Executed satellite rotation. The purpose of this
rotation is to point the Imager/Batteries back to earth.
Fr 29 December
ADCS crashed in the middle of the rotation sequence.
OBC1 was unable to reinitialize the ADCS.
Manually started ADCS and activated satellite stabi-
lization controller.
Su 31 December
SUNSAT is now stable again.
Su 31 December
Amateur Radio voice services were delivered this
week.
SUNSAT's APRS logging service is now being used
to catch APRS reports from a weather station in
Antarctica. The weather station data can be view
on the internet at http://wx.findu.com/ke6jab-1
or http://www.findu.com/ke6jab-1
Su 3 December
Amateur Radio voice services were delivered this week.
Succesfully test part of the ADCS control sequence
for a reaction wheel maneuver to turn the satellite around.
Tu 29 August
Conducted ADCS data sampling operation.
Tu 29 August
Test the sensitivity of the RF pre-amplifiers.
We 30 August
Execute the reaction wheel maneuver to flip the
satellite. This was succesful, but limited control following
the operation resulted in the original orientation. A second
attempt is planned.
Th 31 August
Test the sensitivity of the RF pre-amplifiers.
Su 03 September
Amateur Radio voice services delivered for
full week.
School experiment data collected. ADCS software test. Activated digipeating in Mode J. The digipeating service is now permanently enabled.
Tu 11 July
ADCS software test. Conducted a GPS experiment. Test Amateur Radio Voice service in Mode J.
We 12 July
Another GPS experiment was conducted.
Th 13 July
School experiment data collected.
Fr 14 July
OBC1 Watchdog reset occurred - Possible SEU in the processor. Reactivated digipeating mode.
Sa 15 July
Amateur Radio voice services delivered. Southern Africa's voice pass did not occur due to a corrupted diary entry. Significant solar activity suspected cause of the memory corruption on SUNSAT.
Conducted an ADCS spin test to measure the effects of the spin
rate on the temperature of the satellite.
We 21 June
Repeated the ADCS spin test for other spin rates.
Tested new ADCS software.
Th 22 June
Loaded new ADCS software. Command to orientate SUNSAT so that
the bottom plate and batteries
are pointing to outer space. It is expected that
the battery temperature should drop.
Fr 23 June
Activated digipeating for the Amateur Radio Field day in the
USA. Initial measurements show the turn around manoeuvre was successful. Battery temperature
decreased by 8 degrees.
Sa 24 June
Amateur Radio services delivered.
Su 25 June
We tested SUNSAT's digipeating with a small handheld Kenwood
radio (5 Watt) with a monopole antenna and were able to digipeat at 1200 baud successfully down to an elevation
of 1.5 degrees.
Software upgrade for OBC1 completed successfully - bug fix.
Th 08 June
Last day that SUNSAT will have any shade. Until 06/11/2000
we will be permanently in full sunshine.
Fr 09 June
Radio Amateur services suspended until the ADCS
system software updated and tested for full sun
illumination period.
Sa 10 June
9600 baud telecommand on a UHF receiver established.
Su 11 June
The temperature keeps on increasing. Various communication
configurations will be tested in the following few days. New flight
software for the ADCS to invert satellite is ready to be tested.
GPS experiment run for NASA. - Data available for NASA.
Tu 28 March
Horizon scanning experiment
We 29 March
Start of Science Festival - Radio Amateur service delivered
during the running of the festival.
Tu 30 March
Conducted an ADCS filter test for 24 hours
Fr 31 March
Horizon scanning experiment
Sa 01 April
Radio Amateur services delivered using mode B over
Australia,
South Africa, Europa and USA. - Services delivered.
Su 02 April
Radio Amateur services delivered using mode B over Japan,
South Africa, South America and North America. - Services
delivered.
SUNSAT News - 2000 week 12 (20-26 March 2000)
Su 19 March
Radio Amateur services delivered using mode B over Japan,
South Africa, South America and North America. - Services
delivered.
Mo 20 March
GPS experiment run for NASA. - Data available for NASA.
Tu 21 March Take photo and compress averaged image with delta
compression
algorithm using the DSP. Downloaded partial image.
We 22 March
Conducted an OBC2 experiment to test new software
possibilities. OBC2 booted succesfully after sorting out ground
software issues. Protected mode switch test software executed.
Th 23 March
Done a ADCS horizon scan experiment.
Take photo over New Zeeland. Downloaded compressed
averaged image.
Fr 24 March
Horizon scanning experiment conducted.
Weekday Amateur radio services over the world were provided
this week. Services over Australia, Japan, Europe,
South America and North America were delivered.
Sa 25 March
Radio Amateur services delivered using mode B over
Australia,
South Africa, Europa and USA. - Services delivered.
The normal GPS operating and download schedule was followed during Sunday,
Monday and Tuesday. On Wednessday and Thursday a combined attiutde control
maneuver,
S-Band video camera test and high resolution imeger test was done. The
weekend
was used for regular amateur radio services.
SUNSAT News - 2000 week 5 (30 January - 7 February 2000)
The GPS experiment was run on Sunday night and the data forwarded to the
Jet
Propulsion Labratory (JPL) at NASA where it will be processed. New attitude
determination and control software was uploaded on Wednesday to improve
Sunsat's
pointing capabilities. The software was tested on Thursday and functioned as
expected.
The regular radio amature sevices were provided over the weekend.
SUNSAT News - 2000 week 3 (25 January 2000)
During maintinance on our 4.5 m satellite dish a SBAND feed and UHF pre-amp
were
installed. This was done in a continuing effort to improve the Sunsat ground
station and to prepare for the testing of a new software-implemented high
speed
modem.
New ADCS software was uploaded to eliminate any possible Y2k problems with
the
2-line Kepler element files. Our weekly effort downloading data from the JPL
GPS receiver
continued.
The PAL TV camera on SUNSAT was activated on Wednessday and Friday and
allowed
the Sunsat team to witness a real-time slew maneuver by Sunsat.
The slew
maneuver orientate the satellite using reaction wheels during high
resolution
imaging runs.
SUNSAT News - 2000 week 2 (14 January 2000)
SUNSAT is stable and healthy with an average battery temperature of 28 deg
C. The on-board computer has an uptime of 46 days.
This week was the start of the Cape to Rio Yacht race. Two SUNSAT team
members are taking part in the race. Amateur radio passes were scheduled in the
mornings to communicate with the two sailors. Pieter Kotze (on the communications
boat, African Dream) and Riaan Honeyborne spoke to us via SUNSAT from their respective
boats in the Atlantic ocean.
Earlier in the week we completed the download of an image of the Tibetan
mountains and we took a new photo of northern Namibia.
The Top 100 award was awarded to the Electronic Systems Laboratory
as the top Research and Development organisation in South Africa
for 1999. This prestigeous award was handed over by the state
president of South Africa at a function on 23 November 1999. This
award acknowledges the work done in developing and operating
South Africa's first micro satellite SUNSAT.
