[Ground-station] Sounding Rockets and FPGAs - at a University

[Jay Francis]

Michelle Thompson via Ground-Station wrote on 4/4/21 10:39 AM:
> If we were to propose an FPGA experiment on a sounding rocket (this is 
> with a University), what would be the best experiment?
It's probably easier to get FCC STA licenses for sounding rocket 
launches than orbital due to the limited duration.  I've done it a 
couple times now for S-Band telemetry on vehicles.  This could be a way 
to test very experimental modulation/protocols that might not be 
approved for orbital operation.

Flight testing deployment of very small hardware (similar to Ambasat 
size or smaller) may also be possible since there's no orbital debris 
tracking issues.  It could be interesting to have a sounding rocket 
deployment mechanism to test swarms of small networked "satellites".

Experiments flown on sounding rockets aren't necessarily only activated 
in space (unlike cubesats).  They can be designed to run through the 
whole flight.

The flight environment (acceleration, shock and vibe) of most sounding 
rockets is a bit harsher than an orbital launch - be prepared for that, 
or take advantage of it :-)

--Jay, KA1PQK