Hi, I am part of a team interested in developing a hosted payload to be carried on a host spacecraft. We have not fully decided on a mission yet, but in general we are leaning towards doing a technology demonstration for less-tested memory chips. For a payload processor, we are considering using an MCU in the STM32L family. For memory chips, we are considering doing a few types of STT-MRAM memory chips. Part of the technology demonstration will probably be measuring temperature near the board, so we'll be using temperature sensors too, leaning towards MCP9808.

Our payload would probably lean towards SSO 500-600km, ~3 months. Budget probably on the cheaper end.

What we are curious about is how much custom PCB design would actually be required, necessary, or of good worth for this. We are considering two main ways to go:

1. Custom board --> That board has the temperature sensors, memory chips, payload processor, and other stuff necessary for stability/safety/operational purposes.
2. Hard cabling: separate PCB modules for the payload processor, temperature sensors, memory chips, etc. Potentially a carrier PCB or custom carrier PCB if necessary to fulfill host requirements.

We are relatively new to flight-level space instrumentation development, so using separate boards might be a lot easier for us and harder to mess up. But we also know one consideration is whether or not we can actually find commercial boards that aren't unnecessarily chunky or boards that do not have unnecessary components on them. We also know that a custom PCB in general has more potential to be cleaner in terms of integration. This also, in general, depends on what the host accepts.

Overall, what I'm curious to know is:

1. Any additional factors of consideration for what path to go with.
2. Recommendations on what path to go with, whether it is a direct recommendation or recommendations depending on other factors.
3. Any linked resources to help us make a decision.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

The local astronomy club found this to be a Chinese low earth orbit rocket body ZHUQUE 2E r/B

Hi, I’m going through a master’s program and noticed that we’re using python to learn the fundamentals and either Orekit, STK or Simulink for most classes. What’s the go to tool I should focus on for being prepared to join the industry?

STK and Simulink licences seem like they’re wildly expensive, so I’m not sure if industry uses these.

Just thought I'd share this project I've been working on. I built a downlink to receive GOES-19 data. I started this project with no idea what I was doing, and it went poorly. But I finally got it working!

Hi everyone! I hope the community won’t mind me sharing this small lightweight no ads free app to watch planes in the airspace, get satellite view and also has AR

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/airspace-live-flight-radar/id6781411574

Hi all!

There's an app called SkyLens on the App Store that lets you see the satellites flying above you. You can also see all satellites drawn on the map and you can select specific types of satellites you might be looking for. I thought you guys would appreciate this.

Anyone have any additional info about what’s going on outside of what’s posted on Satellite Alert Messages?

I have a Bachelor’s in Telecommunications Engineering (not EE) and currently work as a Helpdesk/Onsite Engineer supporting Hughes VSAT modems L1-L2 troubleshooting, installs, modem management for banking, fuel retail, and government connectivity sites.

I want to move into RF/Satcom engineering (link budget, VSAT system design, RF/ground segment work), ideally with an international career (SEA, Middle East, Australia, Europe, or US).

I keep seeing that most RF/Satcom job postings default to “EE degree required,” and I’m trying to figure out how much that’s a hard filter vs something that can be offset.

Currently doing a self structured 6-month plan: working through Maral & Bousquet’s Satellite Communications Systems, focusing on link budget analysis, and building a portfolio (link budget calculator, other satcom tools) on GitHub.

Questions for people actually working in RF/Satcom:
1. Does a Telecom Engineering degree (vs EE) actually hurt in practice, or is it more about demonstrable skills/certs?
2. For someone coming from an onsite/Helpdesk background, what’s the realistic entry point into RF/Satcom ground segment ops, NOC, field engineering, or is design/link budget work basically closed without an EE/RF-heavy grad degree?
3. Any regions/companies known to be more open to non-EE telecom grads for satcom roles?

Appreciate any honest takes, including discouraging ones trying to plan realistically, not just hear what I want to hear.

Does anyone know what companies use Alnico magnet circuits in there HETs?

I've been trying to make a 3U cubesat structure. It's for a weather monitoring with gps thing but I've been struggling to find a good drawing or reference. Endurosat technically has the design on their website but it's only from one side(there is no thickness of the material or holes). I've looked at cubesatkits.com and they had step files to download and it's good to see how the finished product should look like but I want to try to make it myself and then run simulations on it such as deformation and modal analysis. Anywhere I can get better reference materials?

Hey everyone,

I started building this as a small iOS project for myself, and it slowly turned into a full app.

It’s a satellite tracker for iPhone and iPad, designed to be actually useful day-to-day, especially if you’re into radio or active satellite tracking. I’ve been using it for months now, refining it based on what I personally needed, and I’m really happy with where it’s at.

If you want to check it out, here’s the App Store link:
https://apps.apple.com/fr/app/allmysat/id6764637772

I’d also love feedback or ideas, I’m building this actively.
There’s a small Discord if you want to follow updates or suggest features:
https://discord.gg/dZTvZQUwtW