Chips in Space - The Building of an Amateur Satellite
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WW2L
KB3001
Excellent aim. Hope all goes well. Keep us posted!
Chips in Space: The building of an amateur satellite
Steve Bible
7/25/2011 3:22 AM EDT
Welcome to the 'Chips in Space' Blog!
I think what sets us apart as engineers is that we have insatiable curiosity. As they say in Dilbert, we have “The Knack,” which is “a rare condition characterized by an extreme intuition about all things mechanical and electrical.”
But I don’t know about the “social ineptitude” part. I have had the great pleasure of getting to know and work with some great engineers through a hobby we call ham radio.
My name is Steve Bible, and the editor at Microcontroller Designline has given me the opportunity to share my tale of how that hobby spilled over into my professional life as an engineer at Microchip Technology, eventually becoming one of the most interesting projects I’ve ever worked on.
Over the next several weeks, this limited-series guest blog will relate the story of how my colleagues and I came to build an amateur satellite, the challenges we ran into while doing so and, hopefully, its successful deployment from the International Space Station at roughly the end of July or Early August.
That is, whenever the next Russian Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) is scheduled, and IF our satellite makes it onto the mission list. Plus, the just-concluded final Space Shuttle mission could push back the schedule of our satellite’s deployment. Clearly, design challenges were not the only ones we encountered on this project, but more on that later…
ARISSat-1 was originally supposed to be SuitSat-2, a successor to the phenomenon that was SuitSat-1. For a little history, SuitSat-1 launched February 3, 2006 and operated on batteries for two weeks before the radio went silent. The AJ3U Blog chronicled the mission, and includes audio recordings of the received signal from all points around the world.
As the design and system-integration team for much of SuitSat-1, what my Microchip colleagues and I hoped to achieve with SuitSat-2 was to expand the mission capabilities to include a transponder, cameras, solar panels (so that the satellite would operate for months, not weeks), and experiment capability.
Why did SuitSat-2 become ARISSat-1 you ask? The Russian Orlan space suit that was being held for SuitSat-2 had to be discarded to make room, when the International Space Station (ISS) increased its occupancy to six cosmonauts and astronauts. See, there’s not much space in space (grin – and there’s a Portal 2 reference in there somewhere!).
Way back in July 2007, we held a kick-off meeting at the Johnson Spaceflight Center in Houston, TX. Many great ideas were discussed, conceived and written down. It was the beginning of an almost four-year trek has culminated in ARISSat-1 being ‘up massed’ via Progress 41 on January 28, 2011 to the ISS, where it sits waiting to be deployed.
In this blog, we hope to recount the highlights from that journey and tell you about some of our technical as well as personal trials and tribulations. How does a diverse group of folks, from all walks of life, interests and professions, create an amateur satellite to be deployed on the ISS? Tune in and see!
Commander of Expedition 27 crew Dmitry Kondratyev
with ARISSat-1 on board the International Space Station
(photo courtesy of NASA)
More Links:
ARISSat-1 Official Web Site
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
NASA International Space Station
I think what sets us apart as engineers is that we have insatiable curiosity. As they say in Dilbert, we have “The Knack,” which is “a rare condition characterized by an extreme intuition about all things mechanical and electrical.”
But I don’t know about the “social ineptitude” part. I have had the great pleasure of getting to know and work with some great engineers through a hobby we call ham radio.
My name is Steve Bible, and the editor at Microcontroller Designline has given me the opportunity to share my tale of how that hobby spilled over into my professional life as an engineer at Microchip Technology, eventually becoming one of the most interesting projects I’ve ever worked on.
Over the next several weeks, this limited-series guest blog will relate the story of how my colleagues and I came to build an amateur satellite, the challenges we ran into while doing so and, hopefully, its successful deployment from the International Space Station at roughly the end of July or Early August.
That is, whenever the next Russian Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) is scheduled, and IF our satellite makes it onto the mission list. Plus, the just-concluded final Space Shuttle mission could push back the schedule of our satellite’s deployment. Clearly, design challenges were not the only ones we encountered on this project, but more on that later…
ARISSat-1 was originally supposed to be SuitSat-2, a successor to the phenomenon that was SuitSat-1. For a little history, SuitSat-1 launched February 3, 2006 and operated on batteries for two weeks before the radio went silent. The AJ3U Blog chronicled the mission, and includes audio recordings of the received signal from all points around the world.
As the design and system-integration team for much of SuitSat-1, what my Microchip colleagues and I hoped to achieve with SuitSat-2 was to expand the mission capabilities to include a transponder, cameras, solar panels (so that the satellite would operate for months, not weeks), and experiment capability.
ARISSat-1 undergoing vibration testing at NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD
(photo courtesy of AMSAT)
Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD
(photo courtesy of AMSAT)
Why did SuitSat-2 become ARISSat-1 you ask? The Russian Orlan space suit that was being held for SuitSat-2 had to be discarded to make room, when the International Space Station (ISS) increased its occupancy to six cosmonauts and astronauts. See, there’s not much space in space (grin – and there’s a Portal 2 reference in there somewhere!).
Way back in July 2007, we held a kick-off meeting at the Johnson Spaceflight Center in Houston, TX. Many great ideas were discussed, conceived and written down. It was the beginning of an almost four-year trek has culminated in ARISSat-1 being ‘up massed’ via Progress 41 on January 28, 2011 to the ISS, where it sits waiting to be deployed.
In this blog, we hope to recount the highlights from that journey and tell you about some of our technical as well as personal trials and tribulations. How does a diverse group of folks, from all walks of life, interests and professions, create an amateur satellite to be deployed on the ISS? Tune in and see!
Commander of Expedition 27 crew Dmitry Kondratyev
with ARISSat-1 on board the International Space Station
(photo courtesy of NASA)
More Links:
ARISSat-1 Official Web Site
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
NASA International Space Station
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Sheetal.Pandey
7/25/2011 8:52 AM EDT
I agree, why and how bothers us a lot.
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hm
7/25/2011 11:19 AM EDT
First, we would like to konw the goal and specifications of this Satellite? Who funded this project?
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Steve Bible
7/26/2011 12:10 PM EDT
Hello hm, The goal was to create an educational satellite that is easy to listen to by students, teachers and amateur radio operators from around the world. The specifications were to meet the safety requirements of the ISS. AMSAT funded the majority of this project. The project lead was ARISS.
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KB3001
8/5/2011 10:30 AM EDT
Excellent aim. Hope all goes well. Keep us posted!
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ReneCardenas
7/25/2011 1:25 PM EDT
Awesome to see the spirit of exploration alive
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goafrit
7/25/2011 3:17 PM EDT
Interesting. I need one to watch my house in Burundi from New York City
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Robotics Developer
7/25/2011 4:40 PM EDT
Sounds like a fun project and you say it was work related, NICE! Could you share more of the details like the schematics, mechanical drawings, programming code, etc.? I would think that there are a boatload of Students who would love to learn from your experiences. Consider hosting a website. Thanks!
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Steve Bible
7/26/2011 12:27 PM EDT
Hello R.D., Please see the ARISSat-1 web site. Details about the satellite are posted there.
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Luis Sanchez
7/25/2011 4:53 PM EDT
Cool! Can't wait to read the next blog entry.
Why are you using the Russian line to get the sat in space?
why get it to the ISS? and how will it be put in to orbit? somebody will open the ISS window and throw it out? Suppose that will have to be a very sharp pitcher so that it goes in to orbit with the right degree and momentum. This block can give too much information and get back some enthusiasm in to space exploration.
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Steve Bible
7/26/2011 12:18 PM EDT
Hi Luis, ARISSat-1 was developed under ARISS (see http://www.rac.ca/ariss/). The idea was Sergey Samburov's, RV3DR, the Russian representative to ARISS. ARISSat-1 will be deployed during an EVA, basically pushed away from the ISS.
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kdboyce
7/26/2011 2:16 AM EDT
I was a 'ham' when I was a teenager. During that time, Russia launched Sputnik. I was able to pick up the beep, beep, beep signals approximately every 90 minutes or so.
For me, the hobby led to working in a local radio station rebuilding an old Gates AM transmitter as a Conelrad emergency transmitter, and later working in a local (and only) electronics company, and then on to college and ultimately Silicon Valley.
As a recently re-licensed ham, it was clear much had changed over the years in terms of bands of use, equipment, and types of communication. Amateur radio satellites is one of the big changes.
If my memory serves me correctly, De Anza College in Cupertino, CA was one of the early Silicon Valley hotbeds of amateur radio satellites.
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Steve Bible
7/26/2011 12:19 PM EDT
Hello kdboyce, In my next blog post, I'll give a little history of the first amateur satellites from Project OSCAR.
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kdboyce
7/26/2011 10:39 PM EDT
Hi Steve,
Thanks...Project OSCAR was what I was thinking of but couldn't remember when I wrote the post.
OSCAR, as I recall, was very successful in its day for the objectives set for it.
I look forward to more info.
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Paul512
8/2/2011 9:34 PM EDT
Hi Steve. By coincidence we just had a reunion of the Australis Oscar 5 team here in Australia. AO5 was launched in January 1970; over 40 years ago.
Paul Dunn.
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W8KRF
7/26/2011 11:55 AM EDT
I am a ham (W8KRF) and have been following the ARRISat-1 project for some time. I attended the AMSAT Symposium in Chicago and saw the model of the unit on display. I am sorely disappointed by what has happened to this satellite. For all the work that AMSAT has put into this project, it appears they have absolutely no control anymore. The test run in February was a failure. The continually postponed release is disheartening. The Russians seem to have complete control now. I currently am active in the satellite communications part of the hobby and routinely communicate through the ISS APRS digipeater. I am semi-active on a few of the other amateur radio "birds" that are in orbit. I now anxiously await the deployment of Kedr as the Russian named it in early August. For those of you who have asked, we are using Russia to get us up there because any US space flights are too expensive and difficult to obtain. Our space programs are nearly non-existent. That is very sad. John Kennedy is rolling over in his grave, I am sure. All the above is my personal feelings and in no way represents AMSAT or any other organization involved in the ARRISat-1 project.
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Steve Bible
7/26/2011 12:25 PM EDT
Hello W8KRF, There's one thing that is abundantly clear when working on amateur satellites, it is to have lots and lots of patience. When one volunteers hundreds of hours on such a project the view of the glass has to be "half full" and there is always an opportunity to learn.
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Steve Bible
7/26/2011 2:37 PM EDT
Sorry for the confusion, for all of the above replies, I should have signed them: Screen name "tinkerer" is Steve Bible.
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colin.holland
7/27/2011 5:38 AM EDT
Steve's screen name has now been changed so readers can see it is him replying to comments.
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WW2L
8/2/2011 6:00 PM EDT
Hi Steve,
First of all congratulations and thanks for the Ham Radio support. I am not sure if you can share with us but just curiosity how many microcontrollers ARISSat-1 have ? And how many of them are PIC? :)
Thanks,
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Steve Bible
8/2/2011 7:49 PM EDT
Hi WW2L, I'll be describing more about each of the subsystems and the electronics in future blog posts, in summary:
Software Defined Transponder (SDX): PIC32
Internal Housekeeping Unit (IHU): PIC32
Power Supply Unit (PSU): PIC16F887, PIC16F690
Command Decoder: PIC16F887
Solar Max Power Point Converter (MPPT): PIC16F690 (x6)
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pcsalex
8/4/2011 11:06 AM EDT
Folks, and than finding out just before letting go that gadget that one of the antennas is missing....I was watching the launch attempt. And that cost at least as much as the deficit of the city of Vallejo, the difference is that Vallejo had to let go half of the police force, and with that launching, is just "happened " so
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WW2L
8/6/2011 1:14 PM EDT
Hi Steve,
Bird is flying well and sending very nice pictures. Last night one of my ham friend did record the transmission with a hand held 2 meter radio with the stock antenna.
Very Well designed and developed system congratulation to all team for this high quality work.
Levent Sasmazel – WW2L
3U Cube Sat Project Coordinator
AMSAT-TR
PS: Can you provide e-mail address then I can send you some pictures.
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