It appears that the $50SAT Amateur Radio “PocketQube” microsatellite — also known as Eagle 2 (MO-76) — has finally gone silent, a couple of days short of 20 months in orbit. The satellite, which did not carry an Amateur Radio transponder, transmitted on 437.505 MHz at a power of 100 mW. In a Yahoo Groups posting, one of its developers Michael Kirkhart, KD8QBA, said the last time he was able to hear the satellite was on July 19.
“It was fun while it lasted,” he told ARRL this week.
Launched in late 2013 from Russia, $50SAT was a collaborative education project of Prof Bob Twiggs, KE6QMD, of Kentucky’s Morehead State University, and three other radio amateurs — Howie DeFelice, AB2S; Stuart Robinson, GW7HPW, and Kirkhart.
“Our best guess as to what happened is the solar cells have been slowly damaged due to sputtering,” Kirkhart said in his Yahoo post. “All the high-energy particles from the solar wind can effectively ‘sandblast’ the satellite, and since our cells had no protective cover glass, this will cause the surface to slowly become diffused, and thus cause the output of the cells to drop. We knew this would happen. What we did not know is that $50SAT would operate long enough where this would become a problem; our bets were on the battery failing first.”
Kirkhart said the mission now has transitioned into the how-long-will-it-stay-in-orbit? Phase. He cited one de-orbit prediction of May 2017. The “$50” was a bit of an exaggeration; the tiny satellite actually was constructed from about $250 worth of parts. — Thanks to Michael Kirkhart, KD8QBA
Source: ARRL
“New RigExpert Green ZOOM Family of the antenna & cable analyzers Dear RigExpert Followers, We are glad to present you a New RigExpert Green... Read more
F5VIH. KM3T. PY1NB. These strings of letters and numbers aren’t license plate numbers but call signs. They belong to a handful of Ham radio operators,... Read more
The FCC Enforcement Bureau on November 7 issued a Notice of Unlicensed Operation (NoUO) to Technician licensee Daryl Thomas, KE6MWS, of Carmichael, Ca... Read more
The ARRL 2015 Annual Report is now available online. The report covers the five pillars of the League’s mission — Public Service, Advocacy, Education,... Read more
By Laura Camper, Star Staff Writer – Ham radio in Cleburne ready for disaster: Read more
Here how to convert your existing homebrew radio into a full-fledged SDR for less than$100. The idea of hybrid architecture was first implemented in t... Read more
Call type ops 3V8SS Self-spotting KF5EYY (3V8SS) 4O7CC Self-spotting UA4CC 7Z1SJ Self-spotting 7Z1SJ 9K2HN Self-spotting 9K2HN, 9K2RR, 9K2OD, 9K2HK, 9... Read more
POLAR CROWN CORONAL HOLE: A large hole in the sun’s atmosphere has formed around the sun’s north pole. This is called a “polar crown... Read more
Recent Posts
New RigExpert Green ZOOM Family of the antenna & cable analyzers
Amateur radio users help scientists study space weather
California Radio Amateur Receives Notice of Unlicensed Operation from FCC
ARRL 2015 Annual Report Now Available
Ham radio in Cleburne ready for disaster
sBITX – An open source SDR that you can hack
CQ WW 2016 SSB Disqualification list
POLAR CROWN CORONAL HOLE: A large hole in the sun’s atmosphere has formed around the sun’s north pole
There are no ads, please add some