Dragon Resupply Ship Leaves Station, Heads for Pacific Splashdown

Dragon Resupply Ship Leaves Station, Heads for Pacific Splashdown

The SpaceX Dragon resupply ship is in the grips of the Canadarm2
The SpaceX Dragon resupply ship is in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm moments before its release from the International pace Station.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft released from the International Space Station at 12:01 p.m. EDT after flight controllers in Houston delivered remote commands to the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. Expedition 59 Flight Engineer David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency monitored Dragon’s systems as it departed the microgravity laboratory.

Next up, Dragon will fire its thrusters to move a safe distance from the station and execute a deorbit burn around 4:56 p.m. to leave orbit. Splashdown down is targeted for approximately 5:55 p.m. EDT (2:55 p.m. PDT).

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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U.S. Cargo Craft Poised to Depart Station and Return to Earth

U.S. Cargo Craft Poised to Depart Station and Return to Earth

The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft approaches the International Space Station
The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft arrived at the International Space Station May 6, 2019 and was captured with the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

NASA Television coverage is now underway for departure of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from the International Space Station. The spacecraft is scheduled for release at 12:09 p.m. EDT.

Dragon was detached from the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module at 8:30 a.m. after flight controllers at mission control in Houston delivered remote commands to the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. Expedition 59 Flight Engineer David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency will back up the operation and monitor Dragon’s systems as it departs the orbital laboratory.

After firing its thrusters to move a safe distance away from the station, Dragon will execute a deorbit burn around 4:56 p.m. to leave orbit, as it heads for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, 202 miles southwest of Long Beach, California, at approximately 5:48 p.m. (2:48 p.m. PDT). There will be no live coverage of deorbit burn or splashdown.

Dragon launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket May 4 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and arrived at the station two days later with almost 5,500 pounds of science, supplies and cargo on SpaceX’s 17th commercial resupply mission to the station for NASA.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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Media Briefing Highlights NASA Tech on Next SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch

Media Briefing Highlights NASA Tech on Next SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch

NASA is sending four technology missions that will help improve future spacecraft design and performance into space on the next SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launch. Experts will discuss these technologies, and how they complement NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration plans, during a media teleconference Monday, June 10 at 1 p.m. EDT.

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NASA Breaking News

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CAS-7B ( BP-1B ) amateur radio satellite now ready for launch

CAS-7B ( BP-1B ) amateur radio satellite now ready for launch

CAS-7B / BP-1B undergoing testCAS-7B / BP-1B undergoing test

CAS-7B ( BP-1B ) satellite is an amateur radio satellite combined with educational. Chinese Amateur Satellite Group ( CAMSAT ) is working the project with Beijing Institute of Technology ( BIT ), one of the most famous aerospace universities in China. The university provides support in launch of the satellite, there are many teachers and students from this university are participating in the development and testing of the satellite. With the help of CAMSAT, the university has established an amateur radio club (call sign: BI1LG), many students are the members, they are learning amateur radio satellite communication and experience endless fun.

CAS-7B / BP-1B satellite schematic diagramCAS-7B / BP-1B satellite schematic diagram

Because of the orbital apogee and the size and mass of the satellite, the orbital life of the satellite is expected to be only one week, up to a maximum of one month, which will also provide with an opportunity for hams to track and monitor satellite entering the atmosphere.

The CAS-7B ( BP-1B ) is scheduled to be launched at the end of June 2019. The launch will use a new launch vehicle from a small commercial rocket company. This is the first launch of this launch vehicle, and there is a large possibility of failure, if the launch fails, we will have another launch later this year.

Satellite Name: CAS-7B/BP-1B
• Architecture: 1.5U Cube-satellite with flexible film ball
• Dimensions: 263Lx140Wx105H mm with 500 mm diameter flexible film ball
• Mass: 3kg
• Stabilization: Pneumatic resistance sail passive control

Orbit:
• Orbit type : LEO
• Apogee : 300km Circular orbit
• Inclination : 42.7º
• Period : 90.6min

Payload:
• VHF Antenna: one 1/4λ monopole antenna with max.0dBi gain is located at +Y side
• UHF Antenna: two 1/4λ monopole antennas with max.0dBi gain are located at –Z and +Z side
• CW Telemetry Beacon: 435.715MHz 20dBm
• V/U FM Transponder Downlink: 435.690MHz 20dBm, 16kHz bandwidth
• V/U FM Transponder Uplink: 145.900MHz 16kHz bandwidth

CAMSAT CAS-7B ( BP-1B ) News Release PDF with Telemetry Format – CAMSAT CAS-7B News Release

CAS-7B / BP-1B undergoing thermal vacuum testCAS-7B / BP-1B undergoing thermal vacuum test

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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1240-1300 MHz band discussed by CEPT WGFM and CPG/PTA

1240-1300 MHz band discussed by CEPT WGFM and CPG/PTA

WRC-2000 saw the Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) get an allocation at 1260-1300 MHz. This was the same ITU conference that saw 432-438 MHz being allocated for satellites that carry Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) systems.

In January 2006 Peter Blair G3LTF published a paper Potential Interference To Galileo From 23cm Band Operations. This described the proposed Galileo system design and its applications with particular reference to the E6 (1260-1300 MHz) band. It described the operation of typical Galileo receivers and their ability to deal with interference and gave practical illustrations of these effects.

The 30-satellite Galileo system (24 operational and 6 active spares) is expected to be completed by 2020.

A paper at the CEPT WGFM meeting #93 held in Rome, February 4-8, 2019, titled Coexistence between AS [Amateur Services] and RNSS in the Frequency Range 1260-1300 MHz said:

At the most recent meeting of CPG/PTA #5 in September 2018 the European Commission provided a proposal for Agenda Item 10 of WRC-19 on the amateur service allocation in L band. The EC contribution (CPG/PTA(18)080) proposed to consider an extension of the spectrum allocation to the amateur service on a secondary basis in the range 1300 – 1350 MHz. Germany announced at that meeting that a measurement campaign was already planned to investigate further the coexistence of applications in the amateur service and the radionavigation-satellite service [RNSS] particularly in the frequency range 1260 – 1300 MHz.

Since then these measurements were carried out at the premises of the “Universität der Bundeswehr München” (University of Federal Armed Forces Munich) mid December 2018 and a report on the issue is in preparation. At CPG/PTA #5 the meeting agreed to wait for the results of the measurement before taking any further action. Currently the measurement data is being processed and the results will be reported to CPG/PTA #6 in April 2019. Germany would offer to present this report also to WG FM.

Depending on the results the issue could become an enforcement issue for CEPT and, hence, may become a topic for further consideration in WG FM and WG SE.

WGFM Meeting #93 Paper: Coexistence between Amateur Services and RNSS (Galileo) in the Frequency Range 1260-1300 MHz
https://cept.org/Documents/wg-fm/49268/fm-19-069_information-on-measurement-campaign-on-as-gnss-in-1260-1300-mhz-germany

The CPG/PTA meeting #6 held in Bucharest April 1-5, 2019, saw this proposal:

PTA is asked to consider the results of these tests to determine if appropriate actions are required.

A possible action could be to propose a new Agenda Item for WRC-23 to address the issue. The subject could be: to consider the possible additional spectrum allocation to the amateur service on a secondary basis above 1300 MHz (or in another frequency band to be determined), with a view to progressively migrate the radio amateurs services from the band 1240-1300 MHz to the new band. To study an ITU recommendation for the coexistence of services in the band 1240-1300 MHz in the short/medium term.

CPG/PTA meeting #6 paper: PTA(19)061 EC-JRC_Compatibility between amateur and Galileo
https://cept.org/ecc/groups/ecc/cpg/cpg-pt-a/client/meeting-documents/?flid=9504

WRC-19 Conference Preparatory Group meeting documents
https://cept.org/ecc/groups/ecc/cpg/client/meeting-documents/

2015 European Commission Joint Research Centre report Compatibility between Amateur Radio Services and Galileo in the 1260-1300 MHz Radio Frequency Band – download PDF here

January 2006 – Potential Interference To Galileo From 23cm Band Operations
http://www.southgatearc.org/articles/galileo.htm

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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