[K3PZN-List] FW: NanoSail-D Ejects; NASA Seeks Amateur Radio Operators' Aid to Listen for Beacon Signal

[Stu Benner]

Jan. 19, 2011

Kim Newton				             
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0371
kimberly.d.newton at nasa.gov

RELEASE: 11-009 

NANOSAIL-D EJECTS; NASA SEEKS AMATUER RADIO OPERATORS' AID TO LISTEN FOR
BEACON SIGNAL 

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 11:30 a.m. EST, engineers at
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., confirmed that the
NanoSail-D nanosatellite ejected from Fast Affordable Scientific and
Technology Satellite, FASTSAT. The ejection event occurred spontaneously and
was identified this morning when engineers at the center analyzed onboard
FASTSAT telemetry. The ejection of NanoSail-D also has been confirmed by
ground-based satellite tracking assets.

Amateur ham operators are asked to listen for the signal to verify
NanoSail-D is operating. This information should be sent to the NanoSail-D
dashboard at: http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm. The NanoSail-D
beacon signal can be found at 437.270 MHz.

The NanoSail-D science team is hopeful the nanosatellite is healthy and can
complete its solar sail mission. After ejection, a timer within NanoSail-D
begins a three-day countdown as the satellite orbits the Earth. Once the
timer reaches zero, four booms will quickly deploy and the NanoSail-D sail
will start to unfold to a 100-square-foot polymer sail. Within five seconds
the sail fully unfurls.

"This is great news for our team. We're anxious to hear the beacon which
tells us that NanoSail-D is healthy and operating as planned," said Dean
Alhorn, NanoSail-D principal investigator and aerospace engineer at the
Marshall Center. "The science team is hopeful to see that NanoSail-D is
operational and will be able to unfurl its solar sail."  

On Dec. 6,, 2010, NASA triggered the planned ejection of NanoSail-D from
FASTSAT. At that time, the team confirmed that the door successfully opened
and data indicated a successful ejection. Upon further analysis, no evidence
of NanoSail-D was identified in low-Earth orbit, leading the team to believe
NanoSail-D remained inside FASTSAT.

The FASTSAT mission has continued to operate as planned with the five other
scientific experiments operating nominally.

"We knew that the door opened and it was possible that NanoSail-D could
eject on its own," said Mark Boudreaux, FASTSAT project manager at the
Marshall Center. "What a pleasant surprise this morning when our flight
operations team confirmed that NanoSail-D is now a free flyer."
If the deployment is successful, NanoSail-D will stay in low-Earth orbit
between 70 and 120 days, depending on atmospheric conditions. NanoSail-D is
designed to demonstrate deployment of a compact solar sail boom system that
could lead to further development of this alternative solar sail propulsion
technology and FASTSAT's ability to eject a nano-satellite from a
micro-satellite - while avoiding re-contact with the FASTSAT satellite bus.

Follow the NanoSail-D mission operation on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/nanosaild

For additional information on the timeline of the NanoSail-D deployment
visit: 
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/501204main_NSD2_timeline_sequence.pdf

To learn more about FASTSAT and the NanoSail-D missions visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats

-end-

News release
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2011/11-009.html 

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