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#40 by Space Pete on 13 Mar, 2014 22:34
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Question: Are both OPALS and HDEV being carried to the ISS on FRAMs?
My real interest is whether two FRAMs can be carried in the trunk at the same time.
My understanding is that HDEV is on a CEPA (Columbus) FRAM and OPALS is on an EXPA (Express pallet) FRAM.
Not sure what the differences are between those.
Yes, that's correct - HDEV is a CEPA (Columbus External Payload Adapter) FRAM and OPALS is an ExPA (ExPrESS Pallet Adapter) FRAM. As for differences, I believe there are some variations in terms of data rates, etc., but the mechanical interfaces are the same I think.
As for JEF payloads, they can be attached to the Trunk via either a FRAM, or their own dedicated trunnion attachment mechanism. I also believe the Trunk can hold three FRAMs. -
#41 by guckyfan on 14 Mar, 2014 03:40
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http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/009/140313delay/#.UyKDsYX983g
Anybody noticed that in the article about the delay they also mentioned that two payloads in the trunk are powered? A new capability introduced in this modified Dragon. Or is this already known and I missed it?
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#42 by Skyrocket on 14 Mar, 2014 09:52
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The five cubesats on the Dragon CRS-3 mission are now confirmed:
* ALL-STAR/THEIA
* KickSat (with 104 Sprites)
* SporeSat
* TSAT (TestSat-Lite)
* PhoneSat 2.5
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/ELaNa-V-Factsheet-508.pdf -
#43 by AnalogMan on 14 Mar, 2014 11:42
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Smartphone 2.5 info (launch date given now superceeded).
NASA's Latest Smartphone Satellite Ready for Launch
March 13, 2014
http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-latest-smartphone-satellite-ready-for-launch
NASA's preparing to send its fifth in a series of smartphone-controlled small spacecraft into orbit. PhoneSat 2.5 will ride into space as part of the SpaceX-3 commercial cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX-3 is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 4:41 a.m. EDT Sunday, March 16.
Once in Earth orbit, the tiny spacecraft will demonstrate the power of smartphone components to support space-based communications systems and survive the radiation environment of low Earth orbit -- as high as 220 miles above Earth. The technology demonstration mission also will pave the way for a constellation of cooperative small satellites scheduled to launch later this year.
"If I showed PhoneSat to you, you'd ask, 'where's the phone?'," said Bruce Yost, program manager for NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "That's because although we buy a smartphone off the shelf, much like the one in your pocket or purse, we take it apart and repackage it to fit in the cubesat form and work in space. This differs from the first PhoneSat, that packed in the entire smartphone."
Selected for launch as part of NASA's Cubesat Launch Initiative, PhoneSat 2.5 is a one-unit (1U) cubesat spacecraft measuring 10 centimeters square (approximately four inches on each side), using commercially available smartphones.
The mission has three objectives: determine if a low-cost commercially available attitude determination and control system can work in space; verify if a smartphone can support space-based communications systems; and provide further confidence in the PhoneSat concept and components by investigating its ability to survive long-term in the radiation environment of space.
"NASA is using these pioneering small spacecraft missions to gauge the use of consumer-grade smartphone technology as the main control electronics of a capable, yet very low-cost, satellite," said Andrew Petro, program executive for the Small Spacecraft Technology Program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, which funds the PhoneSat series.
PhoneSat 2.5 is equipped with a higher-gain S-Band antenna, which serves as a pathfinder for future NASA missions, including the Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) mission scheduled to launch later this year.
The EDSN mission plans to launch eight identical 1.5U cubesats (10-by-10-by-15 centimeters and 2.5 kilograms), based on the PhoneSat architecture, to demonstrate the concept of using many small spacecraft working together in a cooperative manner. EDSN will fly the cubesats in a loose formation. Each satellite will be able to cross-link communicate with the others so that engineers can study space-to-space communications and how small, low-cost, powerful satellites can perform space weather monitoring duties.
In addition to the large memory, fast processors, GPS receivers, gyroscope and magnetometer sensors and high-resolution cameras commonly found in smartphones, the PhoneSat 2.5 also houses a low-cost commercial attitude determination and control system that contains reaction wheels that by slowing down or speeding up, can rotate the satellite. Engineers hope to determine if this control system can orient PhoneSat in space, a critical capability for satellites that may need to point towards a specific object of scientific interest like an asteroid, star or features on Earth. The missions also gather further information about the orbital lifespan of the smartphone components.
"By advancing the price performance of nanosatellites using consumer electronics, we can make some of the more radical ideas become economically viable," said Jasper Wolfe, PhoneSat Control System lead at NASA Ames.
PhoneSat 2.5 builds upon the successful flights of previous NASA smartphone satellites launched last year. PhoneSat 2.4 launched last November and achieved its primary mission objectives, demonstrating a smartphone can serve as an avionics controller. It also demonstrated the use of its magnetometer and an Ames-designed magnetorquer to actively align the satellite's orientation with Earth's magnetic fields. This was a first for Ames small satellites, which to date have used passive, permanent magnetic torque rods.
PhoneSat 2.4 continues to transmit data, which means its solar arrays, battery charging circuit, Arduino watchdog and data router are still operating correctly. In early January, however, the Phonesat 2.4 smartphone began to experience recurring resets coinciding with a period of numerous solar flares. As a result, the satellite no longer executes flight application software.
"We expect PhoneSat 2.5's orbital lifetime to be as long as six weeks" said Cedric Priscal, PhoneSat software lead at Ames. "This operation time will help us demonstrate that the system can survive being exposed to the doses of space radiation all satellites must endure in low Earth orbit, and help us gather data on the effects radiation has on the satellite."
What kind of smartphone has a battery life of six weeks? NASA equipped the six sides of the PhoneSats with solar panels to help replenish the batteries and keep the spacecraft alive.
PhoneSat 2.5 also includes a higher-gain two-way S-band radio communications capability. Engineers will test the radio's capability to send commands to the spacecraft and telemetry back to ground station on Earth, in preparation for NASA's Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) mission, scheduled for launch late this year.
While orbiting Earth, ground station controllers at Santa Clara University in California, also will attempt to command PhoneSat 2.5 to transmit photographs of what it sees using the smartphone's camera to gather information for future low cost onboard camera systems and star trackers.
"We're answering the question, how useful are consumer grade electronics for atmospheric or Earth science, communications, or other space-born applications," said Ken Oyadomari, PhoneSat communications lead at Ames.
"The next step is to add a propulsion system to pave the way for cubesats to explore further into the solar system," said Oriol Tintore, PhoneSat mechanical lead at Ames.
Though it's unlikely you'll find one of those on your smartphone anytime soon.
The PhoneSat series of technology demonstration missions is funded by the Small Spacecraft Technology Program, in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters and the Engineering Directorate at Ames. For more information about NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program and the PhoneSat series of cubesats, visit:
http://go.usa.gov/KWRP
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#44 by IanO on 20 Apr, 2014 17:13
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The five cubesats on the Dragon CRS-3 mission are now confirmed:
* ALL-STAR/THEIA
* KickSat (with 104 Sprites)
* SporeSat
* TSAT (TestSat-Lite)
* PhoneSat 2.5
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/ELaNa-V-Factsheet-508.pdf
Bump requesting a status report. Now that CRS-3 has flown, how many of these have been successfully deployed and contacted? -
#45 by Ben the Space Brit on 20 Apr, 2014 17:18
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All were successfully released but I haven't heard anything else.
[edit]
Fix'd typo -
#46 by AncientU on 20 Apr, 2014 17:31
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http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/009/140313delay/#.UyKDsYX983g
This was mentioned up-thread or in another... cannot find reference.
Anybody noticed that in the article about the delay they also mentioned that two payloads in the trunk are powered? A new capability introduced in this modified Dragon. Or is this already known and I missed it? -
#47 by neoforce on 20 Apr, 2014 20:38
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From https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts here is a status on the sprites with some edits from the source:Quote
Apr 19 2014
Mission Update
Hi Everyone,
KickSat is now orbiting 335 kilometers above our heads. <...>
We've received over a dozen packets from KickSat's radio beacon thanks to several amateur radio operators around the world. These packets are telling us that KickSat is charging its batteries and that so far there have been no system resets due to loss of power or radiation. <...>
The Sprites will be deployed from KickSat by a timer 16 days after launch. That puts the big event at about 4:00 PM EDT (20:00 GMT) on May 4th. <...> -
#48 by Comga on 21 Apr, 2014 03:49
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Someone mentioned in the update thread (?) that the cubsats are not attached on top of the upper stage, but instead they hang under it, next to the MVac. If so, Are there diagrams somewhere that illustrate their location?
I would also like to know the answer to Lars_J's question.
Edit: and to know if any nanosats (other than KickSat) have been heard from.
CUSGC is being particularly quiet. One would think they could post the word "Launched!"
I do have a call in to see what's up. -
#49 by gwiz on 21 Apr, 2014 08:12
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There are radio ham reports that Phonesat 2.5 is transmitting.
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#50 by InfraNut2 on 21 Apr, 2014 11:04
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SpX-3 science work already started. Quick work!
Rick just started with the T-cell experiment a few minutes ago.
More info and patch in an upstream post. -
#51 by gwiz on 03 May, 2014 17:00
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Bad news about Kicksat. The timer for the Sprite deployment reset on 30th April, apparently due to a cosmic ray hit. This means that that deployment is postponed from tomorrow to May 16th. The current atmospheric decay estimate for the satellite is May 14th.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts -
#52 by Comga on 03 May, 2014 17:28
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According to the ALL-STAR web page they have not made contact.
I have yet to make contact with my friend on the team, either.
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#53 by mlindner on 04 May, 2014 01:54
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The five cubesats on the Dragon CRS-3 mission are now confirmed:
* ALL-STAR/THEIA
* KickSat (with 104 Sprites)
* SporeSat
* TSAT (TestSat-Lite)
* PhoneSat 2.5
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/ELaNa-V-Factsheet-508.pdf
Bump requesting a status report. Now that CRS-3 has flown, how many of these have been successfully deployed and contacted?
Kicksat had a watchdog timer reset which apparently also resets the 16 day timer for releasing all the kicksats. Unfortunately this pushes the release time past when the kicksat would re-enter. They made a poor design decision linking the release time to the watchdog timer with no way of syncing the time otherwise.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts/831509 -
#54 by Targeteer on 07 May, 2014 19:17
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Houston confirmed during the DPC that OPALS was successfully installed and is on keep alive power.
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#55 by Astrosurf on 07 May, 2014 19:50
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Bad news about Kicksat. The timer for the Sprite deployment reset on 30th April, apparently due to a cosmic ray hit. This means that that deployment is postponed from tomorrow to May 16th. The current atmospheric decay estimate for the satellite is May 14th.
so the satellite is expected to burn up on the 14th?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts -
#56 by Skyrocket on 07 May, 2014 20:18
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YesBad news about Kicksat. The timer for the Sprite deployment reset on 30th April, apparently due to a cosmic ray hit. This means that that deployment is postponed from tomorrow to May 16th. The current atmospheric decay estimate for the satellite is May 14th.
so the satellite is expected to burn up on the 14th?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts -
#57 by funkyjive on 07 May, 2014 20:48
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Kicksat had a watchdog timer reset which apparently also resets the 16 day timer for releasing all the kicksats. Unfortunately this pushes the release time past when the kicksat would re-enter. They made a poor design decision linking the release time to the watchdog timer with no way of syncing the time otherwise.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts/831509
I must not understand something about their system design but how did they not account for this scenario? The whole point of a watchdog is the realization that no matter how good and robust your system, it can still get into a state where it is unrecoverable or locked and a restart is needed. By having a watchdog they acknowledge that the system could potentially restart, so why was the single step connection not made that a restart would also be resetting the release timer? Unless the plan was to use the uplink to appropriately set the timer in the unlikely event of a restart.
I'm sure this is a gross oversimplification of the problem and I don't want to criticize the work of a cool project but I am just trying to look at it from a systems engineering perspective. -
#58 by Skyrocket on 07 May, 2014 21:06
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The problem is not just the watchdog / timer, there appears also an undervoltage in the power system, which prevents the uplink receiver from working. Had the voltage been high enough to use the receiver, a release of the sprites could have been commanded.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts/831509 -
#59 by leetdan on 07 May, 2014 21:10
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Looking at the KS page, the 16-day timer was the best compromise they could make that would keep the ISS folks happy across all contingencies. There is still a potential for uplink, but it depends on the onboard batteries charging above 8V prior to reentry.
