Tag Archives: LightSail 2

Tips on receiving Lightsail 2 telemetry and CW ID

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Grayhat, who shares the following update to our post regarding the Lightsail 2:

Some updates about the micro-satellite; first of all, sounds like it may be possible to receive the satellite CW beacon and FSK telemetry data using an SDR and a 70cm Yagi antenna, at least according to what is reported at the RTL-SDR website:

Solar Sail Satellite Lightsail-2 Now Transmitting Morse Code Beacon

Click here to read.

By the way, one will also need to be between 42° and -42° latitude to have some hope to pick up the satellite signal; also, the satellite now got a different NORAD ID (44339) so the N2YO tracking URL is now:

https://www.n2yo.com/?s=44339

The above may be useful to track the satellite and know when to attempt receiving its signals, other than that, the mission is proceeding well and the “mission dashboard” is now active:

http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/lightsail-solar-sailing/lightsail-mission-control.html

The only missing bit for hams willing to track the satellite status is a piece of software to decode the telemetry data, whose format is publicly available:

https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/projects/lightsail/manuals/ls2-beacon-info-v01.txt

Also, given that, once the satellite will deploy the solar sail, its orbit will change, I think that it would be a good idea attempting to receive it now, since later on, it may become more difficult.

Thank you sharing these tips, Grayhat. I will attempt to receive the CW signal from Lightsail 2. I do miss one crucial element: the 70cm yagi. I’m willing to bet I know a local radio friend that has one, though!

If you successfully receive the CW ID or telemetry data from Lightsail 2, please comment and share your results here. A video or audio recording would be wonderful!

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LightSail 2 to transmit Morse Code ID on 437.025 MHz

(Source: Southgate ARC and ARRL)

The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 CubeSat, launched on June 25, will transmit Morse code from space.

LightSail is a citizen-funded project to send a small spacecraft, propelled solely by sunlight, into Earth’s orbit. The innovative satellite is due to be deployed on July 2 from Prox-1, a Georgia Tech student-built spacecraft the size of a small washing machine.

Once deployed, LightSail 2 will automatically transmit a beacon packet every few seconds, which can be decoded into 238 lines of text telemetry describing the spacecraft’s health and status, including everything from battery status to solar sail deployment motor state. Every 45 seconds, the spacecraft will transmit “LS2” on the spacecraft’s frequency of 437.025 MHz, within the Amateur Radio 70-centimeter band.

Further details can be found online at,
http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/lightsail-solar-sailing/ .[…]

Click here to read the full article at the Southgate ARC.

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