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 Previous: Surfin': Radio Meriting A Badge |  Next: New, All-Ham Crew Settling In Aboard ISS, School Contacts Scheduled |
By Anthony R.
Curtis, K3RXK
Contributing Editor
December 16, 2001
A tiny science research hamsat designed by students in Australia and Russia is in space and will start burbling data and voice messages on 2 meters in a couple of months.
Some youngsters in Sydney, Australia, and Obninsk, Russia, have moved beyond Harry Potter's wizardry into the real world of Amateur Radio in space.
They were able to do so because the Russians wanted to demonstrate that space is of vital interest to mankind and that educating young people about space flight and research is very important. Russia's School Scientific-Research Micro-Satellite (SSRMS) program aimed at involving elementary and secondary school children in designing research experiments for microsatellites.
 Testing in the lab of the opening of Kolibri's solar panels, radio antennas and gravity bar. |
The students named the newest of these microsats Kolibri-2000. Kolibri means hummingbird. The satellite rode a Russian Progress cargo freighter up to the International Space Station earlier this month, but you'll have to wait a couple of months to hear it.
The Space Research Institute (IKI) built the Amateur Radio microsat. The engineers attached a radio-controlled remote launching port to the Progress capsule that will hold Kolibri until February. Then, as the Progress rocket backs away and departs from the ISS in February 2002, the 44-pound Kolibri will be ejected into space.
Kolibri has no engine or thrusters of its own. After it springs off the cargo freighter, Kolibri will drop slowly and burn up in Earth's atmosphere after about four months.
While falling into the atmosphere during the late winter and spring months, it will send down telemetry data and digitally recorded voice messages. One of its downlink frequencies is 145.825 MHz. It may also transmit near 430 MHz.
 The microsatellite packed for transport. The light blue solar panels are folded against the body of the microsatellite, which is on a horizontal weight-compensation stand. On the tripod (left) is a laser device to measure the horizontal movement of the microsatellite. |
As Kolibri leaves the Progress capsule and the ISS, it will be in a circular orbit just over 200 miles above Earth. That is an attractive place for school research projects. At that altitude, space processes and atmospheric weather intermingle. The Australian and Russian students thought that physical processes at such altitudes so far had not been investigated well.
You may recall that Russian and French students participated in the development of RS-18/Sputnik-41 which was sent up and hand-launched from Mir in 1998 as discussed in the September and November editions of this column.
This time, the Australian and Russian kids are from the Ravenswood Girls School and the Knox Grammar School for Boys, both in Sydney, Australia, and at the Obninsk elementary and high schools at the Centre of Computer Technologies at the Institute of Atomic Power 60 miles outside Moscow.
The Kolibri kids put 2000 in the name of their satellite because they had hoped to have it launched last year, during the peak of the current sunspot cycle. That tied in with their science objectives. They conceived their own research project, and it's real science. Their design is a comparative investigation of near-Earth space over Europe and Australia. They hypothesized a difference in space over Europe, which is a highly developed industrial region on Earth's surface, and Australia, which has had less exposure to the impact of technology.
Plasma clouds ejected from the sun's surface arrive at Earth, interact with the magnetosphere, and bring about sharp changes in the magnetic and electric fields of the ionosphere above Earth and down on Earth's surface. The Kolibri microsatellite will report on the structure and intensity of low-frequency electromagnetic fields around Earth.
The students built satellite ground stations in Australia and Russia. They will receive and analyze data on the intensity of high-energy particles from the sun penetrating Earth's upper atmosphere. That will help the youngsters understand what happens when solar cosmic rays interact with Earth's own radiation belts.
Kolibri's four-foot-by-20-inch cylinder is crammed with 10 pounds of science equipment. It has a particle analyzer, an electrical field analyzer, and an electrical field flux-gate magnetometer. Those are in addition to its command and telemetry radio equipment, computer, power supply, passive thermal regulation, and magnetic-gravitational orientation.
 Lab photo showing what Kolibri will look like opened up in space. After it is jettisoned from the Progress spacecraft and completely leaves the transport and launch container, the microsatellite unfolds its solar panels and antenna, and automatically switches on its research and command systems. |
The schoolchildren used videoconferencing to meet and discuss their project, and e-mail to communicate as they worked through the design and implementation. The Russian group spent eight days in July 2000 at the ground station in Australia training to receive, process and interpret information from the satellite.
Who footed the bill? Kolibri-2000 is a non-government non-commercial project, according to the Russians, who say it is not intended for profit. Work on the project was carried out at no cost to the project by the Institute of Atomic Power at Obninsk, various IKI divisions, Energia rocket builder, Nuclear Physics Institute of Moscow, NPOMaschinostroenie Research and Production Association, and the Polet Design Bureau. The project was supported by the International Astronautic Federation (IAF) of the United Nations.
The Russians say that elementary school should be the first place where people realize the importance of space flight. They point out that space exploration relies on rocket and satellite technology and suggest that the sooner the public is involved, the stronger the long-term commitment.
We should expect to see more of these microsatellites in the future.
Editor's note: ARRL Life
Member Anthony R. Curtis, K3RXK, lives in Florence, Kentucky. He describes
himself as "a dc-to-daylight kind of guy" interested in AMSAT, TAPR, ARES,
HF, VHF, UHF, digital, CW, SSB, FM, QRP, contesting and DX. Licensed since
1954, he originally held the call sign W8TIZ. An Extra class op with a PhD in
mass communication, Curtis has written 72 books about space, astronomy,
computers and electronics. He is editor of Space Today Online. Active as an ARRL field volunteer,
Curtis served as Section Emergency Coordinator for the Maryland-DC Section and
as net manager for the Maryland Emergency Phone Net. He now serves as an ARRL
Educational Advisor and a Great Lakes Division Assistant Director. He also has
been president of clubs and repeater associations. Curtis is employed as associate
dean for academic information services at the Union Institute & University
in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a NASA Solar System Ambassador and an Apple
Distinguished Educator. Readers can contact Tony Curtis via e-mail k3rxk@arrl.net.
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