NASA Seeks Amateur Radio Operators' Aid to Listen for Beacon Signal
On Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 11:30 a.m. EST, engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., confirmed that the NanoSail-D nanosatellite ejected from Fast Affordable Scientific and Technology Satellite, FASTSAT. The ejection event occurred spontaneously and was identified this morning when engineers at the center analyzed onboard FASTSAT telemetry. The ejection of NanoSail-D also has been confirmed by ground-based satellite tracking assets. Amateur ham operators are asked to listen for the signal to verify NanoSail-D is operating. This information should be sent to the NanoSail-D dashboard at: http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm. You can follow the mission via this dahboard link.
According to the mission dashboard NanoSail-D ejected on 1/17/11 at approximately 1900 PST. Beacon data is being routinely received by the public throughout the world. The NanoSail-D beacon signal can be found at 437.270 MHz. Telemetry now indicates that the sail has deployed.
If you look at http://dtusat.dtu.dk/index.php?id=121, NanoSail-D was launched with other nanosats. Their beacons are also on the air as follows:
O/OREOS 437.305 MHz
RAX 437.505 MHz
FASTRAC-A 437.345 MHz
FASTRAC-B 145.825 MHz
The current element set for the NanoSail-D follows:
NANOSAILD
1 90027U 0 11020.08293137 -.00000469 +00000-0 -58126-4 0 00027
2 90027 071.9753 005.7427 0021680 201.8671 158.1355 14.77033912000116
