Time running out

ARISSat-1 is starting to come closer to Earth more and more each day. It is currently orbiting between 258 and 246 kilometers. Rough predicts have it re-entering in about a month. Many great images are coming in with all the ground stations listening.
The satellite should be entering a period of a mostly illuminated orbit during early January so this will probably be the last chance for stations worldwide to hear it and try to capture data or monitor audio for the various contests associated with the satellite. Don't forget to update your element sets daily for best possible tracking results.

Creeping back into Northern Hemisphere

ARISSat-1 is starting to reach the northern hemisphere just before entering eclipse. It should begin being much more available to stations in Europe, Asia and North America in the late afternoon and early evening in the next week. After that period, its orbit will slowly correlate to earlier times in the day. ARISSat is currently orbiting between 301 Km and 291 Km above the Earth.

Automatic capture site

VK7OO has setup a blog site that automatically captures and posts images received from ARISSat-1. The antenna is minimal so the quality of the images is not supreme but it is an interesting concept. Check it out at http://vk7oo.tasme.com/sstvsat/index22.html  and maybe a few more like this will pop up before the end of the mission.

First December image

This image captured by VK6FH in Australia is our first for the month of December. ARISSat-1 is currently orbiting a little over 300 kilometers above the Earth and should continue to do so for most (if not all) of the month. It will be most interesting to see the images captured right before the satellite re-enters so keep monitoring as we don't yet know when the last image will be transmitted.

ARISSat exiting eclipse over N. Hemisphere

The current orbit of ARISSat-1 has it exiting the eclipse over the northern hemisphere and thus does not become active until it reaches the lower latitudes. This means it should be fully active for the southern hemisphere during the day and part of the evening (until it enters the orbital eclipse). This image was recently captured by ZS6BMN.

Second SSTV image sent via transponder

W8ZCF and KB8VCO were successful in transmitting a picture and receiving back an image via the ARISSat-1 transponder. This image of a license plate was received on November 12, 2011 at 1908 UTC.

Separate MMSSTV software setups on 2 computers with mode Robot 36 were used to Tx 435.750 LSB up and Rx 145.930 MHz down. It was a challenge, over several days of trying, to find the satellite in a favorable position with its (inadvertently) shortened antenna. Doppler along with Tx and Rx antennas were manually controlled. [info from AMSAT-BB]

Is it Earth?

This image received by EB3SA over Europe looks more like a scene from a science fiction show or painting. The image captures the sun as it is rising over Europe and welcoming a new day.
Some postings are beginning to speculate as to when ARISSat-1 will re-enter but the guesses are still pretty wide. They range from December 2011 to April 2012. Should be interesting to see if it transmits any images just prior to burning up.

Techically interesting image

This image is not the highest quality one we have received but it is very interesting from a technical standpoint. This image was captured by PY4ZBZ and had a time stamp of 0926 UTC. It shows the edge of the Earth illuminated by the sun that has just risen over the horizon. Most of the Earth is still in darkness at this time. ARISSat-1 should have become illuminated about 0911 UTC. Given the time necessary for the system to activate and clear the safety timer (about 14 minutes) the earliest transmission would have been about 0925 UTC. That probably means this is one of the first images the on board cameras took shortly after entering sunlight. The image was then transmitted just after the transmitter went active and subsequently captured by a ground station (PY4ZBZ). Okay, a little luck played into all that technical execution but it is still fascinating knowing what went into capturing this image as ARISSat-1 transitioned across the terminator at an acute angle.

New month for new images

We start over today for the collection of initial images to be displayed on the AMSAT Gallery. This very nice image of some clouds was our first for the month and received by JAøCAW. I hope we will have even more to choose from this month with the satellite entering a period of greater illumination.

Minimal eclipse period approaching

ARISSat-1 recently lapped the International Space Station and will be in a period of minimal eclipse (greater period of being in sun) starting around Nov 9 through Nov 12. Ground operators with early evening passes will have a good chance of hearing and using ARISSat-1 around this time. Operating times should be good for stations worldwide during the mid day to early evening time periods. Give it a shot and show off to some school kids while you can.

Fewer images

It appears that the current orbit of ARISSat-1 being mainly illuminated during Southern hemisphere passes has greatly reduced the number of captured images due to less participants in that part of the world . Ones that are being captured are of a lesser quality that received earlier. The orbit is slowly starting to favor afternoon and evening passes in the Northern hemisphere so we should start seeing an increase in images. This image was captured by ZS6BMN.

Southern Hemisphere

Seems with the current orbital timing that folks in the Northern hemisphere are at a disadvantage due to the early morning passes being silent because the delay timer is not activating the transmitter until about 15 minutes after the satellite comes out of eclipse. For folks in the Southern hemisphere there are some excellent day and evening passes occurring for the next couple of weeks. Hope to see a few more images from Australia, South America, Africa and some of the equatorial regions during this time frame.

Couple of stunning images

I really like the Earth with Sun light glinting off the surface. The next image of the coastline is very nice as well. Congratulations to KD8CAO and SP8CGR respectively for capturing and submitting these spectacular images from ARISSat-1 over the past couple of days.

Starting to see submissions from some new stations and hope to see even more over the next few months that ARISSat-1 is predicted to be in orbit.

Did you also know that you can get a certificate for receiveing an SSTV image from ARISSat-1? Go to the ARISSat website and look under the FAQ for "reception certificates" and follow the directions.

Better quality images

Now that the satellite is rotating less the images are getting much cleaner. Here is a nearly perfect copy one of the default images sent when no other images are in the queue. Congrats to JHøGEV and his station for being able to get such a clean SSTV copy from space.

Clouds that stand out

This image captured by KD8CAO has some really nice lighting on the clouds and seems to give it some added depth. Uploads of captured images still coming in and the gallery has received over 1,500 images since ARISSat-1 was deployed. Keep them coming!

Earth or moon

If this image were in black and white then I might have thought it was a shot of our moon. Thanks to JAøCAW for capturing this image on Sep 6.

New for September

Since the number of wonderful images was getting a bit long, we started over for the month of September. The best images from August are still available by choosing "ARISSat-1_Aug_2011" under the display mission drop down menu on the main gallery page. You can always go to the archive to see everything but may need to select a higher page number for images that were published more than a few days ago. I expect September's page will be even bigger now that ARISSat-1 seems to have slowed its tumble rate and the fading is less of an impact to the images.

Amazing images still being received

I can hardly wait until some schools start trying to capture images as some great ones are being received by folks all around the globe. This image shows land mass and ocean will a few clouds and was received by IW2AGJ. Can you tell where in the world this are is located?

Daytime imagery

Images like this one are still being transmitted by ARISSat-1 during the day. Many midday to late afternoon passes will have several images being sent by the satellite. This image received by KD8CAO over North America has a nice sun glint effect.

ARISSat-1 continues to operate as long as the solar panels are converting enough energy to provide operations. This image of clouds was received by VK2DAG on Aug 21.

At least one instance of a male telemetry voice was reported and this occurs when the SD card can no longer be read. The system appears to have reset after that as follow on reports indicated the system was back to the female voice.

ARISSat-1 views of the world

I have taken a large number of the images that ARISSat-1 has captured and been received by numerous ground stations and compiled them into a "view of the world" plus a few of the other images that have been transmitted and received.

Battery fails; System still operates in sunlight

The ARISSat-1 website posted that the battery has not failed in a shorted state. That is good news in that it means the system can continue to operate when voltage levels from the solar panels permit. Images are still coming in but at a slower rates since the satellite does not transmit during eclipse periods. An interesting lens flare image taken by the top looking camera and was received by VU2UKT on Aug 14.

ARISSat-1 battery voltage causing resets

This very high quality image was received Aug 11 by ZL2BX.
The battery system on ARISSat-1 has degraded rapidly and is now dropping low enough to reset the internal control system. The system is still functional but will take longer to come up to the minimum voltage for high (or full) duty cycle operations. This will reduce your chances of hearing the satellite during the day as it may only have enough power for the low duty cycle transmission mode.

Image sumbissions decreasing

Not sure if the novelty of images from space is wearing out or if the satellite being in low power mode a bit more often is the reason but the number of images being submitted to the http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV/ site is dropping off quite a bit. Images that are not selected for publishing on the main page are still available and posted to the archives at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV/archive.php with the most recent ones on page 1 and older postings on subsequent pages.

Looking forward to seeing more images from ARISSat-1.

Aug 9 image of the day

This image was received by JJøLTH while ARISSat-1 was over Asia. It appears to show some land features under and around the clouds.

SSTV via linear transponder

Here is an SSTV image that was sent through the linear transponder by PA3GUO using 435.75 (LSB) for the uplink and 145.9 (LSB) on the downlink. Signals from the satellite appear to be improving as the spin rate begins to slow.

Images still coming down

Several nice images were captured over the weekend. The first one (left) was received by JJøLTH and appears to show some land. The second one (below) was received by HA6KVC and shows another striking cloud view. The team now has a website that shows received telemetry from the satellite.

Spectacular

This is one of the nicest images I have seen yet. A superb shot captured by ON4CCM over Europe on Aug 6.

Red callsign image

Here is the best image I could find to date with a red callsign. I just happened to have posted the other 3 color examples previously. This image was captured by NøJY during a pass over North America on Aug 4.

Color of callsign

The color of the callsign in the upper left of the image indicates which of the 4 cameras took the photo.
Red callsign [-Y pointing camera, mirror reverses image].
Green callsign is the top view [+Z pointing camera] and sometimes has the 2 meter antenna in view.
Blue callsign is the bottom view [-Z pointing camera].
Magenta callsign [+Y pointing camera, mirror reverses image].

Looking straight down

This nice image was received over North America by KJ4ZFQ. A nearly full frame shot of the earth and lots of clouds.

Another Earth view

This earth view was captured by KC7I during the 1527 UTC pass over North America. Keep posting images to the gallery at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV/

Another great image

This one appears to have been captured just prior to deployment by the cosmonaut and saved in memory for transmission later. Congrats to DK3WN for capturing this image.

Early images from ARISSat-1

Some really interesting images are being sent by ARISSat-1 when it is not in eclipse. This one captured by G6HMS just after ø6øø UTC on Aug 4 show the curve of the earth. Many of the images have lines across them which is due to the satellite tumbling and causing some deep fading in the signal.

ARISSat-1 deployed (Aug 3)

A bit delayed but ARISSat-1 was deployed at 1843 UTC by Sergey Volkov. An initial report of the satellite has been posted from Japan.

ARISSat-1 pre EVA test successful

A bit behind on status but ARISSat-1 had a successful checkout on July 30-31. Data, voice telemetry and SSTV images were received (some directly on VHF and others through the UHF relay on the ISS). The satellite is due to be deployed during the first part of Russian EVA #29. Hatch opening is scheduled for 1430 UTC so the satellite should be deployed and active some time after 1500 UTC. Use the ISS keps for the first day or so as ARISSat-1 will be in close proximity. Keps should be available after a short time so the predicts can be modeled post deployment. More info at

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition28/russian_eva29.html

Swing and a miss

The ARISSat-1 satellite inside the ISS, was to be turned on and use an external antenna in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first manned space flight. No ground stations reported hearing the signals. AMSAT is working with our Russian partners to determine any problems and assist in correcting them.

The ARISSat-1 signals can be experienced during the 2011 Dayton Hamvention (May 20-22) in the AMSAT booth and around the arena. AMSAT will have the operational prototype running and people there to discuss the satellite and its operation.

Roscosmos has announced that the satellite will be deployed into orbit during the next EVA in llate July of this year.

http://www.arissat1.org/

ARISSat-1 details

AMSAT has sent a bulletin providing information about the activation test for the 50th anniversary of human space flight. See www.amsat.org for all the details.

ARISSat-1 test (part 2)

The Russian team is planning to activate ARISSat-1 from inside the ISS again as part of the commemoration of the 5oth anniversary of the first human in space. The schedule currently lists preparation for activation starting at 1430 UTC on April 11. The system should be active several minutes later and will remain active until 1030 UTC on April 13.

The small satellite is now planned for deployment from the ISS during a Russian EVA in July.

ARISSat-1 test

The Russian crew preformed a verification test on Feb 10 of the ARISSat-1 (aka RadioSkaf -B and KEDR) before it will be deployed on an EVA. JA0CAW was fortunate enough to capture one of the stored images that the satellite will be transmitting.