Communication subsystem of RASAT

Abstract

RASAT will be the first satellite designed and manufactured in Turkey and it is planned to be launched in 2011. RASAT is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) observation microsatellite with a mass of around 100 kg. The main purpose of this mission is remote sensing with use of a high resolution optical imager. The communication subsystem is one of the primary systems for Earth observation satellites. It is used for telecommand/telemetry signaling besides downlink data transfer. In RASAT's communication subsystem, there are mainly five modules. For commissioning phase and as back-up of the downlink/uplink operations, Ultra High Frequency (UHF) / Very High Frequency (VHF) modules are used. The primary uplink is provided by the S-Band receivers and the primary downlink is provided by the S-Band transmitters on-board. X-Band transmitter module, which is designed and developed by engineers at TUBITAK-UZAY, is the experimental payload of RASAT communication subsystem.