Building a satellite

[ShredBird]

Indeed, RF can be tricky.  Let me know if you need any help on that part.  I can help you design the correct microstrip config etc...

[Julian5]

On 3/28/2018 at 7:19 AM, bob345 said:

Looks good, definitely room for some more improvement id say though. My main concern with this setup is the RF side. Range will be severely limited with an antenna that small on such a low power radio. I would say you would be lucky to see a few hundred feet at best line of sight. You really would need a larger antenna and a more powerful transmitter ( ≥ 100mw) you you want to realistically gather data at altitude with it. I would try and pick up something like a cheap rtl-sdr usb dongle to use as a low cost spectrum analyzer to see what you are doing.  RF can be a tricky thing to get right, the more testing you can do in that regard the better. When dealing with low power and long range, every little thing can effect your signal down to the traces on the pcb and the brand and placement of components.

Yes indeed, I'm using this TX on purpose though since I anything above 25mw is strictly illegal in Spain and I don't even own the license for anything under that. However, the next version will feature a more powerful chip similar to the c1011, If you watched the video I'm currently using a cheap SDR radio to actually receive the signal. 

 

On 3/30/2018 at 3:11 AM, ShredBird said:

Indeed, RF can be tricky.  Let me know if you need any help on that part.  I can help you design the correct microstrip config etc...

I will most likely need help, there's a lot of stuff to do and a lot that can go wrong haha! I'll keep you updated but don't expect major updates until end of may since I'm currently working on other stuff and exam season is arriving, Next step, however, is PCB optimisation (try and make it smaller and neater), increase radio power, work on the code and maybe even add a couple more sensors.

 

Thank you all for the help and support though! really appreciated. 

[Julian5]

Little Update!

I recently presented the project along with a self-sufficient solar plane I designed in a Spanish robotics competition and actually came first! I got to showcase the project on national television and met a bunch of cool people like the co-founder of Arduino (Video he made with me will be up on the Arduino channel soon). I also interchanged info with a bunch of people that were interested in the project so I might be able to get some sponsors onboard with the project. I'm just finishing my finals next week and as soon as I'm done I'll start designing V3 hopefully getting it closer to 2x2cm.

[ShredBird]

4 hours ago, Julian5 said:

Little Update!

I recently presented the project along with a self-sufficient solar plane I designed in a Spanish robotics competition and actually came first! I got to showcase the project on national television and met a bunch of cool people like the co-founder of Arduino (Video he made with me will be up on the Arduino channel soon). I also interchanged info with a bunch of people that were interested in the project so I might be able to get some sponsors onboard with the project. I'm just finishing my finals next week and as soon as I'm done I'll start designing V3 hopefully getting it closer to 2x2cm.

Absolutely excellent news!  Congratulations on your success!

[Julian5]

On 20/5/2018 at 6:10 AM, ShredBird said:

Absolutely excellent news!  Congratulations on your success!

Thanks!

[Julian5]

Looking for people to help out (Read below)

Been a while since the last update but a lot of stuff has happened, mainly research and contacting people. There is a lot of stuff to explain but summarized as much as I can, I changed over the mother ship architecture to a pocketqube (5x5x5cm) and contacted a bunch of people who worked on previous satellites and companies for possible authorizations.

 

Long boring text ahead explaining in detail:

Realistically if we want to get something up in space we need to launch it using a standardized formfactor, the most common picosatellite formfactor is the cubesat  (10x10x10cm) but recently the pocketqube has gained popularity since it is currently the smallest launchable formfactor. Therefore our small sprites will be launched from the pocketqube mothership.

So, now I had that in mind, I wanted to see just how far this could be theoretically taken. So here is the long boring process of emailing a bunch of people. But in summary I contacted Alba orbital and Gauss that quoted me 25k for the launch and 16k for the launch respectively (Q4 - 2019), these launches are currently purely theoretical until there is a working prototype built and funding is another issue but I could invest some money in making a crowdfunding campaign though once again this is purely theoretical, right now the focus is finishing a prototype by november.  I also got in contact with Stuart from the 50$ sat to discuss some issues with RF. Solar cell provider has also been found (Trisolx) and they can supply triple junction gallium arsenide cells. Ultimately I am in contact with Tom  (CEO Alba Orbital) discussing the approval issues with launching such small satellites from a pocketqube, will hopefully be contacting people soon to see if we can actually launch 2x2x0.2cm boards from a 5x5x5cm satellite. The radio protocol we will be using is LoRa due to its low power consumption and long range, it can also be picked up with 20$ worth of parts.

 

This is the current to do list in the next month.

- Pass my HAM amateur radio operator license (needed to transmit to satellite for tests etc)

- Sort out the regulations involved with launching sprites

- Design MPPT/Power management board (Looking for people to help, simple circuit design to check my work)

- Start working on the code for the satellite (Looking for people to help here too, couple things to work out)

- Design pocketqube frame and deploy mechanism (Start looking for CNC workshops that can mill the part)

 

That's it for now, seem like its really advanced from the beginning and I cant wait to start working on a prototype, research & design for now!

[Julian5]

Quick update for anyone still reading these.

The team has been established and prototype development is already in progress, an open source github repo is up at https://github.com/juliantech5/FossaSat & https://github.com/FOSSA-Systems

A webpage is up at fossa.systems , more info can be found on there but it's still missing a lot of details though most frequent updates will be posted on there.

 

Thanks!

[Julian5]

For anyone else still reading,

We are starting to receive funding from Sponsors to hopefully reach our goal of 25k, We have nearly finished manufacturing our engineering model and the software aspect of things are done thanks to our software engineer. 

We will go to a satellite conference in the Europan Space agency Astronomy Center this September to show off our satellite and hopefully find some contacts, Hopefully we get administrative stuff moving to start requesting launch approval and frequency coordination from the International Telecommunications Union.

 

[BuckGup]

1 hour ago, Julian5 said:

For anyone else still reading,

We are starting to receive funding from Sponsors to hopefully reach our goal of 25k, We have nearly finished manufacturing our engineering model and the software aspect of things are done thanks to our software engineer. 

We will go to a satellite conference in the Europan Space agency Astronomy Center this September to show off our satellite and hopefully find some contacts, Hopefully we get administrative stuff moving to start requesting launch approval and frequency coordination from the International Telecommunications Union.

 

 

That's awesome

[Julian5]

1 minute ago, BuckGup said:

That's awesome

Thanks mate, if we actually get this up in orbit and it works I will be quite happy  (aka shit my pants)

Just a lot of designing and maths for the moment but I'll make sure to keep you guys updated!

[Nicholas Smith]

On ‎18‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 4:53 AM, Julian5 said:

For anyone else still reading,

We are starting to receive funding from Sponsors to hopefully reach our goal of 25k, We have nearly finished manufacturing our engineering model and the software aspect of things are done thanks to our software engineer. 

We will go to a satellite conference in the Europan Space agency Astronomy Center this September to show off our satellite and hopefully find some contacts, Hopefully we get administrative stuff moving to start requesting launch approval and frequency coordination from the International Telecommunications Union.

 

Those pcbs are so cool.Hope you could succeed.

[Julian5]

On 15/9/2018 at 3:51 AM, Nicholas Smith said:

Those pcbs are so cool.Hope you could succeed.

Thanks Nicholas! European Space agency talk is on Monday and we are close to signing a launch for summer of 2019. Seems amazing how we went from a little PCB designed on Sunday evening to a working prototype possibly going to space, I would have never imagined that this would have ever grown to where it is now 

We are still looking for help by the way!

 

I'll keep you guys informed. Thanks,

Julian

[Julian5]

Gave the talk along with a workshop on open source aerospace missions at the European Space Agency, We are having future meetings with them and a couple universities so it seems there is general interest! The engineering model is finished with deployable solar panels and will be launching this week on a weather balloon to test the telecommunications.

Right center in the middle row (holding the satellite)

 

On 4/11/2017 at 4:02 PM, Ryan_Vickers said:

I saw the title and was like "no... that can't possibly be what I think it is" but sure enough...

 

Sounds like you're not at this stage yet but any thought as to how you'll get it in orbit?  balloons are great for going straight up but the stuff they carry tends to come straight back down after they pop

 

Funny to think this time last year we where joking around on launching and now We are a couple weeks away from launching a launch contract with a major launch provider   

[vanished]

17 minutes ago, Julian5 said:

 

Very cool!

[Mihle]

Nice!

[Julian5]

Have not updated anything on here for a while! Orbital launch has been signed with Rocket Labs, we are set to launch in Q3 of 2019 into a 385km SSO orbit. We will most likely create a kickstarter in the coming months in order to fund the remaining launch costs, keep an eye out

 

Monthly Blogs on https://fossa.systems/blog/

[ShredBird]

On 12/29/2018 at 8:52 AM, Julian5 said:

Have not updated anything on here for a while! Orbital launch has been signed with Rocket Labs, we are set to launch in Q3 of 2019 into a 385km SSO orbit. We will most likely create a kickstarter in the coming months in order to fund the remaining launch costs, keep an eye out

 

Monthly Blogs on https://fossa.systems/blog/

Congrats!  The satellite I worked on just went up on that last Rocket Labs launch!  Good luck with the remaining hurdles!

[DetectiveBirb]

This sounds like a great project and I would love to see it get off the ground and into space.

[Julian5]

On 1/11/2019 at 4:44 AM, ShredBird said:

Congrats!  The satellite I worked on just went up on that last Rocket Labs launch!  Good luck with the remaining hurdles!

Great Stuff! We are number 8 for launch in q3 of 2019.

 

On 1/12/2019 at 4:12 AM, ThatDoggo said:

This sounds like a great project and I would love to see it get off the ground and into space.

Thanks!

 

6 hours ago, YiGiT353 said:

I did something very similar using just BC547 transistors.

Pretty easy to do! Final satellite does not use it but it's a cool concept.

[georgeps21]

On 9/26/2018 at 11:45 PM, Julian5 said:

Gave the talk along with a workshop on open source aerospace missions at the European Space Agency, We are having future meetings with them and a couple universities so it seems there is general interest! The engineering model is finished with deployable solar panels and will be launching this week on a weather balloon to test the telecommunications.

Right center in the middle row (holding the satellite)

 

Funny to think this time last year we where joking around on launching and now We are a couple weeks away from launching a launch contract with a major launch provider   

lol i know 3 of the people from that photo, they were in the team that built the upsat. if you need any help contacting them hit me..

[Julian5]

Launch window now August 1st to 31st from RocketLabs Electron rocket!

 

GoFundme campaign is up here: https://www.gofundme.com/manage/fossasat1-la-democratizacion-del-espacio/ 

 

And here is the explanation video: 

 

[The King of the Undead]

I almost pooped myself when I found this. now how the frick did you test this?

[JCP]

On 4/17/2019 at 12:35 AM, Julian5 said:

Launch window now August 1st to 31st from RocketLabs Electron rocket!

 

GoFundme campaign is up here: https://www.gofundme.com/manage/fossasat1-la-democratizacion-del-espacio/ 

 

And here is the explanation video: 

 

Hey man, this is sooo cool. I'm just wondering, was  your sattelite on the 'Look Ma, No Hands' Electron rocket? The one that launched on the 19th of august?

 

If so, i just watched it and it was really cool

[Gerowen]

I'd like to something like this someday.  I might start small and just strap a cheap cell phone to a balloon and have it stream to YouTube or my home server or something, that way if it falls in some hard to get to location or is destroyed in the process (falling into a lake), the footage is still safe.  I wonder how far up into the atmosphere cell phone signals actually work.  I'm in the US, so I'll have to look up what laws would cover something like that.

 

I believe there are also free radio services like MURS where it "might" be legal to use a radio transmitter for communicating with a device like that without paying for any additional licenses, but I'll have to refresh my memory on the specific rules surround MURS because there might be limits on output power that would hinder its usefulness.

[Julian5]

On 8/22/2019 at 4:34 PM, Jacobtechtips? said:

Hey man, this is sooo cool. I'm just wondering, was  your sattelite on the 'Look Ma, No Hands' Electron rocket? The one that launched on the 19th of august?

 

If so, i just watched it and it was really cool

Hey! We just integrated the satellite two days ago, we should be on one of the next electron launches this year. Here are a couple pics of the last months which has ben full of testing at vibration, thermovac, emc facilites etc. lots of work but its all done! our twitter @fossasys has everything updated