[Image: the original KySat team, currently working to assemble the satellite for shipment and a 2008 launch. Source: Geoff Oliver Bugbee, www.geoffbugbee.com]
"Kids playing with satellites in space." That's the goal for KySat, according to Kris Kimel.
Flying at 650km to 750km, KySat will exceed Hubble in distance from the Earth.
The paperwork for a launch is being done for a 2008 lanuch.
Garret Chandler, the student leader for the original KySat team is up [Garrett is standing on the right in the picture].
Mission objectives
The purpose is build technological interest in students from elementary school through graduate school. Part of the plan is design an attractive operational concept that encourages work. Students will design and build the satellites and, lastly, provide on-orbit support.
Background
KySat got started with an interest in CubeSats. Filled with on water, a CubeSat weighs one kilo. Eight universities have been involved in CubeSat operations. There have been 34 launches, 13 are operational, 14 have been lost.
Communicating with the Playground
The team wants to make it easy to interact with. Garrett discusses the simple equipment for "playground station" to interact with the site. The craft will be able to capture photos and playback software in space that might for, example, say a name. A third grader can snap a photo from space that can can be relayed to ground, printed out and put up on the refrigerator at home.
The satellite might give its location, the temperature in space and say something like, "I'll be back around in 96 minutes."
Satellite capabilities
KySat will be capable of digital communications, audio playback, radio command, command scheduling, continuous wave beacon, digital beacons, data collection and storage, and photo capture.
Garrett describes the electrical grid and bus. The power cells will manage energy requirements of the satellite. The bus will have VHF/HF radio system, S-Band Radio System, digital still camera and mass digital storage, which turns out to be a SD card of the kind found in personal computers.
He emphasizes that the solar array uses some of the most highly efficient solar cells on the market. There are after-production left overs from a manufacturing process currently making some of the best cells on the market.
Antenna deployment: since it's a CubeSat, antennas must deploy in space. He demonstrates what looks like an elastic antenna that physically wraps around the satellite in his hands. Once in space, the material will unfurl to an upright position for communication.
The ground segment will be at Morehead State University. Secondary ground stations - K-12 schools, for example - will be able to communicate with the satellite by Ham radio.
A data packet network will record signals recorded anywhere in the world and place them on the Internet. Garrett is particularly excited about this.
Capabilities
Data will use Morse code, digital beacons, file transfer, audio telemetry.
Payloads will be photographs and S-Band radio. Audio will be playback and cross-band repeating, which means any two people pointing antennas at the satellite will be able to communicate. Referring to a buddy in Texas, where he's from originally, Garrett says that "Yes, we could the cell phone, but it wouldn't be as fun!"
What's different about the KySat CubeSat?
- Automatic position reporting system compatible
- Morehead 21-meter S-Band Communications will be unique.
- KySat system support module is totally unique. Designed in-house.
- Audio telemetry from a CubeSat is completely unique. The human voice can be heard.
- The rapid development has exceeded other CubeSat prototyping. Once KySat1 is done, it will be used again and modified quickly for future missions.
- Education focus.
Timetable
On May 14 and 15, the satellite will come together for the first time in Lexington. The entire team will participate. A "fly model" will be put together in September in a clean room. A launch integrator will take the shipped satellite and get it to Russia for flight.
Suppliers include TenSat, Clyde Space Pumpkin and SpectroLab.
Other team members from Morehead State, Murray State the commonwealth's universities are introduced, who talk about their experiences and specific contributions to the project, about the incredulous looks from people when they explain what they do. They look very happy indeed.
Garrett, who will be leaving graduate school, confesses that he is having trouble deciding where to go from here. There are almost too many opportunities.
Q&A:
Will future teams be diverse like KySa1?
Yes. Jennifer, who describes herself as a "girl from Eastern Kentucky," said that "the opportunities weren't obvious to me. It's been really rewarding to tell people in the state that the opportunities are here."
Kris points out that the brand new KySat2 team had two women as members (one had to drop out unexpectedly). Diversity is a focus of KySat. To drive future missions forward, diverse talent must be found and cultivated.
How can school children in Kentucky hear the satellite?
Online schedule for overhead passes is available from NASA web site. An antenna pointed in the right direction can hear what's going on - it can be put together very inexpensively. A curricula for elementary educators will be developed.
[This is the final post from the first KySat Conference, which was held in Lexington, Kentucky on May 3. All posts from the conference can be found under the KySat Conference 07 in the category cloud, right column. 
