Arctic Astronautics / Kitsat - We make space tech simple and fun.

Kitsat in use by the Italian Air Force Academy

Jari — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 07:28:39 +0000

Kitsat in use by the Italian Air Force Academy Jari Wed, 06/05/2024 - 10:28

Italian Air Force Academy used Kitsat when the scientific experiment designed in the new Space Systems Laboratory successfully concluded a stratospheric balloon flight.

The students of the Italian Air Force Academy finished today their GESAD (Management of Aerospace Systems for Defense) course with a real mission: after learning the basics of satellite technology and theoretical studies of space operations, they conducted a real-like space mission with a stratospheric balloon.

They built a experiment package and used Kitsat as a satellite analogue during the mission.

The balloon was launched on 31 May at 9:30 from Pozzuoli near Naples. It reached an altitude of 25 kilometres and the payload was recovered after the flight near Lacedonia, a municipality in the province of Avellino.

An important part of this kind of mission is also the preparations for the flight, supported by Kitsat statospheric flight kit: the flight path has to be calculated using simulations based on the weather conditions. Additionally, as the Italians beautifully demonstrated, flight has to be conducted in coordination activity with the Air Traffic Management – in this case both civil and military authorities.

Read an article by the Accademia Aeronautica (in Italian) here:
Accademia Aeronautica: concluso con successo l’esperimento scientifico progettato nel nuovo Laboratorio di Sistemi Spaziali

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Antenna revolution

Jari — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 08:12:11 +0000

Antenna revolution Jari Tue, 02/06/2024 - 10:12

Every Kitsat is assembled by our staff, one by one, but the antennae are now mass-produced.

From the beginning, Kitsat was designed to be an easily approachable and friendly object, lowering the threshold for learning space technology. Happy-looking antennae are part of this thinking.

The measuring tape has been and still is used by many space-faring Cubesats as it is cheap, practical and works extremely well as an antenna material. In our case, it is also very practical when explaining the basics of radio communication (the length of the antenna is related to the wavelength of the radio frequency used).

Up to now, we have produced the Kitsat's yellow antennae by hand, but from now on they are mass-produced. Not only does this make the production time shorter, but it also is good for standardisation. Like all hand-manufactured products, the antennae were slightly different in detail. Now they are all similar.

Thanks to this and other advances in production, Kitsats are now available off the shelf.

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Kitsat is now available with an US compatible radio

Jari — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 07:41:08 +0000

Kitsat is now available with an US compatible radio Jari Fri, 12/08/2023 - 09:41

The amateur radio frequency allocation in the United States is different from the allocation here in Europe. Our Kitsat is now available also with a US-compatible radio.

The core feature of Kitsat is radio communication: it can be controlled and commanded via radio just like the real satellites in orbit.

Kitsat uses a frequency range dedicated to amateur radio communications and low-power transmitters. Therefore Kitsats can be operated without a specific licence. Just plug the ground station to your computer, open our ground station software and connect to your satellite, wherever and whenever.

Just remember that the amateur radio frequencies differ in Europe and the United States. As the original Kitsats can't be used on the other side of the Atlantic, we tweaked our radios and now Kitsat is also compatible with the US regulations. They use the 915 MHz frequency.

Already three American customers have opted for these new Kitsats in their space education and space technology development (Kitsat is a handy and inexpensive satellite substitute for many uses).

If you're interested, just contact our teams for more info!

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Update your Kitsat!

Tessa — Wed, 03 May 2023 09:37:40 +0000

Update your Kitsat! Tessa Wed, 05/03/2023 - 12:37

We have released new software for Kitsat – the final one before a totally new one working with multiple platforms (also Mac).

Hello, everyone! 👋

We have some exciting news for Kitsat users. Our team has been hard at work making some updates to the software that we think you'll love.

Firstly, this version supports Kitsats V1.0 to V1.4. If you're using any of these versions, you're good to go! However, please note that a firmware update for Kitsat is required. You can find details about the update at https://staging.kitsat.fi/update.

After this release, our team will start rewriting the Groundstation program in .NET MAUI with cross-platform support. This means that the software will work seamlessly across different operating systems.

Now, let's talk about some of the changes we've made in this version. We've fixed various bugs related to the GPS user interface, as well as the payload v1.3 inertial measurement unit readings. We've also improved the image streaming over USB with a higher baud rate. Additionally, we've fixed some bugs in the overpass simulator that were triggered by altered parameters, and we've removed some deprecated terminal commands from the terminal command list.

But that's not all - we've also added flight script support, updated deprecated links, implemented missing terminal commands, and made various miscellaneous UI bug fixes.

We hope that these updates will make your experience with Kitsat Groundstation even better. As always, please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or feedback.

Thank you for using Kitsat, and happy flying!

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More than 100 Kitsats delivered

Jari — Mon, 01 May 2023 08:12:15 +0000

More than 100 Kitsats delivered Jari Mon, 05/01/2023 - 11:12

This year, Kitsat celebrates its 5th anniversary. The general concept was created in 2017 for the Suomi 100 satellite's Space Truck, a moving small science centre built in a truck trailer, but the first real Kitsat emerged in spring 2018.

Originally the idea was to assemble a satellite look-alike from the spare parts at Aalto University's Space Lab for demonstrating the idea of a CubeSat and modern space technology to the general public.

This idea turned out to be a hit: the public wanted to see, touch and play with a "real satellite". Soon the schools wanted to have an opportunity to work with a satellite, as it gives a concrete view of the New Space. Finland has been a small player in the traditional space business but rocketed up to the elite of "New Space" after the first Finnish satellite, Aalto-1, was launched in 2017.

There was and is a need for Kitsat, an educational CubeSat, and so we decided to upgrade and modify the original spare-part satellite to a special satellite designed specifically for educational use.

At first, this concept was called DIY Sat, a satellite you can build yourself, but after the feedback from the test users, they preferred "only" assembly and use of the satellite. Soldering and actual building of the satellite wasn't important for the majority of the users.

The first version of Kitsat was simpler and cheaper than the current satellite, but it was too weak and unreliable for harsh classroom use. Educational use is harder than launching a satellite into space!

So the upgraded version was done. It was good enough also for outdoor use: Kitsats can be flown with drones or sent to the stratosphere with a balloon. For the stratospheric flights, we also designed a special power unit with two batteries and heating.

The COVID pandemic slowed down the sales and use of Kitsats, and the global electronic component crisis added hurdles we had to jump over. Most of the electronics had to be modified, but this made the satellite even better and more reliable.

The first user of the Kitsats was Heureka Science Centre in Finland, and they helped us enormously in the development of the satellite. They are now with the ESERO Finland network the biggest user of the satellites and Spaceway of Portugal comes next.

Up to 1 May 2023 exactly 111 Kitsats have been shipped and our biggest-ever new batch is being built in our laboratory in Porvoo, not far away from Helsinki. After 5 years, Kitsat is now a proven concept and we can ship Kitsats right away when orders come in.

And yes, we have also something new in cooking, but now it is time to celebrate Kitsats.

(Map has been adjusted to September 2023 situation)

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Public Kitsat Repository on Gitlab 👩‍💻

Tessa — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 07:32:06 +0000

Public Kitsat Repository on Gitlab 👩‍💻 Tessa Mon, 03/06/2023 - 09:32

A new public Gitlab repository for accessing Kitsat-related materials has been set up.

Hello there! 👋

We have recently started sharing our extension interface resources on Gitlab. You can find there public repository here 👉

https://gitlab.com/aa-general/Kitsat

From there, you can find the latest extension interface documentation, firmware update binaries, and stratospheric flight planning documentation. The material is being updated in the future.

All you need is a personal Gitlab account. Signing up on Gitlab is free: https://gitlab.com/users/sign_up

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@kitsat.fi.

Happy hacking! 👩‍💻

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Congrats Rocket Lab for the 1st US launch

Jari — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 21:53:43 +0000

Congrats Rocket Lab for the 1st US launch Jari Tue, 01/24/2023 - 23:53

Our launch partner with WISA Woodsat, Rocket Lab, inaugurated today successfully their first launch pad in the USA. We're looking forward to our ride to space as soon as possible from the US or New Zealand.

The 33rd Electron rocket launch, the “Virginia is for Launch Lovers” mission lifted off on 24 January from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. The mission deployed three satellites to a 550km orbit for leading radio frequency geospatial analytics provider HawkEye 360.

Rocket Lab has now successfully deployed a total of 155 satellites to orbit from the Company’s three launch pads across the U.S. and New Zealand.

We are still working with the WISA Woodsat paperwork and look forward to our launch as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the satellite parts and especially the special plywood panels and camera boom are waiting for the final assembly that will take place right after we have the launch and radio licences granted as well as the launch assigned. This process takes more time than planned originally.

Read more about this first Wallops flight from the Rocket Lab press release.

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Kitsat fit check in Andøya

Jari — Sat, 19 Nov 2022 10:41:01 +0000

Kitsat fit check in Andøya Jari Sat, 11/19/2022 - 12:41

We flew up to Andøya in Norway to see their space education facilities and check if Kitsat can fit in a standard CubeSat launch adapter.

Andøya Space, also known as Andøya Space Center, is a legendary rocket launch site and spaceport on Andøya Island in the northmost part of Norway.

Norway has launched over 1200 sounding and sub-orbital rockets from there since 1962, and the site is nowadays not only used for other space-related activities but is also an important space education centre.

Andøya Space Education welcomes students and teachers from Norway and other countries for hands-on education and experiencing this unique place.

We visited Andenes in November to see how Kitsats can be used in their programme, and one of the thrilling possibilities is putting the Kitsats aboard the sounding rockets. Every Kitsat is capable for a stratospheric flight, and our WISA Woodsat – real satellite – is based on Kitsat.

So riding a rocket and providing a cost effective way to do a real satellite mission with a sounding rocket with Kitsat is a thrilling possibility.

We're now working with Andøya Space to make this happen. Meanwhile we recommend visiting the space centre in Andenes to everybody – it is open also to the general public.

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Seinäjoki strato flight completed: Woodsat test item found

Jari — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 08:32:56 +0000

Seinäjoki strato flight completed: Woodsat test item found Jari Mon, 10/10/2022 - 11:32

The Woodsat test item was launched to the stratosphere on 9 February 2022. It made a beautiful flight and we received loads of information from the "satellite" during its flight, but finally, it was lost – we didn't know the landing coordinates precisely enough for searching and recovering the satellite. Luckily it was found 6 months later.

Annukka Mustonen from Tuusniemi was walking in the woods with her dogs in early October day and found suddenly something special. A colourful parachute and a wooden box.

She found our contact information and sent a message: "Is this thing possibly yours?"

Yes, it was.

Finally, the test item came down only 2.5 km off from the estimated landing site, and it supported very well the conditions. Likely the conditions in the forest for months were more demanding than the 2-hour hop to the stratosphere.

Annukka sent the satellite to us, and we recovered the data, but unfortunately, the photos from the flight were lost. The data about the boom release performance is still extremely important.

Thank you, Annukka & doggies!

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New batch of Kitsats is here!

Jari — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 07:23:55 +0000

New batch of Kitsats is here! Jari Wed, 08/03/2022 - 10:23

It has been tough: because of the global electronic component shortage, we had to slow down production. But now, the first new batch of Kitsats is here.

The COVID pandemic was quite a hit to us as Kitsats are mostly used by small groups in schools, science centres and other space/science education facilities. When the pandemic was going finally away, the next problem was the global shortage of electronic components.

We had to find new components and modify the Kitsat, but mostly we managed to make it better and more versatile. But all this took time, energy and other resources. We had to limit the sales and even say "not now" to new customers.

The contingency situation is now finally (almost) over. In the photo, you see the first satellite from the new batch enjoying Finnish late summer.

Shipments start again this week!

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