The ultimate step of the TuPOD‘s itinerary is fast approaching: the date of its deployment from the International Space Station (ISS) is set for January 16 (Monday), 2017, at 10:50 GMT (19:50 JST).
The astronauts of the Japanese Experiment Module “KIBO” (JEM) will deploy the satellite that was carried aboard the spacecraft HTV-6. The TuPOD reached the ISS on December 13, 2016.
After having been deployed by the ISS astronauts, the TuPOD will fly on a slightly lower orbit than the ISS and it will remain silent for around 3 days and a half, then – after around 83 hours from the deployment – around the early morning of Friday January 20, it is expected to release in turn its on-board TubeSats, TANCREDO I and OSNSAT, functioning as a release platform on top of being a satellite.
The TuPOD will start transmitting a beacon signal (morse) for the Amateur Radio community on the frequency 437.425MHz.
This beacon will last from 3 to 4 days, from the 20 to the 23/24 of January.
TANCREDO I, the Brazilian microsatellite and OSNSAT, the Californian one, will first share the same orbit of the TuPOD, but due to its much lower mass the TuPOD will descend faster and it is expected that it will reenter the atmosphere a few weeks later.
The TuPOD is an innovative small satellite/deployer created by GAUSS Srl in close cooperation with Teton Aerospace (Tetonsys) and with the support/sponsorship of Morehead State University (MSU), which provided environmental testing and initial electronic design, CRP Technology, which provided the manufacturing of the structures, $50Sat team, which developed the initial version of the firmware and MCS Mollificio (which provided the satellite’s springs).
- Live Broadcast of TuPOD deployment from the ISS “Kibo”