKCOM-1 this Friday
Mon Oct 23 20:53:29 UTC 2017
Robert Bruninga

PSAT has entered safe mode with the digipeater OFF.
It will show the PSAT-1 callsign until sun angles improve..

QIKCOM-1 might deploy from the ISS this coming Friday.
It will simply digipeat just like the ISS using the same ARISS alias as
the ISS digipeater.  It will be 10 dB stronger than PSAT and about the
same power level as ISS and should be easy to receive.  All are on the
145.825 downlink.  It should also digipeat on its own callsign QIKCOM-1
if you want to hit it specifically.

We ask all potential IGates to check your ground stations and make sure
they are ready to IGate packets during those initial orbits from all over
the globe.  If you do not have an IGate, just capture packets and hold
them until we see if any are missing from the APRS-IS.  Downlinks should
be available on the original http://pcsat.findu.com and also on
http://59.167.159.165/satreporter/index2.html

QIKCOM-1 being released from ISS will of course have the same tracking
info as ISS until they begin to separate.

As usual, QIKCOM-1 is not intended for UNATTENDED BEACONS.
It is designed for Live Operations and experiments only.

Bob, WB4APR


QIKCOM-1
US Naval Academy
144.390MHz when over the US
145.825MHz with 4 watts RF output
Release from ISS on 27 October 2017

QIKCOM-1 integrated on top of the SIMPL Satellite:
The image above shows the complete SIMPL spacecraft with the QIKCOM-1
module on top. The large solar panels will have significant drag and are
the reason for the relatively short few months or so life of the mission.

http://aprs.org/qikcom-1.html
http://amsat-uk.org/2017/07/25/qikcom-1-iss-deployment/
http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2017-October/065044.html


 
(C)APRS