LilacSat-1 CubeSat to deploy from ISS The student built LilacSat-1 carries an amateur radio 145/436 MHz FM to Codec2-BPSK digital voice transponder, APRS Digipeater and camera The satellite was developed at the Harbin Institute of Technology and is part of the QB50 mission which aims to study the lower thermosphere. Deployment from the International Space Station is planned for 0815 GMT on Tuesday, May 23. The main payload is an ion and neutral particle mass spectrometer (INMS) developed by the University of London (UCL) to measure the mass and distribution of charged and neutral atoms. In preparation for the deployment HIT students have been busy working on installing new VHF and UHF antennas for the ground station. Students installing antennas at BY2HIT LilacSat-1 page (use Google translator) http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/?page_id=143 QB50 LilacSat-1 information https://upload.qb50.eu/detail/CN02/ IARU information http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=343 http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2017/may/lilacsat-1-cubesat-to-deploy-from-iss.htm
I've made many contacts, both FM and SSB, through CAS-3H. Unfortunately it suffers from a CPU crash issue, leaving it at the mercy of its command station in China to turn on the transponder. They have been gracious enough to do this many, many times. It has been a fun satellite and continues to perform well when commanded. BY70-1 worked great. It had the corrective measures that CAS-3H needs but unfortunately was placed in the wrong orbit. Beggars can't be choosers. BY70-1 was a very fun satellite to play with during the time we had it. I appreciate the hard work from the teams who have designed and built these satellites.
