Ecco i dettagli della missione CubeSat UKube-1

Sollecitato da Enrico, disposto a partecipare a una minicordata, ho provato ad acquistare un FunCube Dongle all'asta che su è tenuta ieri sera. L'asta via PayPal è l'unico mezzo per acquistare questo dispositivo che periodicamente mette in palio qualche decina di lotti. In genere questi vanno esauriti nel giro di una manciata di secondi a partire dall'ora ufficiale di inizio della vendita online. Sarà stata la fortuna del principiante ma mi sembra di esserci riuscito, almeno a giudicare dal messaggio di approvazione del pagamento ricevuto da Paypal. Questo piccolo front end USB per applicazioni SDR si basa su un chip per la ricezione televisiva e quello che conta per me è che può essere controllato da una applicazione Mac. Il sito di Alexandru Csete, fisico che lavora in Danimarca (ma di chiare origini non scandinave) ha compilato in ambiente QT una applicazione che imposta la frequenza per il FCDongle. Il resto dovrebbero farlo le applicazioni SDR per Mac e i vari software di "cavetteria" virtuale per questa piattaforma, tipo SoundFlower. Almeno credo.

FunCube Dongle nasce nell'ambito dell'operazione FunCube, progetto radioamatoriale satellitare inserito nel quadro dell'iniziativa UKube-1, a sua volta inquadrata nel più ampio del progetto CubeSat di Caltech, San Luis Obispo e Stanford Space Systems Development Lab (qui c'è anche un forum di discussione e una lista di progetti CubeSat compilata da Amsat).

All'inizio del prossimo anno (Maya permettendo) la missione britannica dovrebbe lanciare nello spazio un payload costituito da diversi nanolaboratori orbitali. Proprio in queste ore la UK Space Agency ha fornito i dettagli sulla missione, annunciando i quattro progetti che sono stati approvati da una lista di una decina di proposte.

UK’s first CubeSat mission starts to take shape

The UK Space Agency has today (17th March 2011) revealed the instruments and experiments that will be launched into orbit onboard the UKube-1 CubeSat in early 2012.

The winning payloads from the UK Space Agency’s payload competition include the first GPS device aimed at measuring plasmaspheric space weather; a camera that will take images of the Earth and test the effect of radiation on space hardware, using a new generation of imaging sensor; an experiment to demonstrate the feasibility of using cosmic radiation to improve the security of communications satellites and to flight test lower cost electronic systems; and a payload made up of 5 experiments that UK students and the public can interact with.

UKube-1 - a nanosatellite that will allow the UK to test new technologies and carry out new space research quickly and efficiently - is an exciting and novel collaboration between the UK Space Agency, industry and academia, and is envisaged as the pilot for a full national CubeSat programme.

As well as providing a fantastic opportunity for innovative UK companies and UK academics to collaborate on a national space project, UKube-1 is also useful for training the next generation of space engineers and will include a tiny radio transmitter for science education, and a materials science experiment from which school students can receive data. The system, funded by volunteer members and friends of AMSAT-UK, is called FUNcube and will be integrated with UKube-1 as part of the programme.

Dr David Williams, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said, “UKube-1 is really starting to take shape. Our payload competition has enabled us to include a wide variety of innovative instruments and experiments that will drive the development of UK space technologies and help to enthuse UK students about science. CubeSat missions offer opportunities for a wide range of people to get involved in space activity, removing barriers and encouraging innovation.”

Astrium ‘Janus’ experiment

Astrium's Janus payload is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of using space-based cosmic radiation to produce true random number generation in satellites for the first time. Random number generation is an essential component of secure communication systems and the Janus payload could pave the way for highly-secure telecommunication satellites. The Janus mission will also act as a technology demonstrator to determine the effects of cosmic radiation on a high performance integrated circuit in the payload - a Xilinx Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The FPGA has the potential to be re-programmed in orbit and therefore could lead to further advancements in the payload's overall functionality.

CMOS Imager Demonstrator

The Open University’s CMOS Imager Demonstrator is based on new sensor technology which is being developed and evaluated for space use. It is designed to perform a variety of imaging tasks and will take images of the Earth and test the effect of radiation on instruments in space.

myPocketQub

UKSEDS myPocketQub is a pocket spacecraft that will carry a stack of different experiments, allowing students and hobbyists to take part in a space mission.

The three core goals of myPocketQub are to allow up to 365 people to try their experiments in space on a pocket spacecraft for a day; help people to develop payloads for pocket spacecraft at home, school or university; and demonstrate an open source pocket spacecraft design.

TOPCAT

TOPCAT, a project from the University of Bath, will be the first GPS device aimed at measuring space weather conditions in the plasmasphere (the areas of space just beyond the earth’s atmosphere). The results from the measurements taken by TOPCAT will allow these conditions to be monitored and reacted to, reducing negative implications for GPS and improving systems such as satellite navigation and telecommunications. TOPCAT is funded by the University of Bath and the Bath Alumni Fund.

Dr Ronan Wall, UKube-1 programme manager and systems engineer at Astrium, said, “With the securing of this major milestone, we can now concentrate on getting these payloads and the spacecraft itself mission-ready. Thanks to the efforts put in by the payload, platform and ground segment teams, UKube-1 will allow scientific discoveries, demonstrate technological innovation and throw open the doors of space experiments to the UK school and university population – all from a cost-effective, 4.5kg satellite”.

The funding partners for UKube-1 are the UK Space Agency, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Technology Strategy Board. The spacecraft is being developed through an existing Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with innovative Scottish space company Clyde Space and the University of Strathclyde. Engineering and programme management support is provided by the UK’s largest space company, EADS Astrium Ltd. The platform development is supported through internal funding from ClydeSpace and STFC sponsorship of the KTP.

As well as the platform and payload elements of the mission, UKube-1 is being generously supported by three Ground Stations. Led by the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory’s Ground Segment, these crucial elements will provide the link to the orbiting spacecraft, as well as full planning of the operations. The supporting ground stations are provided by Dundee and Strathclyde Universities.

Companies providing free support to UKube-1 include Isotron, Xilinx, Invotec and DS SolidWorks Corp.