ESA - SSETI Express

[alpha_centauri]

BBC article <br /><br /><font color="yellow"> "The first satellite built entirely by European students is set to lift off from Plesetsk in Russia on Thursday." </font><br /><br /><font color="yellow"> "SSETI Express carries a camera to take images of the Earth and (will deploy) three tiny "cubesats" to carry out experiments. It will also act as a transponder to relay amateur radio signals." </font><br /><br />and.....<br /><br /><font color="yellow"> "In conjunction with the European Space Agency (Esa), which funds the project, the students hope to construct and launch several micro-satellites and potentially more complex projects such as a <b> moonlander </b>." </font><br /><br />Sounds like quite an interesting student programme, well I think it deserves a mention. Here's the project website, SSETI .

 

[shoogerbrugge]

Launch just took place, first and second stage were nominal. Now its waiting for the ground stations to pick-up the signals. No bad news as of yet<br /><br />

 

[shoogerbrugge]

Launch was a succes, for more info: www.esa.int<br /><br /><br />This also means that Iran's first satellite has also reached orbit. Another country in the club, hoooray

 

[shoogerbrugge]

2 out 3 of the piggybagged picosates have responded though. Only the Norwegian satellite has not yet given a sign of life.<br /><br /><br />Thanks for the update, a lot more detailed then the ESA website, weekend in Europe, you won't be able to get anything done..........

 

[shoogerbrugge]

sure thing<br /><br /><br />I usually check with the university sites themselves, since those are run by non-state agencies, which means they do work on the weekend <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />I usually check the following sites<br /><br /> website of the SSETI express team <br /><br /> The Norwegian pico sat news site <br /><br /> The japanese pico sat web site <br /><br />

 

[rhodan]

From NewScientistSpace.com:<ul type="square"><b>SSETI Express suffers power loss</b><br /><br />Europe's student-built SSETI Express spacecraft has been put into standby mode after it unexpectedly began to lose power just hours after launch. It is not yet clear whether the mission can be recovered.<br /><br />The spacecraft was launched on Thursday aboard a Kosmos 3M rocket from Plesetsk, Russia, at 0652 GMT. About 90 minutes later, the primary ground control centre in Aalborg, Denmark, received the first signals from the satellite.<br /><br />But as mission controllers monitored the satellite, they noticed the voltage on the probe's batteries drop. "The power supply was decreasing quite dramatically," says European Space Agency spokesperson Simonetta Cheli. <br /><br />"We're having some problems charging the batteries from the solar panels," explains Neil Melville, project manager for SSETI Express at ESA's base in Noordwijk in the Netherlands. "It gave us some cause for concern."<br /><br />So at 2020 GMT, the probe was put into a standby, or "safe" mode, where all non-essential systems are turned off to conserve power. "We put it in safe mode to check what's going on and see if we can still recover the satellite," says Cheli, adding that if the glitch cannot be fixed, "there is no power to do anything".<br /><br />...(Full story)</ul>Very cool initiative, I hope they can get the power back on.

 

[shoogerbrugge]

from this website SSETI <br /><br /><br /><i>To answer your most urgent question right in the beginning: No, unfortunately there was no contact with SSETI Express today. However, the analysis team is doing a great job and a first draft report is on its way to undergo review at ESA. More news and decisions are expected by tomorrow. Until then, the latest status still applies. </i>

 

[shoogerbrugge]

http://sseti.gte.tuwien.ac.at/express/mop/index.php?uri=news.html<br /><br />From the same website as above. A nice summary what has been achieved and what the problems are:<br /><br />Monday 31st October 2005 - SSETI Express Power Problems<br /><br />The SSETI Express student microsatellite mission has been a remarkable success, achieving its two first mission objectives and a number of important milestones. Due to a failure in the electrical power system on board the spacecraft is inoperable and mission control is on "standby". There is a small but significant possibility of recovery, the likelihood of which is being ascertained by ongoing testing. The educational goals of the project continue to be met by the student teams who are still working hard to analyse and understand all available data, such that the lessons learned can be applied to future missions.<br /><br />Detailed statement:<br /><br />Despite the brevity of the initial mission a number of important milestones were achieved:<br /><br />1) Objective 1 is fulfilled: Reaching the launch pad after progressing through the challenging and rigorous acceptance process is a major milestone demonstrating the capability and applicability of the SSETI Programme itself and all of the student teams involved.<br /><br />2) Objective 2 is fulfilled: All evidence suggests that the three Cubesat passengers were successfully deployed into orbit by SSETI Express, and were hence able to begin their own independent missions. The Cubesats Xi-V and UWE-1 are alive and well, the status of NCube-2 has yet to be confirmed.<br /><br />3) SSETI Express booted up in orbit and transmitted its first data back to earth precisely on schedule. This data was received and decoded by the primary groundstation and several others. This confirmed that SSETI Express survived its journey into space and was successfully separated from the launcher.<br /><br />4) The p

 

[syndroma]

And if you don't already know - Russian educational satellite Mozhayets-5 failed to separate from the adapter. <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" />

 

[syndroma]

<br />Satellites on the adapter:<br />http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/nk/forum-pic/Cosmos-3M-group.jpg<br /><br />Satellites one by one:<br />http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2308&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45<br />

 

[shoogerbrugge]

Hi all, <br /><br />There are some additional pictures to be found on this website <br /><br />There are some cool Blast off pictures of the Cosmos 3M, and maybe even more interesting, a large number of detailed pictures of the renovated Soyuz-2 launch tower. Its been used once to test the new Soyuz, but it looks splendid in its new paint.

 

[syndroma]

This one looks particularly splendid:<br />Launch Tower and Autumn Forest<br />

 

[shoogerbrugge]

Yup, it was the first time I realised that the site was build close to a slope, just like in biakonur. Easy if you want to get the blastwaves out of the way.<br /><br />The only thing that intrigued me though is the fact that the launch tower is only able to support Soyuz LV, and not Molynia launch vehicles. Only very few Soyuz's were launched from Plestek in the past decade. Do you suppose this is part of moving out of Kazakstan project? What kind of payloads will be orbited from Plestek? And will a launchpad at Biakonur also be upgraded to this standard, or are there no plans to replace those Soyuz LVs with the newer version?<br /><br />

 

[syndroma]

Molniya will be replaced by Soyuz-2/Fregat.<br /><br />You should always take into account that Plesetsk is a military toy. So, payloads are the military ones mostly.<br /><br />On the contrary, Baikonur is evolving in purely civil international spaceport. Russian military units are leaving for Plesetsk.<br /><br />The first Soyuz-2 launch from Baikonur's pad 31 is planned for April 2006.

 

[shoogerbrugge]

thanks you insight is much appreciated <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />I guess that thise move will standardise operations of the Soyuz, only one type of LV, with different possible upper stages.<br /><br />Thanks again<br /><br />

 

[josh_simonson]

Hmm, so a voltage clamp failed short and they're hoping it'll eventually cook open again. I guess they're praying for metal electromigration to occur...