[600MRG] WSPR in Space (from ARRL Bulletin)

[Dick Bingham]

This is at the OTHER end of the spectrum from 630-meters but still
interesting . . .  Dick/w7wkr and wd2xsh-26
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Amateur Radio Transponder Will Accompany Japanese Asteroid Mission into
Deep Space

According to a news report, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA
<http://global.jaxa.jp/>) Hayabusa 2
<http://b612.jspec.jaxa.jp/hayabusa2/e/index_e.html> asteroid mission, now
scheduled to launch in December, will carry the Shin'en 2 (Abyss 2) Amateur
Radio satellite. A 17 kg, 50 cm diameter polyhedron, Shin'en 2, built by
students at Kyushu Institute of Technology, makes extensive use of
carbon-fiber reinforced plastic materials that can be bonded by heat to
reduce its weight and the number of hardware fasteners. In addition to a
Mode J linear transponder for Amateur Radio communication, Shin'en 2 will
include *CW and WSJT* beacons. The inclusion of the transponder will offer
an opportunity for earthbound radio amateurs to test the limits of their
communication capabilities.

The Abyss 2/Shin'en 2 satellite is prepared for its journey into deep space.

"For confirming the operational status of the spacecraft in deep space, the
know-how of the Moon-reflecting communication technology can be applied. By
using an Amateur Radio service transponder, amateur stations can
communicate with each other when the spacecraft is in near-Moon
orbit," a project
outline <http://kit-okuyama-lab.com/en/sinen2/sinen2-outline/> on the
Shin'en 2 website explains. "Beyond this distance, signal detection by
Morse code and telemetry data transmitted from the spacecraft will be
performed." The project is expected to help pave the way for future lunar
rover missions.

Hayabusa 2 will make a round trip to the C-type asteroid 1999 JU3, arriving
at the asteroid in mid-2018. It then would survey and take samples of the
asteroid before departing in December 2019, and return to Earth in December
2020.

Shin'en 2 will be placed into an elliptical orbit around the Sun and travel
into a deep space between Venus and Mars. Its inclination will be almost
zero, which means Shin-En2 will stay in the Earth's equatorial plane. The
distance from the Sun will be between 0.7 and 1.3 AU (an astronomical unit
is 149,597,871 km).

The ARTSAT2 "deep space sculpture" will travel into space.

The IARU-coordinated frequencies for Shin'en 2 are: CW beacon, 437.505 MHz;
*WSJT*telemetry, 437.385 MHz; Inverting SSB/CW transponder, 145.940-145.960
MHz uplink (LSB)/435.280-435.260 MHz downlink (USB). The project also is
hoping to gather listener reports.