SPROUT Satellite Sponsors Seek Telemetry Reports

Students at Nihon University in Japan are requesting the assistance of radio amateurs in collecting telemetry reports from the SPROUT (SPace Research On Unique Technology) satellite, which has deployed its inflatable membrane structure. SPROUT was launched on May 24, 2014, from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.

According to the SPROUT team, a goal of the nanosatellite project will be to validay the design of the inflatable membrane structure and the deployment mechanism, as well as attitude control of a several-kilogram class nanosatellite.

The team said it’s necessary to get a deal of data from the satellite, which can take a long time via a single ground station. The SPROUT team is calling on satellite enthusiasts to receive and submit telemetry data received from SPROUT on 437.525 MHz FM (1k2 AFSK AX.25), call sign JQ1ZJQ. The beacon is in CW.

Submit reports to the team via e-mail.

The satellite also transmits slow-scan television on 437.600 MHz and includes an FM digitalker and a digipeater (also on 437.600 MHz). Visit the SPROUT/Miyazaki Laboratory Facebook page. — Thanks to AMSAT News Service via AMSAT-UK