Team Prometheus collaborating with Cornell University

We are now collaborating with Cornell University to put their tiny spacecraft into Near Space on an upcoming expedition in March-April. Thanks to TerraMs for the introduction. This is an Awesome little craft and you should check it out!

http://www.spacecraftresearch.com/MII/MII_overview.html

Monroe
Team Prometheus

i'm really excited about this mission. it will be my first one!! how about that!

ps justin decided he might as well put me in charge of coordinating, we're finishing up our antenna testing right now so we'll know pretty soon what size antenna we'll need to pick up the signal on the ground. i'll keep you posted, and make sure to let me know what you guys are up to and any ideas on sensors or science we could try to do!

Should be quite a first mission then! Let me know ASAP what you find out about the antenna and if you want us to build it down here. Tell Justin I'm waiting with bated breath for some more information.
I know the Lorentz Force propulsion will work and I hope we get to space before your ready to test it! I see a whole world of possibility's with that little spacecraft.

Today's the Day!

Monroe

there's a lot of crazy stuff that may be possible other than lorentz force propulsion. one thing they've tested is using lasers to provide a force on an object. so it's possible that with a special geometry you could steer the thing with a (reasonably powered) laser, capable of completely altering the orbit by moving the laser. we just did testing with a dipole antenna connected onto the chip. it was like 20dB better than the COTS antenna chip that was on there (was at -13 to -18 dBi, dipole tested at ~3dBi though we haven't done a test at range). so i dunno what exactly we're going to do with that, either trim the wires down so they don't stick out as much or go with the high gain. i don't remember the exact frequency it's 400-something MHz though. what kind of ground antennae do you have available? do you think it will be possible to pick up the signal without using a dish or something fancy?

TerraMrs
Nope, need a dish for sure. We have a 10ft here that might work. Let me know the freq. soon as you can. We could do a test on our next mission before March with a similar output transmitter. We may have to drop it to get a signal free of interference from our telemetry transmitter. I believe the Lorentz force idea will work keep working on it. Don't forget we could relay with a cubesat size satellite for testing.

Monroe

Yea Dr. Peck already has stuff lined up for launching on a cubesat or similar. Its just less reliable and longer out than the balloon mission. I'll get you the frequency just don't remember it right now.

actually "relay with a cubesat size satellite" what exactly does this mean? i think i might be missing something.

TerraMrs

The cubsat picks up the signal from the Spacecraft (it's in near orbit with) and relays it back to earth with it's stronger transmitter. Also the cubesat gives you a strong target for pointing your dish to try and dig out the signal from the little guys.

Monroe

ohh, that's cool.

so the frequency is 900MHz, I mis-remembered. let me know if that will work!

You could use a Cube sat to help you locate the N-sat... but to win you have to receive communication of some sort directly from the N-sat wihtout assistance.

I think...

Idom
Yeah, that's right we could track a larger sat. and use that track to find and dig out the smaller signal. There's no relaying going on there just locating. I thought I said that?

Monroe

No, you don't have to receive a signal actually. Just prove it's up there orbiting for 9 orbits even proving re-entry would work. Passive reflection of radar almost anything!