Thybolt Mission for Hams
Dhruva Space's Thybolt Mission launched Thybolt-1 and Thybolt-2 satellites using the Space-qualified 1U Dhruva Space Satellite Orbital Deployer (DSOD-1U).
These CubeSats are built on the 0.5U P-DoT satellite platform – designed, built and tested by Dhruva Space for use in amateur communications, disaster management, and low bit-rate applications of STEM, and other strategic initiatives. The qualification of this 0.5U platform with its sub-systems will enable many more amateurs across India to learn, build, launch and operate experiments through amateur satellite missions.
Primary Objective: Qualification of Satellite Platform and validated by successful telemetry reception.
Secondary Objective: Successful store and forward amateur operations.
Mission Profile
Launch Vehicle : PSLV C54
Orbit : Near circular polar sun synchronous orbit at 511 km
Inclination : 97.45 degrees
Transmissions : Telemetry, Beacon
Reception : Telecommand, Store-and-Forward Message
Beacon
Beacon on Thybolt satellite transmits Morse Code at 25 WPM. The Morse sends ASCII characters that can be decoded to obtain Satellite’s state using the digital code table below.
Below are the radio parameters to receive the Beacon data from either of the Thybolt satellites:
Frequency: 435.360 MHz
Modulation: OOK/CW
Morse
Speed: 25 WPM
Bandwidth: 1 kHz
Code
Characters
counter
counter
Voltage
Temp(C)
Status
Received
Command
Types
Rate
Status
Sample Packet Frame
counter
Voltage
Temp(C)
Status
Received
Command
Types
Rate
Status
On successful reception of three or more consecutive beacon transmissions of the satellite, consider your ground setup to be capable of receiving Thybolt satellite beacons and deserving of a memento of the contact established.
Enthusiasts can apply for receiving a QSL card by filling in their station information and other specifics in the form below:
Telemetry
The Telemetry from Thybolt satellites are encoded in CCSDS frame format. Upon demodulating the signal, operators will be able to view the sync word ‘PDOT’, followed by the CCSDS frame as mentioned in the Decoding sequence table below.
Once three or more packets have been decoded, operators can share the full data along with the sync to confirm successful telemetry reception via a QSL card, using the form below.
To help amateur radio operators receive Thybolt satellite signals, we have provided an open-source GNURadio OOT block, and receiver flow graph information, which will help demodulate and decode telemetry data using an SDR. Links to GNURadio OOT Block and flowgraph along with the online decoder software are provided below:
Link to gr-thybolt
Link to online decoder software
Following are the radio parameters to receive the telemetry packets from either of the Thybolt satellites:
Frequency: 436.175 MHz
Area of operation: India
Modulation: 2FSK
Baud Rate: 4800
Sync Word: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Preamble: D42D50444F54
* Preamble and Sync Word above are mentioned in hexadecimal
Upon successful reception of three or more consecutive TM transmissions of the satellite, your ground setup can be considered capable of receiving Thybolt Satellite Telemetry Data and deserving of a memento of the contact established.
Enthusiasts can apply for receiving a QSL card by filling in their station information and other specifics in the below form:
For any assistance in relation to decoding of telemetry data, please reach out to thybolt4hams@dhruvaspace.com.
Store-and-Forward messaging
The primary payload of Thybolt satellites is an application to receive, store and forward user text messages. Amateur operators can send custom messages limited to 26 letters prefixed with six-letter amateur call signs to the satellite. These messages will be downloaded at a ground station through Dhruva Space operator commands. The user messages will then be displayed on a website along with the received signal strength on the satellite.
A tool to generate raw command bytes to send through an FSK modulator in GNURadio, is available on the Thybolt mission website mentioned below. Users can input a user message in the tool and click the Load TC button to obtain encrypted raw hexadecimal data in binary format to send to the digital radio. Users can further download the binary data as a text file and add it in GNURadio.
TC Generator Link
Below are the radio frequency parameters to send store-and-forward messages to either of the Thybolt satellites:
Frequency: 435.400 MHz
Modulation: 2FSK
BaudRate: 1200
Area of operation: India
Frequency Deviation: 6 kHz
After successfully uploading a store-and-forward message to the satellite, please request a QSL card by completing the form below:
Chief Patrons
Sanjay Nekkanti (VU3ISS)
Krishna Teja Penamakuru (VU3ECT)
Abhay Egoor (VU3ECX)
Jyothir Adithya Rao (VU3ECS)
Deepak Kishanrao Inde (VU2EKV)
National Institute of Amateur Radio (VU2NRO)
Ram Mohan Suri (VU2MYH)
SSM College of Engineering (VU2SYE)
J. Jaganpradeep
Rinku Nag Biswas (VU2JFB)
West Bengal Radio Club (VU2WB)
Ambarish Nag Biswas (VU2JFA)
Aniruddha's Academy of Disaster Management
Mahesh R. Atale (VU2XFE)
Indian Institute of Hams (VU2FI)
Dr. S. Satyapal (VU2FI)
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