13:30 UTC 4M is now more than 270.000km far away … 17 deg elevation

191500  0 -27  5.491  -19 50                                            
191600  0 -25  2.020  -19 29                                            
191700  0 -25  8.491  -19 17                                            
191800 16 -10  1.845 -127  1*      110V222A +33C             1   0   0.0
191800  1   1/12                   110V222A +33C             1   0      
191900 20  -9  1.847 -127  3*      MANFRED FUCHS             1   0   0.0
191900  1   1/12                   110V222A +33C             1   0      
191900  2   1/13                   MANFRED FUCHS             1   0      
192000 18 -11  1.855 -124  2*      RNODATA                   1   0   0.0
192000  1   2/13                   110V222A +33C             1   0      
192000  2   1/13                   MANFRED FUCHS             1   0      
192100 16 -10  1.857 -124  1*       VISIONARY                1   0   0.0
192100  1   2/13                   110V222A +33C             1   0      
192100  2   2/14                   MANFRED FUCHS             1   0      
192200  6 -17  1.855 -121  3*      LX0OHB-4M0000             1   0   0.0
192200  1   3/14                   110V222A +33C             1   0      
192200  2   2/14                   MANFRED FUCHS             1   0      
192300 12 -15  1.855 -118  3*      149V234A -16C             1   0   0.0
192300  1   3/14                   110V222A +33C             1   0      
192300  2   3/15                   MANFRED FUCHS             1   0      
192400  8 -16  1.852 -116  1*      HUMOROUS  SUC             1   0   0.0
192400  1   4/15                   110V222A +33C             1   0      
192400  2   3/15                   MANFRED FUCHS             1   0      
192500  3 -16  1.892 -110  3*      RA. C3B65U                1   0   0.0
192500  1   4/15                   110V222A +33C             1   0      
192500  2   4/16                   MANFRED FUCHS             1   0      

73 de Roland PY4ZBZ GH70un

18:00 UTC Liftoff confirmed by China Xinhua News !

The launch of the 4M mission is confirmed tonight the 23rd at 17:59 UTC. See details on http://moon.luxspace.lu/

M4
1 99999U 14999B   14298.79722222 -.00000004  00000-0  00000-0 0 00002
2 99999 030.6553 295.6956 9746689 147.2577 071.9563 00.10600338000016

Satellite                  AOS       LOS  Duration  Peak AZ  Peak EL
--------------------------------------------------------------------
M4         2014/10/24 09:53:35  18:13:58  08:20:23   181.2°    17.3°
M4         2014/10/25 09:56:30  18:50:49  08:54:19   180.4°    20.4°
M4         2014/10/26 08:56:43  18:09:15  09:12:32   180.6°    22.0°

The following is a tentative set of orbital elements that should remain valid from the launch to at least up to the 27 October when using usual classical and simple tracking softwares that do not integrate Moon.

1 99999U          14298.79728009  .00000066  00000-0  00000-0 0 00006
2 99999 030.6553 295.6956 9746689 147.2577 071.9585 00.10600338000010

The following set is to be used after the flyby from 28 October onwards

1 99999U          14301.79728009  .00000000   00000-0 00000-0 0 00009
2 99999 049.9434 067.2017 6639865 045.9865 124.5019 00.06612018000010

Hi all,
the integration of 4M has been completed this night. The S/C is ready for launch. Onboard clock has been adjusted to start JT65B at the UTC minute +/-1 second. It is likely to drift during the mission, and manual offset introduction will be required after a week or so.

The launch date is 23 October at 1800 UTC.

Beginning of transmission of 4M will start between 1917 UTC and 1927 UTC. Alternatively, use the ‘tracking’ section where you can compute your traking elements by introducing your geographic coordinates. The table can be copied/pasted into a text file. As the apparent movement will be close (and closer) to the one one of the Moon, manual pointing is easy but for the largest arrays. We’ll try to publish equivalent TLE’s to input in usual tracking softwares.

The link budget is quite tight, but the first hours should give comfortable signals. QSB is to be expected.
As JT65B is used: please remind those not yet too familiar with it that the receiver must not be tuned during the transmission.
A dedicated webpage is being written to detail the procedure.
A dedicated java application is also available to automatically transmit the decoded messages to the 4M website and ease the data collection. (Thanks to LSE Space)
Alternatively, OM can also transmit the decoded messages by eMail, sending the ALL.txt file.
For those not wishing to use JT65B, please record the signals (11025s/s, 8or 16 bits, mono), taking care not to saturate the recording and NO MP3 please.
SpectrumLab is an excellent choice, although some may wish to use simpler recording software.

You can imagine that the team is quite eager to receive the first reports, so , do not hesitate to mail immediately, send decoded messages or even phone or text me at +352 661 678 986. Our friends of IC CMalaga are also quite eager to receive the results of their radiation dosimeter experiment.

Basic rules of the contest have been delineated in the blog section. Complete rules will be published soon. Stay tuned on our website or Facebook page.

Please disseminate the information and send questions to pr@luxspace.lu. If possible, help OM’s.

vy 73 and best regards to all.

LuxSpace Sàrl

A sample wav file can be downloaded here: http://www.dk3wn.info/sounds/A03000.WAV