Picture |
Object
name
#NORAD |
Remarks |
Launch
Date |
Weight |
|
Lunik
I
Luna 1
Mechta
1959-012A
#00112 |
Luna 1 was the first
of a series of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations
successfully launched in the direction of the Moon.
It actually landed on the Moon.
|
Jan
2nd 1959 |
361
kg |
 This recording
of a Lunik probe was kindly provided by Dick W4PUJ.
It is possibly from Lunik I but we are not sure. It
could be also based on transmissions of Lunik II or
Lunik III.
|
|
Pioneer
4
Pioneer IV
1959-013A
#00113 |
Pioneer
4 was a spin stabilized spacecraft launched
on a lunar flyby trajectory and into a heliocentric
orbit making it the first US probe to escape from the
Earth's gravity. It carried a payload similar to Pioneer
3: a lunar radiation environment experiment using a
Geiger-Mueller tube detector and a lunar photography
experiment. It passed within 60,000 km of the Moon's
surface. However, Pioneer 4 did not come close enough
to trigger the photoelectric sensor. No lunar radiation
was detected. The spacecraft was still in solar orbit
as of 1969. |
Mar 3rd 1959 |
5.9 kg |
|
Lunik
III
Luna 3
1959-008A
#00021 |
The lunar
probe Lunik 3, an automatic interplanetary station,
flew around the Moon. Recording kindly provided by Alois
DL3PD. |
Oct
4th 1959 |
278.5
kg |
Luna
3 was the  first
probe which provided the signals and pictures (see on
the right) from far side of the Moon. In total it took
29 pictures. 17 pictures were successfully transmitted
back to Earth. Recording provided by Alois DL3PD. |
|
Voyager-2
Mariner
Jupiter/Saturn B
#10271
(1977-076A) |
Voyager 2 was one of
a pair of spacecraft launched to explore the planets
of the outer solar system and the interplanetary environment.
Each Voyager had as its major objectives at each planet
to: (1) investigate the circulation, dynamics, structure,
and composition of the planet's atmosphere; (2) characterize
the morphology, geology, and physical state of the satellites
of the planet; (3) provide improved values for the mass,
size, and shape of the planet, its satellites, and any
rings; and, (4) determine the magnetic field structure
and characterize the composition and distribution of
energetic trapped particles and plasma therein. |
Aug 20th 1977 |
722 kg |
 NASA
placed on both spacecrafts Voyager 1 and 2 a disk which
contains messages to communicate a story of our world
to extraterrestrials. The Voyager messages are carried
by a phonograph record. The 12-inch gold-plated copper
disk contains 115 images and a variety of natural sounds
to demonstrate the diversity of life and culture on
Earth. Enclosed please find some of the sounds.
birds: chimpanzee: f-111
fire:
first:
herding:
horse:
kiss:
morse:
tame dog:
volcanoes: wind:
|
 Jovian
Electron Cyclotron Emissions recorded by Voyager-2
PWS (plasma wave sensor): Jovian electron
cyclotron emissions are intense narrow-banded emissions,
generated by energetic electrons spiraling along the
magnetic field lines of Jupiter and its magnetized moons.
The frequency bands of the electron cyclotron emissions
occur at harmonics or very precise multiples of the
electron cyclotron frequency, a characteristic frequency
of the plasma surrounding the planet. The frequencies
of the electron cyclotron emission bands track the variations
in the electron cyclotron frequency, which varies with
the strength of the magnetic field. The resulting tones
are high- pitched monotones which move up and down in
frequency scale on time scales of seconds to tens of
seconds. Provided by Don Gurnett. Courtesy of NASA and
the University of Iowa. |
|
Voyager-1
Mariner
Jupiter/Saturn A
#10321
(1977-084A) |
Voyager-1 was launched
only 2 weeks after Voyager-2. Both provided communications
through a high-gain antenna with a low-gain antenna
for backup. The high-gain antenna supported both X-band
(approx. 8420 MHz) and S-band downlink telemetry. |
Sep 5th 1977 |
722 kg |
On January 25th
2010 12:55 UTC Juan Daniel Gallego was able to use the
40m dish antenna of OAN in Yebes, Spain to receive Voyager
1 using a  Perseus
Software Defined receiver. At the time of reception
Voyager was 16.9 billion km away which is about 3.5
times the distance between Earth and Pluto! After converting
the 8.4 GHz signal down to about 3.5 MHz the beacon
signal was finally demodulated using CW detection of
the Perseus SDR receiver with an IF filter BW of 200
Hz. A description of the setup can be found when clicking
on the icon of the dish antenna.  The
audio recordings below are in non compressed wav format
and thus each 3 MBytes large. This allows you to analyze
the audio with an FFT program like Spectrum lab in case
you are interested. A spectrum capture can be seen by
clicking on the icon on the right.
In the
first recording you can hear the carrier of the beacon.
The signal is approx. 5 dB below noise level but can
be perceived by a trained (ham) ear.
In the
second recording the local oscillator of the receiver
is switched 50 Hz up and down in periods of a few seconds.
This makes it much easier to perceive the signal by
the change in pitch even by untrained ears.
Finally
the third audio files contains the same signal from
the beacon (no freq. switching) but compressed in time
by a factor of 50 and repeated 4 times. This makes easier
to appreciate the change in the Doppler shift.
Many thanks to Juan Daniel Gallego
for kindly providing the recordings and screenshots. |
Jovian
Bow Shock
recorded
by Voyager-1 PWS (plasma wave sensor): All
of the planets in the Solar System are embedded in the
interplanetary medium known as the solar wind. The solar
wind travels supersonically with respect to the slower
planets at a speed of about one million miles per hour.
And, just as a supersonic jet will create a sonic boom
in the slower atmosphere of Earth, a bow shock is created
in the solar wind in front of each planet.
Jupiter
has a strong magnetic field that reaches out more than
3.5 million miles in front of the planet, providing
a substantial obstacle to the flow of the solar wind.
The bow shock forms at that surface in interplanetary
space where the supersonic solar wind encounters the
magnetic force of Jupiter and it acts to slow and deflect
the solar wind. In the process, the energy of motion
of the solar wind is converted to thermal energy at
the bow shock, heating the particles behind the shock
and creating rapid and turbulent particle motions that
generate the plasma waves associated with the bow shock.
When the Voyager spacecraft encountered the Jovian bow
shock, there was a very sudden burst of intense, low-frequency
emissions extending over a wide range of frequencies.
These emissions are directly associated with the Jovian
bow shock and are similar to the loud sound associated
with a sonic boom. The shock noise signature is a sudden,
loud, rumbling roar lasting more than a minute.
Provided
by Don Gurnett. Courtesy of NASA and the University
of Iowa. |
Jovian
Chorus recorded
by Voyager-1 PWS (plasma wave sensor): Jovian
chorus is generated in Jupiter's radiation belts by
electrons spiraling along Jupiter's magnetic field lines
in this region. Once generated, the chorus waves interact
with the moving electrons, disturbing the spiral orbit
of the electrons and causing them to fall into the Jupiter's
ionosphere along the magnetic field lines at high latitudes.
Chorus waves consist of a rapid succession of intense
ascending tones, rising in frequency over very short
time intervals, each tone lasting typically less than
one second. The frequencies of these rising tones occur
in the audio frequency range and sound like a dawn chorus
of chirping birds, a sound which gives these waves their
name. Provided
by Don Gurnett. Courtesy of NASA and the University
of Iowa. |
Jovian
upstream ion acoustic waves recorded by Voyager-1. Provided
by Don Gurnett. Courtesy of NASA and the University
of Iowa. |
Jovian
Whistlers
recorded
by Voyager-1 PWS (plasma wave sensor): Jovian
whistler waves propagate at audio frequencies along
closed field lines in Jupiter's magnetosphere. Like
Earth whistlers, the higher frequency components of
the Jovian whistler propagate faster than the lower
frequency components, resulting in a descending tone
that decreases rapidly in frequency over several seconds.
The descending tone sounds like a high-pitched whistle.
Also like Earth whistlers, Jovian whistlers are generated
by lightning discharges in the atmosphere. The detection
of Jovian whistlers by the Voyager spacecraft provided
the first indirect evidence of lightning on the giant
planet. Provided
by Don Gurnett. Courtesy of NASA and the University
of Iowa. |
|
Mars Global
Surveyor
(MGS)
#24648
(1996-062A) |
Mars
Global Surveyor was launched by NASA on a Delta II rocket
and arrived at Mars on September the 12th 1997. The
spectrum plot was recorded on April 14th 2006 on 8422.744
MHz and was kindly provided by www.uhf-satcom.com. |
Nov 7th
1996 |
1030 kg |
|
Cassini
#25008
(1997-061A)
&
Huygens
(1997-061C) |
The Cassini Orbiter's
mission consists of delivering a probe (called Huygens,
provided by ESA) to Titan and then remaining in orbit
around Saturn for detailed studies of the planet and
its rings and satellites. The atmospheric probe Huygens
landed on Saturn's moon Titan. |
Oct 15th 1997 |
Cassini:
2523 kg
Huygens:
319 kg |
This recording
is a laboratory reconstruction of the sounds heard by
Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI), which
includes an acoustic sensor. Several sound samples,
taken at different times during the descent, are here
combined together and give a realistic reproduction
of what a traveller on board Huygens would have heard
during one minute of the descent through Titan's atmosphere
on Jan 14th
2005. Source: ESA |
This
recording was done on July 25th
2004. Time on this recording has been compressed such
that 13 seconds corresponds to 27 seconds. Since the
frequencies of these emissions are well above the audio
frequency range, they were shifted downward by a factor
of 260. Source: NASA |
|
2000 Cluster
2
FM6
Salsa
#26411
(2000-041B) |
The Cluster II spacecraft,
FM6 (Salsa), was launched together with FM7 (Samba).
The four similar spacecraft of the Cluster II mission
are part of ESA's and NASA's Solar-Terrestrial Science
Program (STSP). |
Jul 16th 2000 |
550 kg |
Earth
AKR (Auroral Kilometric Radiation) recorded
in stereo by the Cluster 2 spacecraft. The four Cluster
II WBD (wideband) instruments were designed and built
at The University of Iowa through funding provided by
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Provided
by Don Gurnett. Courtesy of NASA and the University
of Iowa. |
Earth
whistlers recorded in stereo by the Cluster 2
spacecraft. The aim of the Cluster mission is to study
small-scale structures of the magentosphere and its
environment in three dimensions. To achieve this, Cluster
is constituted of four identical spacecrafts which fly
in a tetrahedral configuration. Provided by Don Gurnett.
Courtesy of NASA and the University of Iowa. |
|
2001
Mars Odyssey
#26734
(2001-014A) |
2001
Mars Odyssey was launched on a Delta II rocket from
Cape Canaveral. The spectrum plot was recorded on April
11th
2006 and was kindly provided by www.uhf-satcom.com. |
Apr 7th
2001 |
725 kg |
|
Hayabusa
Muses-C
#27809
(2003-019C) |
The primary
scientific objective of the Hayabusa (Muses-C) mission
is to collect  a
surface sample of material from the small (550 x 180
meter) asteroid 25143 Itokawa (1998 SF36) and return
the sample to Earth for analysis. Communications are
via X- and S-band low gain antennas and the high gain
dish antenna (X-band) with a transmitted power of 20
W. Two solar panel wings with a total array area of
12 square meters protrude from the side and a 1.5 m
diameter high-gain parabolic antenna is mounted on top
of the aircraft. On June 8th
2010 at 20:16 UTC the X-band downlink signal (8408.217
MHz) of Hayabusa was received by F5PL. The recording
was kindly provided by Bertrand F5PL. |
May 9th
2003 |
415 kg |
After a 7 years mission Hayabusa returned
to Earth's and burned up during re-entry in its atmosphere
over Australia on June 13th
2010 around 14:00 UTC. Three hours before re-entry the
return capsule was successfully ejected and landed in
the Woomera prohibited area in the Australian outback
where it was retrieved on June 14th
2010. |
|
Mars Express
#27816
(2003-022A) |
Mars
Express was launched by the European Space Agency on
a Soyuz-Fregat from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It included
a lander called Beagle 2.
It features the following communication
downlinks:
X-band: 8420.43207 MHz (61.27 dBW)
S-band: 2296.481481 MHz (37.53dBW)
The used high gain antenna is a 1.6m
centered parabolish dish which provides 39.3 dBi gain
at X-band and 27.3 dBi at S-band.
The sound file as well as the spectrum
plot were recorded on April 11th 2006 and were kindly
provided by www.uhf-satcom.com. |
Jun 2nd 2003 |
1120 kg |
|
Spitzer
Space
Telescope
#27871
(2003-038A) |
Launched
by NASA on a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral. It is
a space-borne, cryogenically-cooled infrared observatory
capable of studying objects ranging from our Solar System
to the distant reaches of the Universe. The spectrum
plot was recorded at 8413.626490 MHz on April 23rd 2006 and was
kindly provided by www.uhf-satcom.com. |
Aug 25th 2003 |
950 kg |
|
Smart-1
moon Orbiter
#27949
(2003-043C) |
Launched
by ESA on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou. Mission
ended September 3rd 2006 with its planned impact into
moon. It transmitted at 8453.024225 MHz and at 32121.49350
MHz. The spectrum plot was recorded at 8453 MHz on August
15th
2006 and was kindly provided by www.uhf-satcom.com. |
Sep 27th
2003 |
367 kg |
|
Rosetta
#28169
(2004-006A) |
Rosetta
is is en-route
to Comet 67 P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko.
It transmits on 8421.790123 MHz. The spectrum plot was
recorded on May 4th
2006 and was kindly provided by www.uhf-satcom.com. |
Mar 2nd 2004 |
810 kg |
Michael
OH2AUE built an 8.4 GHz receiver from junk and received
Rosetta using his club station 4 m dish. He webcasted
the event, a video of the shack and the BPSK carrier
audio to other interested people. The enclosed audio
recording was kindly provided by Michael Fletcher OH2AUE. |
|
Mars
Reconnaissance
Orbiter (MRO)
#28788
(2005-029A) |
Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched by NASA on
an Atlas V-401 from Cape Canaveral. MRO arrived at Mars
on March 10th
2006. The sound file as well as the spectrum plot were
recorded on December 20th
2005 when the spacecraft was 53258740 miles away from
Earth. They were kindly provided by www.uhf-satcom.com. |
Aug 12th
2005 |
2180 kg |
|
Venus Express
#28901
(2005-045A) |
Venus
Express was launched by the European Space Agency on
a Soyuz-Fregat from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It transmits
a tracking / telemetry beacon on DSN channel 17 which
is 8419.074074 MHz. The data enclosed was recorded when
the probe was 4.17 million miles away. Record and spectrum
plot were kindly provided by www.uhf-satcom.com. |
Nov 9th 2005 |
1270 kg |
On January 25th
2010 11:10 UTC Juan Daniel Gallego was able to use the
40m dish antenna of OAN in Yebes, Spain to receive Venus
Express using a Perseus
Software Defined receiver. At the time of reception
Venus Express was 256 million km away ! After converting
the 8.4 GHz signal down to about 3.1 MHz the beacon
signal was finally demodulated using USB detection of
the Perseus SDR receiver with an IF filter BW of 2.4
kHz. A description of the setup can be found when clicking
on the icon of the dish antenna.
 In
the first recording you can hear the carrier of the
beacon (changing pitch over time due to doppler effect).
 In
the second recording the upper sideband of the signal
carrying the downlink data was demodulated.
Many thanks to Juan Daniel Gallego
for kindly providing the recordings and screenshots. |
|
New Horizons
Pluto
Charon
#28928
(2006-001A) |
New Horizons
Pluto Charon was launched by NASA on an Atlas V from
Cape Canaveral and is en-route to Pluto. It transmits
on 8437.894737 MHz and 8438.181818 MHz. The spectrum
plot was recorded on April 12th
2006 when it was 64509465 miles away from earth. It
was kindly provided by www.uhf-satcom.com. |
Jan 19th
2006 |
393 kg |
|
Stereo
A
#29510
(2006-047A)
&
Stereo B
#29511
(2006-047B) |
Stereo A & B (Solar
TErrestrial RElations Observatory) were jointly launched
by NASA aboard a single Boeing Delta II rocket from
Cape Canaveral. They are providing 3D images of the
sun. |
Oct 25th 2006 |
642 kg
each |
Stereo
A transmits on 8443.5185 MHz, Stereo
B transmits on 8446.2345 MHz. The spectrum plots from
both spacecrafts were kindly
provided by www.uhf-satcom.com. |
|
Selene
Kaguya
#32054
(2007-039A) |
SELenological and ENgineering
Explorer was funded by the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency. This lunar orbiter mission consists of three
satellites:
1.) an orbiter containing most of the
scientific equipment named "Kaguya"
2.)
a VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) Radio (VRAD)
satellite named "Ouna"
3.) a relay satellite
named "Okina" designed to receive a doppler
ranging signal from the orbiter when it is around the
far side of the moon out of direct contact with the
Earth and transmit the signal to Earth to estimate the
far-side gravitational field. |
Sep 14th 2007 |
1984 kg |
The S-band
downlink of Kaguya at 2363.6 MHz was received by Michael
OH2AUE using only a bent paper clip as the antenna.
This is to show what is possible with even such a small/simple
antenna: the signal is really weak but you can clearly
identify it especially at the end of the recording.
Recorded on December 18th 2007 by Michael OH2AUE. |
 Here
is a spectrum plot recorded by Paul M0YET on November
14th 2008 at 21:12 UTC. Please note the excellent signal
quality: he achieved more than 30 dB SNR using a 7 Hz
bandwidth.
|
|
Chandrayaan
1
#33405
(2008-052A) |
Chandrayaan-1 (means
"Moon Craft" in ancient Sanskrit) is an Indian
Space Research Organization (ISRO) mission designed
to orbit the Moon over a two year period with the objectives
of upgrading and testing India's technological capabilities
in space and returning scientific information on the
lunar surface. The satellite is a cubic in shape of
approximately 1.5 m side. The scientific payload data
transmission is in X-band frequency. The Telemetry,
Tracking & Command (TTC) communication is in S-band
frequency. Chandrayaan includes also a Moon
Impact Probe (MIP)
weighing 29 kg which rides piggyback on the top deck
of the main orbiter. MIP is shown on the bbottom picture
to the left and will be released at a predetermined
time after the orbiter reaches the final 100 km orbit
to impact at a pre-selected location. MIP operates at
4.3 GHz +/- 100 MHz. |
Oct
22nd
2008 |
523
kg |
This spectrum plot of the
S-band downlink at 2230.9 MHz was recorded on November
8th 2008 by Paul M0YET. |
Here
is another recording of Chandrayaan-1 kindly provided
by Paul M0YET. He received the satellite on 2230,9 MHz
when rather far away and thus quite weak on November
9th 2008 at 19:53UTC using a 90cm dish and an AOR AR-5000
receiver. The satellite can barely be heard in the audio
file but very well seen in the spectrum plot. |
The X-Band
downlink (8483.967 MHz) of Chandrayaan-1 was recorded
by Paul M0YET on February 7th 2009 at 18:56UTC. |
|
Kepler
Discovery 10
#34380
(2009-011A) |
NASA's Kepler Mission
is to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover
hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near
the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions
of stars in our galaxy have such planets. It includes
a 0.95m aperture differential photometer with a 105°
FOV. Kepler was launched on March 6th
2009 from Cape Canaveral/Florida on a Delta rocket into
an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit. |
Mar 6th
2009 |
1000 kg |
Kepler uses the following
communication links:
- Uplink X-band: 7.8125 bps
up to 2 kbps
- Downlink X-band: 10 bps up to 16
kbps, antenna gain is 6.5dB, transmit power is 14dBW,
activated twice a week for commanding, health and status.
- Downlink Ka-band: up to 4.33125 Mbps, antenna gain
is 46.6dB, transmit power is 14dBW, activated once a
month for science data download. |
 The
X-band downlink was received by Paul Marsh on March
8th 2009. The FFT was received in a 5KHz b/w of the
8424.476 MHz downlink at 19:18 UTC on March 8th 2009.
|
 The
Ka-band downlink was received by Paul Marsh on April
29th 2009 who had put together a 32GHz down converter
from commonly available parts and then used a SDR-14
FFT receiver from RF-Space.
 The
first FFT was received in a 5KHz b/w of the 32166.1711
MHz downlink at 19:41UTC on April 29th 2009 while the
space-probe was about 3226045 Miles away from Earth.
 The
second FFT was received in a 3KHz b/w of the 32166.1653
MHz downlink at 21:27UTC on April 29th 2009 while the
space-probe was about 3226445 Miles away from Earth.
Note: The FFT shows the drift due to doppler shift and
a slight wobble in the carrier which is caused by Paul's
receiver: the GPS reference oscillators 10MHz output
is being multiplied 3420 times to generate the 34.2GHz
local oscillator. Therefore a very slight wobble in
the GPS control loop is strongly amplified.
|
|
Herschel
(FIRST)
#34937
(2009-026A) |
Herschel
Space Observatory carries the largest space telescope
ever launched before. Herschel was launched together
with Planck on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou /
French Guiana.  From
a point in space called the 2nd Lagrangian Point (or
L2), its 3.5-m diameter mirror will collect long-wavelength
infrared radiation from some of the coolest and most
distant objects in the Universe. Herschel was received
by Paul Marsh when its distance to Earth was only ~170,000
Miles.  The
downlink frequency was 8468.454MHz. The first FFT plot
shows the tail end of a coherent locking cycle. On the
second plot sidebands carrying data can clearly be seen.
Received on May 15th 2009 at 22:25 UTC by Paul Marsh. |
May 14th
2009 |
3300kg |
|
Planck
#34938
(2009-026B) |
Planck was
launched together with Herschel on an Ariane 5 rocket
from Kourou / French Guiana. In the lower picture on
the left you can see it is located below Herschel. The
Planck satellite will observe the cosmic microwave background
radiation (CMB). This is the radiation released into
the Universe by the Big Bang about 14 thousand million
years ago.
Planck carries a telescope with an effective
aperture of 1.5 m that feeds microwave radiation to
two instruments:
 1.)
High Frequency Instrument (HFI) which is an array of
52 bolometric detectors and will image the sky at six
frequencies between 100 GHz and 857 GHz.
 2.)
Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) which is an array of
22 tuned radio receivers and images the sky at three
frequencies between 30 GHz and 70 GHz.
Downlink
frequency was 8468.454MHz, the FFT below shows the tail
end of a coherent locking cycle. The distance to the
probe is only ~170,000 Miles. The FFT's below are from
the IF frequency, simply add 8GHz to get the receive
frequency. In the second plot the data sidebands can
be seen. Received on May 15th 2009 at 22:04 UTC by Paul
Marsh. |
May 14th
2009 |
1800 kg |
|
Venus
Climate
Orbiter (VCO)
PLANET-C
AKATSUKI
#36576
(2010-020D) |
PLANET-C is Japan's first
Venus probe, designed to study the dynamics of the atmosphere
and to establish the meteorology of Venus. Venus Climate
Orbiter will be built and launched by JAXA into an elliptical
orbit around Venus with a period of 30 hours. The target
launch date is May 17th 2010
from JAXA Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan. Venus'
surface is invisible under a thick layer of sulfuric
acid clouds and thus Planet-C will image Venus at different
wavelengths (lightning and airglow in visible light,
cloud temperature map in mid-infrared, chemical composition
at cloud top in ultraviolet, ground surface in near-infrared,
and lower atmosphere in near-infrared). It will also
include an ultra-stable oscillator for radio science
experiments. Together with Planet-C as the primary payload
there will be 5 secondary payloads launched: IKAROS,
UNISEC-1 and deployed together in a J_POD module WASEDA-SAT2,
KSAT and Negai*.
 260214
people around the world did participate in the "AKATSUKI
message campaign" and registered their names to
be printed on a special aluminium plate attached to
the aircraft. The confirmation image I received can
be seen when clicking on the icon to the right. |
May
20th 2010 |
500
kg |
 On May
22nd 2010 Bertrand Pinel F5PL
received Planet-C on 8410.8039 MHz with a . Recording
and spectrum plot kindly provided by Bertrand F5PL.
|
|
IKAROS
#36577
(2010-020E) |
 IKAROS
(Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation
Of the Sun) was launched by JAXA together with PLANET-C
and four other secondary payloads. This solar space
kite satellite is also heading towards Venus and is
expected to enter Venus' orbit after the 6 month journey.
 IKAROS
is the first fuel-free, solar-powered sail craft to
enter deep space “employing both photon propulsion and
thin film solar power generation” during its flight. The
sail of the IKAROS is a square membrane with a diagonal
distance of 20 meters and only 0.0075 mm thin. Paul
Marsh received IKAROS on May 23rd
2010 on 8431.1752 MHz. Enclosed please see the spectrum
plots he made.
|
May
20th 2010 |
315
kg |
 On May
25th 2010 around 20:20 UTC
also Bertrand F5PL received IKAROS at 8431.171 MHz (DSN
channel number 26) with a Signal strength of about +2
dB @2000 Hz BW. You can hear the signal in enclosed
audio recording.  His
antenna is an automated 10 foot dish with a cassegrain
feed and an LNA with 0.5 dB NF. Bertrand suspects a
problem with the frequency stability of the transmitter
of IKAROS. It is wobbling with a period of about 2 secs
as you can see in enclosed frequency spectrum plots
which he kindly provided.
|
 On May
28th 2010 at 20:46 and 21:30
UTC Bertrand received IKAROS again and made enclosed
specturm plots. At this time IKAROS was using its omni
antenna and its RF power was 7 W.  The
wobble frequency of the transmitter changed to about
4.2 secs and his new theory is that it is related to
the spin frequency of the probe. Thanks to F5PL for
kindly providing the recordings and plots.
|
Despite of the increasing distance
of IKAROS from  Earth
Bertrand received the probe also on June 4th
2010 and provided enclosed very nice spectrum plot.
It shows the wobbling of the signal very clearly. Thanks
to F5PL for kindly providing the plot. |
 Bertrand
Pinel F5PL and Jean-Jacques Maintoux F1EHN prepared
enclosed very nice analysis of the wobbling downlink
signal of IKAROS. Many thanks to F5PL for providing
this document.
|
On June 15th
2010, IKAROS released a spring-loaded detachable camera
module, a cylinder about six centimeters in diameter,
which snapped a series of pictures of the deployed 14-by-14
meter solar sail of the larger craft as it drifted away
(see pictures to the left). |
|
UNITEC-1
#36578
(2010-020F) |
UNITEC-1 (UNISEC Technology
Experiment Carrier -1) is the world's first deep space
satellite jointly developed by more than 20 universities.
UNISEC stands for University Space Engineering Consortium.
UNITEC-1 was launched together with PLANET-C and four
other secondary payloads towards Venus. UNITEC-1 will
be the last satellite to separate from the H-IIA F17
launcher. One of the 3 missions of this nanosatellite
is to provide the amateur radio community a challenge
to receive faint deep space signals. Unitec-1 will transmit
at 5840.000 MHz using the callsign JQ1ZUN. Its transmit
power is 4.8W per each of the two microstrip patch antennas,
thus in total 9.6W. The satellite's downlink schedule
is a 6 hour cycle with mainly pauses and the following
transmissions:
96% of TX time: CW in 1bps
4%
of TX time: AFSK/FM 1200bps packet radio
Six universities
are running experiments on UNITEC-1 which provide the
payload data of the AFSK transmission. The transmission
format is specified as "10M0F2D" and the bandwidth
will be 20 MHz. |
May
20th 2010 |
15
kg |
Before
UNITEC-1 was launched the communication system was tested.
Enclosed audio file of the CW test transmission was
recorded on May 9th 2010. The
second audio file documents an FSK test transmission
and was recorded on May 10th
2010. The recordings were kindly provided by UNISEC.
Special thanks to Naomi Kurahara JE6GXN. |
After
the successful launch on May 21st
2010 first CW and FSK signals were received on 5839.91
MHz during the first pass over Japan around 16:15h JST.
Unfortunately soon after the transmitter of Unitec-1
stopped working. The recordings were kindly provided
by UNISEC. Special thanks to Naomi Kurahara JE6GXN. |
On May
21th 2010 JA4BLC copied the
signal of Unitec-1 at 15:41:49 UTC for 15 seconds.  The
frequency was 5839.905 MHz. He used a 6m parabolic dish
(10mm mesh) with a modified W2IMU horn. Enclosed audio
file and spectrum plot was kindly provided by Yoshiro
JA4BLC. |
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Object
name
#NORAD |
Remarks |
Launch
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