The Cube Satellite program is a program that involves the construction, deploying, and successful communication with a satellite measuring 10 cm x 10cm x 10cm. The schools involved are four from the Irvine Unified School District, and one from Tustin Unified school district. Woodbridge High School, my high school, is in charge of the communications to and from the satellite. The other schools are in charge of things from propulsion (orbital calculations and adjustments as well as hardware) to prime (the payload consisting of a 3 mega pixel camera and sun sensors. Our satellite will be launched from Russia with a tentative launch date of March 1, 2017.
Now, on to the HAM stuff. At some point during this month or next month the Communications Team and the Propulsion Team will be conducting a drill to see how quickly we can identify a satellite. We will be requesting the help of local HAMs, such as yourselves, as well as from HAMs around the world. We will be choosing a satellite, then requesting our HAM helpers to listen for the beacon from the satellite and then identify where they were when they heard it as well as when they heard it as well as where the satellite was (altitude and azimuth) when they heard it. Once the HAMs have gotten this data, we will request that they submit the data to some, as of yet undetermined, place where the Communication Team will compile the data and then forward that information to the Propulsion Team who will use that data to calculate an orbit and identify the satellite. This drill will be a test for what we will need to do when our satellite is launched and we need to locate it and establish communication with the satellite.
If you have any further questions feel free to contact me at this email address: 17sandoval@gmail.com or KM6ATX@soara.org
Our Cube Sat Twitter: @irvinecubesat
Best Regards,
Matthew Sandoval, KM6ATX