SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS013
ARLS013 RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Launch Scrubbed Again, but More Foxes are
on the Way!

ZCZC AS13  
QST de W1AW  
Space Bulletin 013  ARLS013
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington, CT  November 15, 2017
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE ARL ARLS013
ARLS013 RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Launch Scrubbed Again, but More Foxes are
on the Way!

The launch of the already-delayed United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta
II rocket that will transport the RadFxSat (Fox-1B) CubeSat carrying
an AMSAT Amateur Radio payload and other payloads into orbit was
scrubbed on November 14, with just over 15 minutes to liftoff.

"The launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying the
JPSS-1 mission for NASA and NOAA was scrubbed today, due to a range
safety hold and high upper-level winds," ULA said in a tweet. "The
team is working to establish a new launch opportunity." ULA said
weather balloons found that upper-level wind conditions "are red for
the launch window, causing today's attempt to be scrubbed."

The launch was postponed on November 6 due to a faulty battery on
the booster. RadFxSat is one of four CubeSats making up the NASA
Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) XIV mission, riding as
secondary payloads aboard the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-1
mission, set to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

RadFxSat is a partnership with Vanderbilt University's Institute for
Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE) and hosts four payloads for the
study of radiation effects on commercial off-the-shelf components.
It will carry a Fox-1 style FM U/V repeater with an uplink on
435.250 MHz (67.0 Hz CTCSS) and a downlink on 145.960 MHz. Satellite
and experiment telemetry will be downlinked via the DUV subaudible
telemetry stream, which can be decoded using FoxTelem software.

To keep up with launch updates, call the ULA launch hotline, (877)
852-4321, via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, with #DeltaII and
#JPSS1.

Meanwhile, progress continues on getting future Fox payloads into
space. On November 6, AMSAT Vice-President Engineering Jerry Buxton,
N0JY, delivered Fox-1D to Spaceflight, Inc in Seattle, where it was
integrated into its Innovative Solutions in Space QuadPack for
delivery to India. Fox-1D will launch on the next ISRO Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) flight, scheduled to take place by
the end of December.

In addition to the Fox-1 U/V FM transponder, Fox-1D will carry
several university experiments, including a MEMS gyro from
Pennsylvania State University-Erie, a camera from Virginia Tech, and
the University of Iowa's High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument
(HERCI) radiation mapping experiment.

Fox-1D also carries the AMSAT "L-Band Downshifter," which gives the
option of utilizing a 1.2 GHz uplink for the FM transponder.

The NASA ELaNa XX mission that will carry RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) into
orbit will take place no earlier than the end of next March, AMSAT
reported recently. The ELaNa XX mission will carry 12 CubeSats
constructed by NASA and by several universities around the US. That
mission will be launched by Virgin Galactic on its LauncherOne air
launch to orbit system from Mojave, California. Like RadFxSat
(Fox-1B), RadFxSat-2 is a partnership opportunity between Vanderbilt
University's ISED and AMSAT and will carry a similar radiation
effects experiment, studying new FinFET technology.

RadFxSat-2 will be the fifth Fox-1 satellite built by AMSAT. Fox-1A,
now AMSAT-OSCAR 85 (AO-85), was launched on October 8, 2015 and is
fully operational, providing science data from its onboard
experiments and FM transponder service for the Amateur Radio
community. Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D are scheduled to launch soon.

The RadFxSat-2 spacecraft bus will be built on the Fox-1 series but
will feature a linear transponder upgrade to replace the standard FM
transponder used in Fox-1A through Fox-1D. In addition, the uplink
and down-link bands will be reversed from the previous Fox
satellites in a Mode V/U (J). The downlink will feature a 1200 bps
BPSK telemetry channel to carry the Vanderbilt science data in
addition to a 30-kHz wide transponder for Amateur Radio use.
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