SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS002   
   ARLS002 Amateur Radio Payloads Share Ride into Space with Soil   
   Moisture Monitoring Satellite   
      
   ZCZC AS02     
   QST de W1AW     
   Space Bulletin 002  ARLS002   
   >From ARRL Headquarters     
   Newington, CT  February 2, 2015   
   To all radio amateurs   
      
   SB SPACE ARL ARLS002   
   ARLS002 Amateur Radio Payloads Share Ride into Space with Soil   
   Moisture Monitoring Satellite   
      
   Four NASA Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNA-X) CubeSats   
   carrying Amateur Radio payloads launched successfully January 31   
   from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. The primary payload for   
   the Delta II launcher was the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)   
   satellite. SMAP's onboard radar will share Amateur Radio spectrum at   
   1.26 GHz. Amateur Radio is secondary on the 23 centimeter band,   
   which covers 1240 to 1300 MHz.   
      
   "This is a good example of a compatible sharing partner," ARRL CEO   
   David Sumner, K1ZZ, observed. "Any interference to amateur   
   communication in the band will be brief as the satellite passes   
   overhead."   
      
   SMAP and the four CubeSats all deployed successfully. The research   
   CubeSats, launched on behalf of universities, will downlink their   
   telemetry on the 70 centimeter band. The CubeSats and their downlink   
   frequencies (modes) are:   
      
   Firebird II FU3  437.405 MHz (19k2 FSK)   
      
   Firebird I FU4  437.230 MHz (19k2 FSK)   
      
   GRIFEX  437.485 MHz (9k6 FSK)   
      
   ExoCube (CP-10)  437.270 MHz (9k6 FSK)   
      
   The GRIFEX satellite is a University of Michigan project, in   
   cooperation with JPL, while ExoCube (CP-10) is a space weather   
   satellite developed by the California Polytechnic State   
   University-San Luis Obispo and the University of Wisconsin in   
   partnership with NASA, and sponsored by the National Science   
   Foundation.   
      
   The FIREBIRD program is a collaborative CubeSat space weather   
   mission of two CubeSats designed and developed by Montana State   
   University, the University of New Hampshire, The Aerospace   
   Corporation, and Los Alamos National Laboratories - the FIREBIRD   
   consortium. The FIREBIRD mission also is funded by the NSF.   
      
   SMAP carries a "synthetic aperture radar." The L band (1.26 GHz)   
   radar is designed to measure backscatter off the Earth's surface.   
   The amount of backscatter returned to the radar changes with the   
   amount of moisture in the soil. RF pulses at this frequency are less   
   affected by weather or by a moderate vegetation cover.   
      
   The satellite is at approximately 425 miles up in a near-polar,   
   sun-synchronous orbit. SMAP also includes a radiometer operating at   
   1.41 GHz to measure naturally occurring RF energy given off by   
   Earth's surface.   
   NNNN   
   /EX     
      
      
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until   
   you hire an amateur.   
      
   --- FMail/Win32 1.60   
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