KICKSAT-2 decayed

… also no honorable example for the cooperation with the amateur radio community. Great lack of information and documentation :-(

DECAY_EPOCH          WINDOW   REV    DIRECTION   LAT    LON    INCL   NEXT_REPORT
2019-04-02 04:21:00  54       762    descending  43.2   240.6  51.6   0      
2019-04-02 05:01:00  60       762    ascending   -48.9  33.2   51.6   2      
2019-04-02 05:46:00  180      763    descending  47     208.9  51.6   6      
2019-04-02 05:34:00  300      763    ascending   43.5   138.2  51.6   12     
2019-04-02 08:51:00  600      765    descending  25.5   197.5  51.6   24     
2019-04-01 21:18:00  900      759    descending  -21.7  54.4   51.6   48     
2019-04-02 07:00:00  1140     764    ascending   40.7   110.8  51.6   72     

KickSat beacons

02:22 UTC  over  Japan
1:Fm KD2BHC To CQ Via TELEM <UI F/R Pid=F0 Len=14> [02:22:19UTC]
P4C,768,0,0,0,
1:Fm KD2BHC To CQ Via TELEM <UI F/R Pid=F0 Len=14> [02:24:49UTC]
P4C,771,0,0,0,
1:Fm KD2BHC To CQ Via TELEM <UI F/R Pid=F0 Len=14> [02:27:19UTC]
P4C,767,0,0,0,

03:55 UTC      Thanks    JA6PL
2014-05-12 03:57:19.020 UTC: [40 Bytes KISS Frame (without CRC)]
1 > 50 34 43 2C 37 36 38 2C 30 2C 30 2C 30 2C
P4C,768,0,0,0,
2014-05-12 03:59:49.010 UTC: [40 Bytes KISS Frame (without CRC)]
1 > 50 34 43 2C 37 36 38 2C 30 2C 30 2C 30 2C
P4C,768,0,0,0,

19:49 UTC
1:Fm KD2BHC To CQ Via TELEM <UI F/R Pid=F0 Len=14> [19:54:50UTC]
P4C,752,0,0,0,

kicksat_12052014

NORAD_CAT_ID    DECAY_EPOCH          REV  DIRECTION    LAT     LON     INCL    
39685           2014-05-14 07:56:00  408  descending   -42.9   135.3   51.6    
39685           2014-05-14 12:14:00  413  descending   -24.1   43      51.6   

source: space-track.org

Possible Kicksat/Sprites deployment problems

As those who’ve been keeping up with the telemetry data coming in from KickSat may have noticed, the packets we’ve been receiving have changed in the last couple of days. This was due to a hard reset of the “watchdog” microcontroller on KickSat that manages turning on and off the rest of the subsystems and keeps the master clock. It appears the reset happened some time in the morning of Wednesday, April 30th. The reset doesn’t seem to be the result of power issues (the watchdog should run until the batteries reach 5.5 volts, and they’ve been holding steady around 6.5 volts). Instead, it seems the likely culprit was radiation.

One consequence of the watchdog reset on KickSat is that the spacecraft’s master clock was reset, thus also setting the deployment countdown for KickSat back to 16 days. That would put the deployment some time in the morning of May 16th. Unfortunately, it looks like KickSat will most likely reenter and burn up before the 16th. We’ve spent the last couple of days here at Cornell trying to think of every possible contingency, but it seems there aren’t very many options right now. KickSat’s uplink radio, which we could use to command the deployment, can’t turn on unless the batteries reach 8 volts, and it doesn’t look like they’ll reach that level in time.

sprites-fleet

Source: Latest news

kicksat_04052014