HAMSAT also known as HAMSAT INDIA, VU2SAT and VO-52 is a

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. ...

weighing , providing

amateur radio satellite An amateur radio satellite is an artificial satellite built and used by amateur radio operators. It forms part of the Amateur-satellite service. These satellites use amateur radio frequency allocations to facilitate communication between amate ...

communications services for Indian and international

amateur radio operator An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators hav ...

s. This satellite carries the in-orbit designation of VO-52, and is an

OSCAR Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

series satellite.

History

It was launched by

PSLV-C6 PSLV-C6 was the sixth operational launch and overall ninth mission of the PSLV program. This launch was also the fifty-fourth launch by Indian Space Research Organisation since its first mission on 1 January 1962. The vehicle carried and injected ...

on May 5, 2005. The main payload was an

Indian Remote Sensing satellite India's remote sensing program was developed with the idea of applying space technologies for the benefit of humankind and the development of the country. The program involved the development of three principal capabilities. The first was to desi ...

CARTOSAT-1 Cartosat-1 (formerly IRS-P5) is a stereoscopic Earth observation satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit, and the first one of the Cartosat series of satellites. The eleventh satellite of ISRO in Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) series. The sa ...

weighing . HAMSAT was placed into a polar

sun synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

. It carries two

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...

s, one built by William Leijenaar (Call Sign: PE1RAH), a Dutch Radio Amateur and graduate engineering student from the Higher Technical Institute at

Venlo Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherland ...

and the other by Ham enthusiasts with help from the

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

(Indian Space Research Organisation). Each transponder is recognized by its beacon. The Indian transponder has an unmodulated carrier on 145.940 MHz. The Dutch transponder is modulated with telemetry information on 145.860 MHz. Both are linear transponders offering the CW, SSB and FM modes of amateur radio communication. They operate Mode-B for U-V operation with UHF uplink and VHF downlink. The satellite joins many previous satellites in amateur radio service; mostly launched by

AMSAT AMSAT is a name for amateur radio satellite organizations worldwide, but in particular the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) with headquarters at Washington, D.C. AMSAT organizations design, build, arrange launches for, and then opera ...

. HAMSAT VO-52 failed in Space on 11 July 2014, while on its 49,675th orbit, due to the failure of on-board lithium ion batteries that have met their end of life. Although the satellite's systems and sub-systems are working normal as per the latest telemetry received, the on-board computer recurring to ‘Reset’ mode due to the failure of batteries is hindering operation. Hence, it was decided not to expect any more meaningful and reliable services from HAMSAT VO-52. On 21 July 2014, ISRO has decommissioned ‘HAMSAT-VO52′ officially. HAMSAT VO-52 was designed for one year mission life, but lasted for almost 10 years. The satellite was designed to be maintenance-free, and autonomous. It was a test-bed for many new concepts such as a Bus Management Unit (BMU), lithium-ion based power system, automatic spin rate control and spin axis orientation control (SAOC) for maintaining the Satellite attitude without ground commanding. HAMSAT was known as “OSCAR-52” among Amateur HAM operators, and was popular internationally because of its high sensitivity receiver and strong transmitter.

Specifications

*The satellite is spin stabilized. It spins at about 4 RPM. *UHF Uplink and VHF Downlink *Uplink transponder frequency: 435.250 MHz *Downlink transponder frequency: 145.900 MHz *Beacon frequencies: 145.860 MHz CW telemetry and 145.936 MHz unmodulated carrier *Transponder bandwidth: 60 kHz *Transmitter output power: 1 watt *Antennas: VHF and UHF turnstiles *Communication modes: CW, SSB, FM *Electrical power: Gallium Arsenide solar panels charging a Lithium Ion battery *Onboard computer: MAR 31750 processor in the spacecraft's electronic bus management unit for attitude control, telemetry, telecommand for ground control, sensor and actuator functions.

External links

ISRO: HAMSATAMSAT link

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamsat Communications satellites of India Amateur radio satellites Amateur radio in India Satellites orbiting Earth Spacecraft launched in 2005 2005 in India

History

Specifications

See also

External links

References