Astronomy-Space

Atronomy and space related

Two New Digitpeating Amateur Radio Satellites Approved

Posted on by VA3DBJ

08/12/2023 – arrl.org

The International AmateurRadio Union (IARU) has coordinated two European digipeating satellites that are scheduled to launch in fall 2023. At the Technical University of Košice in Slovakia, satellite Veronika, a 1U CubeSat, is scheduled for launch on a Falcon 9 launcher on the Transporter 9 mission in October 2023.

The satellite will be equipped with a 24/7 digipeater on two different bands, as well as experimental slow-scan digital video (SSDV) transmissions. There is an education and outreach mission planned to involve Slovak grammar and high schools, and to transmit special CW and AX.25 messages on several special occasions. The satellite will be equipped with a novel Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) subsystem, including electromagnetic actuators and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver. This will also help to identify the satellite during the first days and weeks of orbit.

The satellite will communicate using Spacemanic’s well-known Murgas transceivers (BDSat-1, BDSat-2, Planetum-1).Altogether, Veronika will provide: AX.25 telemetry, a CW beacon, a digipeater, AX.25 and CW messages on special occasions for community engagement, experimental SSDV transmissions, SatNOGS integration, a decoder, and a dashboard. A downlink on 436.680 MHz has been coordinated, and it will use 9k6 G3RUH AX.25 and a CW beacon. A SpaceX launch on the Transporter 9 mission will send the satellite to a 500/600-kilometer polar orbit.

The Romanian Federation of Amateur Radio (FRR) is preparing the ROM-3 for launch in October or November 2023. ROM-3 is a 50 x 50 x 100-millimeter picoSAT with three missions and objectives. Its primary mission is to act as a digital amateur radio repeater. Its secondary mission is to transmit low-resolution SSDV images in a Gaussianfrequency shift keying (GFSK) mode. The tertiary mission is to transmit a CW beacon that will help amateur radio operators detect the presence of the satellite and measure basic properties of the signals, such as its strength, fading due to spinning, and Doppler to measure speed. A downlink on 436.235 MHz has been coordinated for 20 WPM on CW, 500 (bps) GFSK telemetry, and 5 (kBps) GFSK SSDV. A SpaceX launch will send ROM-3 into a 500-kilometer polar orbit.

Amateur Radio Operators Invited to participate in Asteroid Bounce Experiment

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ARRL – The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) will be conducting a research campaign/experiment on December 27, 2022, with transmissions between 1100 – 2300 UTC (0200 – 1400 AKST).

This experiment will reflect HAARP transmissions off of Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) 2010 XC15, and the echo will be received by the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Long Wavelength Array (OVRO-LWA) at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and by the University of New Mexico’s Long Wavelength Array (UNM-LWA). The target asteroid will be roughly two lunar distances away from Earth at the time of transmission. Characterizing the interior structure and composition of NEAs is critical for advancing the understanding of solar system evolution and aiding in planetary defense.

Actual transmit times are highly variable based on real-time ionospheric conditions and all information is subject to change. Currently, the Asteroid Bounce (2010 XC15) experiment will take place Dec. 27, 2022, from 1100 UTC to 2300 UTC; 9.6 MHz, LFM (linear FM), 0.5 Hz WRF (waveform repetition frequency), 30 kHz bandwidth. Reports recording echo are encouraged; demodulated recordings in .wav or .mp3 are recommended.

For real-time ionospheric conditions in Gakona, please consult ionograms from the HAARP Diagnostic Suite at https://haarp.gi.alaska.edu/diagnostic-suite.

Amateur radio and radio astronomy enthusiasts are invited to listen to the transmissions/echoes and submit reception reports to the HAARP facility at [email protected] and request a QSL card by mailing a report to:

HAARP
P.O. Box 271
Gakona AK 99586
USA

Current Status of ISS Ham Radios Updated

Posted on by VA3DBJ

as of November 18, 2022

​Columbus Module radios:

  • IORS (Kenwood D710GA) – STATUS – Configured. Default mode is for cross band repeater (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down).  ​​​​
    • Powered OFF for RS EVA on November 25. OFF Nov. 24 about 16:30 UTC. ON Nov 26 about 16:00 UTC.
    • Powered OFF for US EVA on November 29. OFF Nov. 28 about 16:15 UTC. ON Nov 30 about 10:00 UTC.
    • Powered OFF for US EVA on December 03. OFF Dec. 02 about 17:00 UTC. ON Dec 04 about 18:15 UTC.
    • Powered OFF for RS EVA on December 06. 
    • Powered OFF for RS EVA on December 21. 
    • Capable of supporting USOS scheduled voice contacts, packet and voice repeater ops.

Service Module radios:

  • IORS (Kenwood D710GA) – STATUS – Configured. ​​ Default mode is for​​​ packet operations (145.825 MHz up & down)​​.​​
    • ​Powered OFF for RS EVA on November 25. OFF Nov. 24 about 16:30 UTC. ON Nov 26 about 16:00 UTC.
    • Powered OFF for US EVA on November 29. OFF Nov. 28 about 16:15 UTC. ON Nov 30 about 10:00 UTC.
    • Powered OFF for US EVA on December 03. OFF Dec. 02 about 17:00 UTC.  ON Dec 04 about 18:15 UTC.
    • Powered OFF for RS EVA on December 06. 
    • Powered OFF for RS EVA on December 21. 
    • Capable of supporting ROS scheduled voice contacts, packet, SSTV and voice repeater ops.

Artemis 1 Mission Heads to the Moon

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To the moon, again!

NASA launched the Artemis I mission from Florida at 1:47 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning, with the agency’s most powerful rocket ever kicking off a nearly month-long journey with a ground-shaking liftoff.

While no astronauts are onboard, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carried the Orion capsule to space in a demonstration for NASA’s lunar program. Artemis I will not land on the moon, but the spacecraft will orbit nearby before returning to Earth in 26 days.

In the final hours of the countdown, a hydrogen leak in a valve threatened to delay the launch. With SLS nearly fully fueled, a small group known as the “red team” was sent out to the launchpad and into the “blast danger area” to try to fix the problem. The team was able to tighten hardware on the leaky valve and returned to safety, with NASA’s launch then able to proceed.

So far the mission is going as planned, with Orion reaching orbit around the Earth at about 2 a.m. ET and firing its engines about two hours after launch to begin the multi-day trip to the moon.

The next major milestone is set for Nov. 21, when Orion will make its closest approach to the moon of 60 miles above the surface. To return, Orion will use the moon’s gravity to assist it in setting a trajectory back into Earth’s orbit. Artemis I will travel about 1.3 million miles over the course of the mission.

The mission represents a crucial inflection point in NASA’s moon plans, with the program delayed for years and running billions of dollars over budget. The Artemis program represents a series of missions with escalating goals. The third – tentatively scheduled for 2025 – is expected to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo era.

Russia’s Destruction of an Orbiting Satellite Raises Space Debris Concerns

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Russia tested an anti-satellite weapon on November 15, destroying one of its own old and defunct satellites, Kosmos 1408. Launched in 1982, Kosmos 1408 was some 300 miles above Earth. Its destruction generated a debris field in Earth orbit that prompted the seven International Space Station crew members, including one Russian cosmonaut, to take cover in their crew capsules for several hours, in case they had to abandon the station. Occupants of the Chinese space station are reported to have taken similar action. The incident also has generated criticism from many corners and a grave discussion on the possible impact of any future such tests, by Russia or anyone else.

The danger of damage to the ISS or an orbiting satellite aside, tracking a debris field that could include thousands of pieces, in order to head off collisions, is a concern all its own. Very small debris in space is essentially impossible to track reliably, if at all. The incident also comes at a time when the number of spacecraft in Earth orbit continues to grow. AMSAT President Robert Bankston, KE4AL, said that Russia’s action will pose a threat to all activities in low Earth orbit for years to come, placing satellites and human spaceflight missions at risk.

“Space is already crowded, but now there are at least 1,500 trackable fragments and, possibly, hundreds of thousands of smaller yet still-threatening pieces of debris in low Earth orbit,” Bankston said. “While space stations have the capability to move out of the way, with sufficient notice, most satellites in low Earth orbit, including those designed, built, launched, and operated by AMSAT, do not. As such, they face greater risk of catastrophic destruction or degraded mission functionality, if struck by fragments from Russia’s destruction of Kosmos-1408.”

Bankston said AMSAT is closely monitoring the situation and hoping for the best.

NASA Chief Bill Nelson echoed Secretary of State Antony Blinken in expressing his own outrage at Russia’s action. “Their actions are reckless and dangerous threatening as well the Chinese space station at the taikonauts on board,” he said. “The [ISS] is passing through or near the cloud every 90 minutes, but the need to shelter for only the second and third passes of the event was based on a risk assessment made by the debris office and ballistics specialists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston,” Nelson explained.

FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington condemned the incident as “irresponsible” and noting that orbital debris fields pose a threat to hopes for the peaceful use of space and “make the work of using space complicated and difficult,” he said in a statement. “For decades to come, they stifle scientific research, inhibit communications, and pose threats to the lives of explorers. And in the here and now, they pose a great threat to [existing] satellites of all nations” deployed for peaceful purposes.

“No one owns space,” Simington said. “And no one should intentionally make it more difficult to use.”

The FCC’s orbital debris rules date back to 2004, when the FCC adopted requirements affecting not only Part 97 Amateur Service rules but Parts 5 (experimental) and 25 (communications satellites) The FCC has made it clear that orbital debris rules apply to amateur satellites, in general requiring submission of an orbital debris mitigation plan with each license application.  

Amateurs invited to participate in the Antarctic Eclipse Festival in December

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The HamSCI Antarctic Eclipse Festival in December is seeking Amateur Radio participation.

As the shadow of the moon passes across Antarctica on December 4, it will generate traveling ionospheric disturbances that will, in turn, affect radio propagation.

The unusual geometry of this year’s eclipses will give researchers an opportunity to investigate complicated ionospheric dynamics over the poles as the long daytime of polar summer is briefly interrupted by the eclipse.

During this and other HamSCI eclipse festivals, Radio Amateurs and citizen-scientists are asked to collect Doppler-shift data from time-standard stations, such as WWV.

All that’s needed is an HF radio connected to a computer. A GPS-disciplined oscillator is helpful for collecting data, but it is not required. Data collection will run from December 1 through December 10, and the results will be made available for scientific analysis.

All Radio Amateurs and shortwave listeners are invited to join in, even those located far from the path of totality. In 2020, more than 100 individuals from 45 countries took part in eclipse festivals.The instructions are available in multiple languages.

HamSCI is an initiative of Amateur Radio operators and geospace scientists dedicated to advancing scientific research and understanding through Amateur Radio activities. Eclipse festivals are pilot campaigns for the Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS), HamSCI’s flagship project. The PSWS team seeks to develop a global network of citizen-science stations. Participants monitor the geospace environment to deepen scientific understanding and enhance the radio art.

For more information on the Antarctic Eclipse Festival and how to participate, visit the HamSCI website. – Thanks to Kristina Collins, KD8OXT

For the results of the December 2020 Eclipse Festival please visit:

https://hamsci.org/december-2020-eclipse-festival-frequency-measurement

Original news item: courtesy of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL)

Current Status of ISS Radio Stations

Posted on by VA3DBJ

as of 07/28/2021

​Columbus Module radios:

  • IORS (Kenwood D710GA) – STATUS – Configured. Supporting packet operation (145.825 MHz up & down). Next mode change is to cross band repeater and targeting late August.​
    • Radio will be powered off July 28 about 17:30 UTC for Progress /MLM arrival. Scheduled to be powered on TBD due to MLM issues impacting ISS activities.
    • Supporting USOS scheduled voice contacts, packet and voice repeater ops. 

Service Module radios:

  • Kenwood D710E – STATUS – Radio usually off.
    • Radio will be powered off July 28 about 17:30 UTC for Progress /MLM arrival. 
    • MAI SSTV experiment sessions planned for Aug 6 and 7.  Setup about 10:50 UTC on August 6 and stop around 19:10 UTC. The activation on August 7 should start about 09:50 GMT and stop around 15:55 UTC. . 
    • Supporting ROS scheduled voice contacts and SSTV.

Solar Cycle 25 is Here!

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Analysis determines we are in Solar Cycle 25

The solar minimum between Solar Cycle 24 and 25 – the period when the sun is least active – happened in December 2019, when the 13-month smoothed sunspot number fell to 1.8, according to the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, co-chaired by NOAA and NASA. We are now in Solar Cycle 25 with peak sunspot activity expected in 2025, the panel said.

Solar Cycle 24 was average in length, at 11 years, and had the 4th-smallest intensity since regular record keeping began with Solar Cycle 1 in 1755. It was also the weakest cycle in 100 years. Solar maximum occurred in April 2014 with sunspots peaking at 114 for the solar cycle, well below average, which is 179.

Solar Cycle 24’s progression was unusual. The Sun’s Northern Hemisphere led the sunspot cycle, peaking over two years ahead of the Southern Hemisphere sunspot peak. This resulted in solar maximum having fewer sunspots than if the two hemispheres were in phase.

Solar Cycle 25

For the past eight months, activity on the sun has steadily increased, indicating we transitioned to Solar Cycle 25. Solar Cycle 25 is forecast to be a fairly weak cycle, the same strength as cycle 24. Solar maximum is expected in July 2025, with a peak of 115 sunspots.

“How quickly solar activity rises is an indicator on how strong the solar cycle will be,” said Doug Biesecker, Ph.D., panel co-chair and a solar physicist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “Although we’ve seen a steady increase in sunspot activity this year, it is slow.”

The panel has high confidence that Solar Cycle 25 will break the trend of weakening solar activity seen over the past four cycles. “We predict the decline in solar cycle amplitude, seen from cycles 21 through 24, has come to an end,” said Lisa Upton, Ph.D., panel co-chair and solar physicist with Space Systems Research Corp. “There is no indication we are approaching a Maunder-type minimum in solar activity.”

“While we are not predicting a particularly active Solar Cycle 25, violent eruptions from the Sun can occur at any time,” Biesecker added.

Solar cycle prediction gives a rough idea of the frequency of space weather storms of all types, from radio blackouts to geomagnetic storms and solar radiation storms. It is used by many industries to gauge the potential impact of space weather in the coming years.

New satellites will provide enhanced observations of the Sun

In 2024, before the peak of sunspot activity in Solar Cycle 25, NOAA is slated to launch a new spacecraft dedicated to operational space weather forecasting. NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On L-1 observatory will be equipped with instruments that sample the solar wind, provide imagery of coronal mass ejections, and monitor other extreme activity from the Sun in finer detail than before. NOAA’s next Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-U) is also scheduled to launch in 2024. GOES-U will carry three solar monitoring instruments, including the first compact coronagraph, which will help detect coronal mass ejections. Enhanced observations of the Sun from these satellites will help improve space weather forecasting.

The Solar Cycle Prediction Panel forecasts the number of sunspots expected for solar maximum, along with the timing of the peak and minimum solar activity levels for the cycle. It is comprised of scientists representing NOAA, NASA, the International Space Environment Services, and other U.S. and international scientists.

For the latest space weather forecast, visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, the nation’s authority for space weather alerts, watches, warnings, and advisories at https://www.spaceweather.gov/.

Space Pioneer Astronaut Owen Garriott, W5LFL, SK

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ARRL reports the US astronaut who pioneered the use of Amateur Radio to make contacts from space — Owen K. Garriott, W5LFL — died April 15 at his home in Huntsville, Alabama. He was 88.

Garriott’s ham radio activity ushered in the formal establishment of Amateur Radio in space, first as SAREX — the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment, and later as ARISS — Amateur Radio on the International Space Station.

“Owen Garriott was a good friend and an incredible astronaut,” fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin tweeted. “I have a great sadness as I learn of his passing today. Godspeed Owen.”

An Oklahoma native, Garriott — an electrical engineer — spent 2 months aboard the Skylab space station in 1973 and 10 days aboard Spacelab-1 during a 1983 Space Shuttle Columbia mission. It was during the latter mission that Garriott thrilled radio amateurs around the world by making the first contacts from space.

Thousands of hams listened on 2-meter FM, hoping to hear him or to make a contact. Garriott ended up working stations around the globe, among them such notables as the late King Hussein, JY1, of Jordan, and the late US Senator Barry Goldwater, K7UGA. He also made the first CW contact from space. Garriott called hamming from space “a pleasant pastime.”

“I managed to do it in my off-duty hours, and it was a pleasure to get involved in it and to talk with people who are as interested in space as the 100,000 hams on the ground seemed to be,” he said in an interview published in the February 1984 edition of QST. “So, it was just a pleasant experience, the hamming in particular, all the way around.”

Although Garriott had planned to operate on ham radio during his 10 days in space, no special provisions were made on board the spacecraft in terms of equipment — unlike the situation today on the International Space Station. Garriott simply used a hand-held transceiver with its antenna in the window of Spacelab-1. His first pass was down the US West Coast.

“[A]s I approached the US, I began to hear stations that were trying to reach me,” he told QST. “On my very first CQ, there were plenty of stations responding.” His first contact was with Lance Collister, WA1JXN, in Montana.

ARISS ARRL Representative Rosalie White, K1STO, met Garriott when he attended Hamvention, “both times, sitting next to him at Hamvention dinner banquets,” she recounted. “Once when he was a Special Achievement Award winner, and once with him and [his son] Richard when Richard won the 2009 Special Achievement Award. Owen was unassuming, very smart, kind, and up to date on the latest technology.” Garriott shared a Hamvention Special Achievement Award in 2002 with fellow Amateur Radio astronaut Tony England, W0ORE.

Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, was a private space traveler to the ISS, flown there by the Russian Federal Space Agency, and he also carried ham radio into space.

Experts Predict a Long, Deep Solar Minimum

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Dr.Tony Phillips on April 10, 2019

If you like solar minimum, good news: It could last for years. That was one of the predictions issued last week by an international panel of experts who gathered at NOAA’s annual Space Weather Workshop to forecast the next solar cycle. If the panel is correct, already-low sunspot counts will reach a nadir sometime between July 2019 and Sept 2020, followed by a slow recovery toward a new Solar Maximum in 2023-2026.

“We expect Solar Cycle 25 will be very similar to Cycle 24: another fairly weak maximum, preceded by a long, deep minimum,” says panel co-chair Lisa Upton, a solar physicist with Space Systems Research Corp.

The solar cycle is like a pendulum, swinging back and forth between periods of high and low sunspot number every 11 years or so. Researchers have been tracking the cycle since it was discovered in the 19th century. Not all cycles are alike. Some are intense, with lots of sunspots and explosive solar flares; the Space Age began with a big booming solar maximum. Others are weak, such as the most recent, Solar Cycle 24, which peaked in 2012-2014 with relatively little action.

Researchers are still learning to predict the ebb and flow of solar activity. Forecasting techniques range from physical models of the sun’s inner magnetic dynamo to statistical methods akin to those used by stock market analysts.

“We assessed ~61 predictions in the following categories: Climatology, Dynamo, Machine Learning/Neural Networks, Precursor Methods, Spectral/Statistical Methods, Surface Flux Transport, and Other,” says Upton. “The majority agreed that Solar Cycle 25 would be very similar to Solar Cycle 24.”

“Here,” she says, “is a figure showing the last minimum and where we are with the current minimum.”

“As you can see – we haven’t quite reached the lowest levels of the last cycle – where we experienced several consecutive months with no sunspots. However, the panel expects that we should reach those levels.”

In recent years, the Internet has buzzed with the idea that a super-deep solar minimum such as the 70-year Maunder Minimum of the 17th century might cool the Earth, saving us from climate change. That’s not what the panel is saying, however.

“There is no indication that we are currently approaching a Maunder-type minimum in solar activity,” says Upton. Solar minimum will be deep, but not that deep.

The panel predicts a “fairly weak” Solar Cycle 25. What does that mean? Saying that a solar cycle is “weak” is a bit like saying hurricane season will be “weak.” In other words, there may be fewer storms, but when a storm comes, you’d better batten down the hatches. “Weak” Solar Cycle 24 produced a number of intense X-class solar flares, strong geomagnetic storms, and even a Ground Level Event (GLE) when solar energetic particles reached Earth’s surface. An equally “weak” Solar Cycle 25 could do the same 3 or 4 years hence.

Meanwhile, we have solar minimum. This is a widely misunderstood phase of the solar cycle. Many people think it brings a period of dull quiet. In fact, space weather changes in interesting ways. For instance, as the sun’s magnetic field weakens, holes open in the sun’s atmosphere. Emerging streams of solar wind buffet Earth’s magnetic field, sustaining auroras even without solar flares and sunspots. Some observers believe that Solar Minimum auroras have a distinctive palette, pinker than during other phases of the solar cycle.

The sun’s weakening magnetic field also allows cosmic rays to enter the solar system. Energetic particles from deep space penetrate Earth’s atmosphere with a myriad of possible effects ranging from changes in upper atmospheric electricity to extra doses of radiation for people on airplanes.

Finally, the sun dims, especially at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. This, in turn, causes the upper atmosphere to cool and contract. Aerodynamic drag that would normally cause satellites to decay is reduced; space junk accumulates. This effect makes solar minimum a terrible time to blow up satellites–although people do it anyway.

The Solar Cycle Prediction Panel is comprised of scientists representing NOAA, NASA, the International Space Environment Services, and other U.S. and international scientists. Their April 5th prediction was preliminary, and they plan to issue a refined forecast by the end of 2019. Stay tuned.