RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Launch Live Blog

RadFxSat (Fox-1B) is scheduled for launch at 1:47am PST (09:47 UTC) on Saturday, November 18th from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California! Please join us here for a live blog of the launch and initial reception reports. Live blog entries appear at the bottom of this post. There is no need to refresh the page for updates.

Live video of the launch will be available on NASA TV, starting at 09:15 UTC.

Preliminary TLEs are:

RadFxSat
1 00000U 17017A   17322.46018518 -.00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0  9995
2 00000  97.6969 254.4977 0258300 235.3028 178.8186 14.79656332  -1372 06

JPSS-1 Mission Profile – Courtesy ULA

A video of the mission profile can be seen below. RadFxSat is represented by the second CubeSat seen following the deployment of the first set of CubeSats at 2:10 of the video.

More information about the launch and early operations can be found at https://www.amsat.org/getting-ready-for-radfxsat-fox-1b/

Watch here for the first telemetry reception from RadFxSat: http://www.amsat.org/tlm/leaderboard.php?id=2&db=FOXDB

 

Live Updates Below

 

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RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Launch Scheduled for November 14th

RadFxSat (Fox-1B) is now scheduled for launch at 1:47am PST (09:47 UTC) on Tuesday, November 14th. RadFxSat is one of four CubeSats making up the NASA ELaNa XIV mission, riding as secondary payloads aboard the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-1 mission. JPSS-1 will launch on a Delta II from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Launch coverage will be available on NASA TV, beginning at 1:15am PST (09:15 UTC).

For further details regarding the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of RadFxSat operations, please see https://www.amsat.org/getting-ready-for-radfxsat-fox-1b/

Fox-1D Integrated, Ready for Launch

While RadFxSat (Fox-1B) is just days from launch, preparations for the launch of the next Fox-1 satellite are already underway. On Monday, November 6th, AMSAT Vice-President Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, delivered Fox-1D to Spaceflight, Inc. in Seattle, WA 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.

AMSAT Vice-President Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, after removing Fox-1D from its Pelican case
Jerry prepares to insert Fox-1D into the QuadPack
Jerry carefully inserts Fox-1D into the QuadPack
Fox-1D in its ISIS QuadPack.

In addition to the Fox-1 U/v FM transponder, Fox-1D carries several university experiments, including a MEMS gyro from Pennsylvania State University – Erie, a camera from Virginia Tech, and the University of Iowa’s HERCI (High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument) radiation mapping experiment. Fox-1D also carries the AMSAT “L-Band Downshifter” giving the option of utilizing a 1.2 GHz uplink for the FM transponder.

Uplink FM (67 Hz CTCSS) Downlink FM
Fox-1D 435.350 MHz / 1267.350 MHz* 145.880 MHz
* Switchable by command station. Not operational simultaneously.