Science Fiction again becomes reality, Blue Light Engines for Spacecraft.
Project ET Shadow is dedicated to the memory of the crew of
Columbia STS-107.
For those that have gone before us and given their lives so that we may have knowledge.
ET is the abbreviation for the name Electric Thruster. Electric Thruster Ion Propulsion is the next generation of engines for spacecraft. The best way to describe them is by an analogy to the spacecraft in science fiction movies that have blue light engines that make the spacecraft travel very quickly.
We have actually been building these engines since the 1960's and several have been tested in space onboard revolutionary spacecraft such as NASA's DEEP SPACE 1 and the soon to be launched (Sept 27-28 2003) ESA (European Space Agency) SMART-1 probe to the Moon, powered solely by Electric Ion Plasma Engines
The ET Shadow project is open to and available for partcipation by amateur radio operators, short wave listeners, radio scanner enthusiasts and schools around the world. If you have or can obtain or borrow a radio scanner that can receive narrow band FM signals on 145.800 MHz from the International Space Station Alpha and a computer to plug it into, then you can actively participate in the ET Shadow research.
A scanner antenna or aerial will work fine for recieving the Space Stations signals. I have myself made voice contact with the crew on the Space Station (expedition 6) using no more than a 5 watt hand held VHF radio (Alinco DJ-V5) about the size of a packet of cigarettes.( I'm still smiling about that happening : ). )
The computer is required to decode and log the packet radio data from the International Space Station as it passes overhead.
What is Packet Radio you ask? Packet Radio is a system of digital communications used by amateur radio operators for many years. Basically when operating, you can hear noises like modem squawks and then writing comes up on the screen.
What's it all about, why are we doing this ???
When the the ion engine is turned on while pointing down towards the Earth, radio communications is seriously affected and in some cases, blacked out.
This happens in various amounts at different frequencies and this experiment will help map out the extent of the effect.
SOFTWARE YOU WILL NEED
Spacecraft Tracking Software. Displays a mission control type map and locates selected spacecraft.
Because satellites actual positions drift from predicted ones, the tracking software Keps should be updated every 1 to 2 weeks at least for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) spacecraft such as the Space Station. Keps are Keplerian Elements, a text file composed of two lines of numbers for each satellite.
The Satellite Tracking Software reads the keps when it starts.
The UISS software should be registered with ON1DHT to enable all allowable functions, this only costs you an e-mail with a photo of yourself, this is called cardware instead of shareware, it is a type of freeware, but it costs nothing.
A cable coming from the Radio or Scanners extension speaker socket going to the computer sound cards Line In or Mic Input is also required so that the computer software can hear the Space Stations signals.
The speed of the packet you are listening for is 1200 baud. I shall make a Software Help page and the link is at the bottom of this page.
So, all you need is to do is,
1. Have a PC computer available,
2. Obtain a VHF radio or scanner,
3. Make a two wire cable with plugs at each end.(Just a normal shielded extension speaker cable)
4. Install 3 software packages.
5. Download the keps,
Now you should be cooking with gas!
You can monitor all transmissions on this frequency 145.800 MHz of packet and voice.
Not only are the beacon signals from the Space Station to be heard but also conversations between ground based amateur radio operators communicating with each other via the Space Station digipeater, a digipeater is a radio repeater for digital packet radio, it repeats or re-broadcasts the transmission.
I once discovered an entire pass of the Space Station
picked up by a scanner enthusiast in Sydney and placed on the internet newsgroups contained my message to another ground station and his reply, this surprised me a bit as what we were talking about wasn't very interesting, but, I guess the way we were talking was. Quite a pat on the old ego, I tell you.
We need to know your location so we can put you on our map. We need your latitude and longtitude or your grid reference, or we can try and work it out.
