SUNSAT news 4-6 May

Laser ranging and orbital elements for Sunsat

Some laser ranging stations have started looking for laser reflections from SUNSAT. Since SUNSAT's GPS is not yet operating fully, we only have orbital elements to guide laser rangers in locating SUNSAT. Once the first laser measurements are made, orbital corrections should be able to be computed.

The following are the TLE's (Two Line Elements) for SUNSAT. The NORAD/NASA reported orbital elements of SUNSAT and Orsted still appear to be swapped on the official sources. Orsted and SUNSAT were released simultaneously, but Orsted now passes BEFORE SUNSAT. The following elements are indeed for SUNSAT!

SUNSAT
1 25635U 99008B   99120.38664882  .00000217  00000-0  66842-4 0   196
2 25635  96.4820  59.4598 0154780  45.8539 315.5260 14.40824743  9492

Email Sweis du Plessis if you need help with SUNSAT's orbit parameters.

Good 145.825 MHz signals received on
4 & 5 May, none on 6 May.

Good signals (full quieting) were received on hand-held receivers on 4 and 5 May as part of the SARL's Schools Radio Roundup. On 6 May we couldn't establish comms with SUNSAT during the Schools Roundup pass, so SUNSAT wasn't transmitting as planned for 6 May. Comms was good for the later pass, which had to be used for mission control purposes.

SUNSAT news 4-6 May

Laser ranging and orbital elements for Sunsat

Good 145.825 MHz signals received on 4 & 5 May, none on 6 May.

Good 145.825 MHz signals received on
4 & 5 May, none on 6 May.