05/18/2016
The STMSat-1[1] CubeSat built by students at St Thomas More (STM) Cathedral
School in Arlington, Virginia, silent since it was deployed from the
International Space Station, will begin transmitting when its orbit is stable,
the transmitter has power, and its antennas are deployed, according to a May 18
tweet. Satellite enthusiasts around the globe have been listening as the little
spacecraft's orbit favors their locations. An earlier tweet from the school
indicated that students had been checking the school's Mission Operations
Center as they awaited tracking information.
Youngsters at the elementary school broke into a frenzy of celebration on May
16, as the CubeSat finally was deployed from the International Space Station at
1440 UTC. It's equipped with a slow-scan TV (SSTV) payload that will transmit
on 437.800 MHz FM. The satellite is the first to be designed and built by grade
schoolers, who were supported by NASA technical advisors and by local radio
amateurs. STMSat-1 was transported to the ISS in December by an Orbital ATK
Cygnus spacecraft.
The kit-built satellite initially had been set for release in mid-February.
That deployment was postponed until early March, however, before being put on
hold again. The satellite project is part of the school's STEM (science,
technology, engineering, mathematics) education initiatives.
NASA's Technology Demonstration Office provided the school with a mobile "clean
room" to ensure that the construction phase met with strict guidelines and
standards for launch and deployment from the ISS. The space agency also
provided the school with a ground station antenna to receive the SSTV images
and temperature readings, once the satellite comes to life.
Also deployed from the ISS on May 16 were other school-built satellites
carrying payloads operating on Amateur Radio frequencies. These included
MinXSS-1[2] (437.345 MHz); CADRE[3] (437.485 MHz and 3.404 GHz), and NODES[4]
(437.100 MHz 1200 bps AX.25 and 2401.2-2431.2 MHz 115.2 kbps spread-spectrum
FSK). As of May 18, no signals had been reported from the CADRE spacecraft, but
MinXSS-1 and NODES both have been heard.
[1] http://www.stmsat-1.org/rmoc/
[2] http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/minxss/
[3] http://exploration.engin.umich.edu/blog/?page_id=961
[4] http://nodes.engr.scu.edu/
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