TCU-100 Spacecraft

One of the child satellites carried by STARS-X with radio amateur payloads.

One of the child satellites carried by STARS-X which is developed by Shizuoka University.

TCU-100 will be released from STARS-X mother satellite once it is in orbit, and it will carry out amateur and educational missions.

1. We allow ham radio operators to uplink a request signal to downlink SSTV or Digi-talker signal.
2. We test 360-degree Camera Unit to take all-sky images with two fish-eye cameras.
3. Packet forwarding service by the 430MHz transceiver for amateur radio operators by 1200 BPS (AFSK on FM) and 9600 BPS (GMSK) modes.

Minimum success would be reception of CW downlink from TCU-00 and acquire HK telemetry to verify the satellite working status.

Full success:

• Confirmation of release from STARS-X by LED signage pattern on TCU-00 recognized by STARS-X Extra success.
• Digi-talker operation (Reception of pre-recorded call sign and organization name on FM downlink at the ground station and amateur stations.)
• SSTV operation (Reception of pre-stored images on FM-SSTV downlink at the ground station and amateur stations.)
• Packet forwarding service operation achieved.
• Camera shooting and downlink of shoot picture.
• Recognize the Earth on camera view and take picture of the Earth.

The amateur radio operators can exercise satellite communication with Digi-talker, SSTV and Packet forwarding provided by TCU-00 for self-training, intercommunication, and investigations.