For those interested... -- Dave, W8AAS
> > -----Original Message----- > > RELEASE: 11-009 > > NANOSAIL-D EJECTS; NASA SEEKS AMATUER RADIO OPERATORS' AID TO LISTEN > FOR > BEACON SIGNAL > > HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 11:30 a.m. EST, engineers at > Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., confirmed that the > NanoSail-D nanosatellite ejected from Fast Affordable Scientific and > Technology Satellite, FASTSAT. The ejection event occurred > spontaneously > and was identified this morning when engineers at the center analyzed > onboard FASTSAT telemetry. The ejection of NanoSail-D also has been > confirmed by ground-based satellite tracking assets. > > Amateur ham operators are asked to listen for the signal to verify > NanoSail-D is operating. This information should be sent to the > NanoSail-D dashboard at: http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm. > The NanoSail-D beacon signal can be found at 437.270 MHz. > > The NanoSail-D science team is hopeful the nanosatellite is healthy > and > can complete its solar sail mission. After ejection, a timer within > NanoSail-D begins a three-day countdown as the satellite orbits the > Earth. Once the timer reaches zero, four booms will quickly deploy and > the NanoSail-D sail will start to unfold to a 100-square-foot polymer > sail. Within five seconds the sail fully unfurls. > > "This is great news for our team. We're anxious to hear the beacon > which > tells us that NanoSail-D is healthy and operating as planned," said > Dean > Alhorn, NanoSail-D principal investigator and aerospace engineer at > the > Marshall Center. "The science team is hopeful to see that NanoSail-D > is > operational and will be able to unfurl its solar sail." > > On Dec. 6,, 2010, NASA triggered the planned ejection of NanoSail-D > from > FASTSAT. At that time, the team confirmed that the door successfully > opened and data indicated a successful ejection. Upon further > analysis, > no evidence of NanoSail-D was identified in low-Earth orbit, leading > the > team to believe NanoSail-D remained inside FASTSAT. > > The FASTSAT mission has continued to operate as planned with the five > other scientific experiments operating nominally. > > "We knew that the door opened and it was possible that NanoSail-D > could > eject on its own," said Mark Boudreaux, FASTSAT project manager at the > Marshall Center. "What a pleasant surprise this morning when our > flight > operations team confirmed that NanoSail-D is now a free flyer." > If the deployment is successful, NanoSail-D will stay in low-Earth > orbit > between 70 and 120 days, depending on atmospheric conditions. > NanoSail-D > is designed to demonstrate deployment of a compact solar sail boom > system that could lead to further development of this alternative > solar > sail propulsion technology and FASTSAT's ability to eject a > nano-satellite from a micro-satellite - while avoiding re-contact with > the FASTSAT satellite bus. > > Follow the NanoSail-D mission operation on Twitter at: > http://twitter.com/nanosaild > > For additional information on the timeline of the NanoSail-D > deployment > visit: > http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/501204main_NSD2_timeline_sequence.pdf > > To learn more about FASTSAT and the NanoSail-D missions visit: > http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats > > -end- > > News release > http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2011/11-009.html > > > For releases sent directly to you, contact: [email protected]. > > Marshall Space Flight Center > Public Affairs Department > 256-544-0034 > 256-544-5852 (fax) > http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news > > Follow Marshall news and interact with the NASA Marshall community on > Facebook, Twitter and Flickr: > > http://www.facebook.com/nasamarshallcenter > http://twitter.com/NASA_Marshall > http://www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets > _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
