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Student-Built PROVES Satellites Launch With Amateur Radio Experiments
Two student-built satellites launched toward the International Space Station on October 13 with plans to relay amateur messages, provide images from orbit, and make radiation measurements available to ground stations. PROVES-Maia and PROVES-Taygeta will test communications technology while giving university teams experience operating spacecraft they helped build while amateur radio experiments get underway.
The CubeSats flew aboard NASA’s SpaceX CRS-35 resupply mission. Their amateur radio activities are planned for independent operation after deployment from the station.
Message Relays, Images, and Intersatellite Links
According to NASA’s launch report, the Maia team plans to relay digital amateur messages using UHF and S-band (2-4GHz) communications. Taygeta, developed by Cal Poly Pomona and Mt. San Antonio College, carries a camera and an experiment intended to estimate the energies of radiation detected in low Earth orbit. Amateur operators would be able to download images and request radiation measurements.
The project also plans to test message routing between spacecraft using DRIFT, the Dynamic Relay for Intersatellite Fault Tolerance protocol. A ground-station design is planned for publication to support amateur participation.
Texas State’s First University-Owned Satellite
Maia is the first satellite owned and operated by Texas State University to reach space, the university reported. Its Space Lab students and researchers built and tested the spacecraft and will command it from the university’s ground station once it begins its independent mission.
The satellite carries MOSAIC, a Texas State system for testing instruments and spacecraft components. Its payload includes a university-developed radiation sensor for measurements in low Earth orbit.
The mission extends the lab’s previous work supporting other universities’ satellites. It brings spacecraft assembly, flight software, and ground communications together in a mission under Texas State’s own control.
Shared Hardware and Open Software
The PROVES development group publishes circuit-board designs, flight software, and assembly documentation. The educational platform includes the spacecraft structure, electrical power system, flight computer, and communications hardware.
Those materials give student teams access to the design behind the missions, including the software and electronics used to control a small spacecraft. The developers note that preparing the educational kit for spaceflight requires additional engineering and testing.
Texas State says Maia will remain aboard the station until deployment into its own orbit, after which the team will establish contact and begin the mission. Deployment, initial communications, and commissioning must precede the planned amateur services.
Sources and Further Reading
- NASA: PROVES-Maia and PROVES-Taygeta Launch
- Texas State University: Maia Mission
- PROVES Hardware and Software Repositories