[Ground-station] Satellite program

Wed May 30 08:37:16 PDT 2018

OK proposed time is 6pm Pacific 31 May 2018. I'm checking with Neel to see
if we can use the NI conference bridge for the call.

I have severe laryngitis that will probably not clear up by tomorrow, but
I'll be on the call and I volunteer to take minutes.

Meeting details incoming ASAP!

-Michelle W5NYV

"Potestatem obscuri lateris nescis."

On Wed, May 30, 2018 at 4:55 AM, Jonathan Brandenburg <
jonathan at jonathanbrandenburg.com> wrote:

> I'm available for the proposed meeting,
>
> jb
>
> On 5/28/2018 2:50 PM, Michelle Thompson wrote:
>
> I think this is very good news and has enormous potential across many
> projects.
>
> One of the action items from Hamvention was to set up a repository
> structure for P4S that mirrors the payload projects we are beginning to
> become associated with (UPSat, etc.). One of the top level divisions is, of
> course, IHU. No time like the present to get that done.
>
> We will set this up today and invite everyone referenced here as
> maintainers. If we can get a copy of the documentation pegged, then we can
> start moving forward from there. Other options, like the Vorago, can be
> documented and discussed in parallel.
>
> Wide review and evaluation can further improve an already good design. I
> know there's a lot of opinions and feedback surrounding this design. I know
> some discussions happened at 2017 Symposium and there has been plenty of
> work done since then.
>
> Jonathan et al, do you think a conference call about the IHU would help? I
> was thinking Thursday 6pm Pacific might be good.
>
>
> -Michelle W5NYV
>
> "Sit vis vobiscum."
>
>
> On Mon, May 28, 2018 at 10:14 AM, Jonathan Brandenburg via Ground-Station
> <ground-station at lists.openresearch.institute> wrote:
>
>> [I'm speaking a bit for Zach Metzinger, so I've copied him on this email.
>> I'm not sure if he's on this mailing list or not and want him to be in a
>> position to expand or correct my statements, or even disavow anything I'm
>> saying, if he desires.]
>>
>> A small team, primarily Zach Metzinger with the assistance of others
>> (Bill Reed, Jordan Trewitt, me), is designing an IHU based on the TI
>> Hercules safety-critical processor. While the Hercules is not necessarily
>> radiation-hardened, the processor is designed for operation in very noisy
>> environments. It's also designed to detect faults, by executing
>> instructions on two cores in lockstep, detect when the result differs, and
>> signal a failure. (I imagine there are other features, but this is a high
>> point.)
>>
>> So, we've been designing an IHU with two Hercules processors and two
>> digital transceivers configured in a fail-over configuration along with
>> redundant power circuits. There's still work to be done, but Zach has begun
>> laying out this board in a 1U footprint.
>>
>> [This is the part where I'm speaking for Zach...] I believe Zach is
>> committed to ensuring this design is open and available. As a result, I
>> expect we'll be quickly publishing this work (by ITAR/EAR definitions) as
>> we achieve milestones. This IHU work was begun before the AMSAT Golf
>> program was kicked off and is now being integrated into Golf. I don't know
>> of any reason this work couldn't be leveraged and used in other satellites.
>>
>> Thus, I submit this IHU-in-progress for our consideration...
>>
>> Jonathan Brandenburg
>>
>> On 5/16/2018 1:54 PM, Bruce Perens via Ground-Station wrote:
>>
>>
>> Legal stuff first: Image credit: XKCD #1992: "SafetySat" at
>> http://xkcd.com/1992/ Creative Commons Attr-NC 2.5 license.
>>
>> Yes, we should have a satellite program and do what AMSAT is not.
>> Everyone I have heard from so far is asking for a "DX Satellite", "like
>> AO-13" and not LEO.
>>
>> Mission should include digital communications using Michelle's design. I
>> also have some blue-sky ideas that we can discuss at Hamvention, some of
>> them might be good grant candidates. Think grant. Money is out there, we
>> will start soliciting as soon as we have a mission plan.
>>
>> Build the satellite (and maybe P-pods) first, approach launch providers
>> with flight hardware in hand and ready to go. Satellites are cheap,
>> launches are not. Be prepared to take advantage of opportunities on very
>> short schedules.
>>
>> I think we should fabricate extras of parts we design, and sell them as
>> TAPR does to supplement their budget, but right off of Amazon Prime. Make
>> them really easy and fast to buy, and someone else does the shipping. Aim
>> at flight-quality but mostly going to classroom use rather than flight, to
>> start. Nicer for the class than the PLA 3-D printer stuff that is so
>> obviously non-flight that they are using now.
>>
>> Aim for 100% to 200% markup over cost, Amazon gets around 18% of the
>> order and a warehouse fee and fulfills from their warehouse. Most of the
>> commercial cubesat companies, like Pumpkin, are running 500% to 1000%
>> markup in order to amortize R&D and operational costs and still make a
>> profit, but most of them have flight heritage that we would not start out
>> with. We use slave labor :-) and can mostly base our final cost on
>> fabrication and sales costs.
>>
>> I have been looking at cubesat structures (because I feel competent
>> enough to make one, at least with your help) and I really like Pumpkin's
>> design. Almost all laser-cut 5000-class sheet aluminum, bent on a brake,
>> anodized corners on the sheet, only the 8 corner pieces are machined, and
>> that only simple shaping and drilling of bar stock into a simple
>> rectilinear shape with specified-radius corners and edges and a place to
>> put the springs and cutoff switch pins. Most other designers seemed to be
>> more interested in showing their skill in CNC machining than making a
>> practical structure. If you look at Pumpkin's stuff, it is clear that they
>> put a lot of thought into mechanical engineering. And they actually
>> engineered for cost and mass-production, while few others bothered. We will
>> not ever directly copy anything (I am an intellectual property specialist,
>> and will keep us legal), but we can and should learn from their work.
>>
>> Besides the structure, other non-mission-specific stuff we should be
>> building would include an IHU (computer) and the other general bus
>> components: lithium battery pack with heaters and per-cell management,
>> magnetorquer, solar panels (what cells, from where?), maybe some heat
>> distribution components like adiabatic heat pipes?
>>
>> Can we hear from volunteers for any of this?
>>
>> LIME mini might be a good flight candidate, besides Ettus and Rincon.
>> Their CEO and Open Source guy are very friendly and their PCB design may
>> already be licensed appropriately. No idea how the chip would take
>> radiation.
>>
>> We should look into the Open Source finite element analysis and CFD
>> programs. We should simulate as much as possible before going to thermal
>> vacuum, vibration and shock, etc. And publish all input data so that it can
>> be reused along with our part designs.
>>
>> I saw a really nice indium electronic thruster at Cal Poly. All
>> proprietary, of course. Goes up with the fuel solid, gets heated in flight.
>> No moving parts, works by wicking through a sintered tip. Probably very
>> patented. But a source of ideas.
>>
>>     Thanks
>>
>>     Bruce
>>
>>
>> On Wed, May 16, 2018, 09:23 Michelle Thompson <
>> mountain.michelle at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Heh! The SDR really ties it all together in your sketch there.
>>>
>>> Yes, there's interest in building an open source satellite. The time is
>>> right and we have the best chance of making it happen that I've seen in a
>>> long time. There's a variety of forces at work in the industry, in
>>> academia, and in open source culture and achievement that help make a
>>> modern, innovative, amateur, open source payload possible.
>>>
>>> I don't know enough about MEO but I'm game for supporting any payload
>>> that enables an enduring amateur community through reliable communications
>>> in space. I'm very happy we get the chance to dig into this and I want to
>>> enable and support it as much as possible.
>>>
>>> The Careful COTS of an Ettus USRP effort is one way to get a capable SDR
>>> for space. This is a joint project between Phase 4 Space and GOLF to get
>>> the E310 in play soon/now for GOLF and the E320 later for Phase 4 Space.
>>> Business unit at Ettus is reviewing it. Systems engineering lead for GOLF
>>> endorsed it as an open source effort. Meeting minutes were posted to the
>>> list. Next steps depend on what IP from Ettus. We'll proceed with the E320
>>> as far as it takes us regardless. I expect to make a lot more progress here
>>> in late summer/early fall, especially at GNU Radio Conference 2018.
>>>
>>> The Rincon AstroSDR is another option, and Rincon has reached out with
>>> questions and clarifications in response to the Kittens Weekly Report.
>>> There will be more talks after Hamvention. Rincon will be a significant
>>> presence at GNU Radio Conference 2018.
>>>
>>> Propulsion, attitude control, solar power, and a variety of antennas all
>>> have open source flight-tested options at LEO. I don't know much about
>>> navigation.
>>>
>>> I do know that we have a lot of support out there from like-minded
>>> organizations and projects.
>>>
>>> I do know that a payload design is within the capabilities of people on
>>> this list and within our extended Slack/GitHub/phone/email/club/conference
>>> network. That does not mean it's easy by any stretch, and it means that our
>>> economic development team will be tested. I think we are up to the
>>> challenge.
>>>
>>> What's the first thing that you think we need to do?
>>>
>>> -Michelle W5NYV
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>> From: Howie DeFelice <howied231 at hotmail.com>
>>>> To: "ground-station at lists.openresearch.institute"
>>>> <ground-station at lists.openresearch.institute>
>>>> <ground-station at lists.openresearch.institute>
>>>> <ground-station at lists.openresearch.institute>
>>>> Cc:
>>>> Bcc:
>>>> Date: Wed, 16 May 2018 04:16:15 +0000
>>>> Subject: Satellite Building
>>>> Just wondering if there is interest in putting together a project to
>>>> build a satellite. There is no particular launch in mind and no particular
>>>> mission at this pint other than the generic Amateur Radio goal of
>>>> furthering the art of communication. I think most will agree that the LAST
>>>> thing we need another LEO. To simply exploit the microwave bands I think we
>>>> want to consider orbits that allow hours of coverage at a time. A GEO would
>>>> be great, a HEO would be really good. An overlooked orbit, at least in ham
>>>> radio, is MEO. An orbit between 8000 and 10,000 Km would provide about 2
>>>> hours of coverage and orbit the earth about twice a day. The problem is
>>>> that not too many people fly there so we need another  strategy. If we
>>>> aren't in a big hurry, maybe we can get there from LEO. This means we need
>>>> propulsion, attitude control, navigation, lots of solar power and a really
>>>> cool radio. Does this sound reasonable? How  long would this actually take
>>>> with a milli-Newton thruster ? I have attached a sketch of my first ideas.
>>>>
>>>> - Howie AB2S
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>> From: ground-station-request at lists.openresearch.institute
>>>> To:
>>>> Cc:
>>>> Bcc:
>>>> Date: Wed, 16 May 2018 00:16:18 -0400
>>>> Subject: confirm db1d86455ef4eb7857a41676b75024137549ff1d
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>>>
>>>
>>
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>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Brandenburg
>> 1-214-213-1066jonathan at jonathanbrandenburg.com
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>
> --
> Jonathan Brandenburg
> 1-214-213-1066jonathan at jonathanbrandenburg.com
> -----------------------
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