Virgin Orbit Announce a Rocket Launch Window for the RadFxSat-2

Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne will carry the AMSAT CubeSat into orbit on its 2^nd mission. The mission is a joint effort by AMSAT and Vanderbilt University to learn more about FinFET technology. FinFET technology focuses on radiation and its effect. 

Moreover, this is part of the FOX-1 series that now includes the RADFxSat-2 spacecraft. The only difference that it has is the added linear transponder. For this launch, Virgin Orbit has gotten rid of the FM transponder. 

Improvements Made by Virgin Orbit for Upcoming Launch

In an effort for this mission to run smoothly, the space company has made numerous changes to this effect. Now there’s a reversal to both the downlink and uplink bands, which is different from how they were on the other Fox sats. 

There’s 435.760-435.890MHz for the downlink and 145.860-145.890 for the uplink linear transponder for this mission. Additionally, there’s 1200bps BPSK for the downlink telemetry channel. Its function is to relay all relevant scientific data for Vanderbilt University. 

On top of that, the new model has a bigger transponder measuring 30 kHz for all radio functions. All the relayed data can be immediately decoded or it could be decoded later by the Fox Telem version. It’s a crucial component of the mission as AMSAT anticipates a successful mission for the satellite. All this depends on its adoption of space as AMSAT sends QSL cards printed using 3D technology. Its purpose is to gather data from the RadFxSat-2 once Virgin Orbit conducts a successful launch, planned for December.