Observation 4833174: CuPID (99511) Could This be a GOOD Observation?

Regarding Observation 4833174

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Obvious signal - Check
Signal has bandwidth approximating the expected baud rate (38 kHz) - Check
Signal appears straight down the centre of the waterfall - Check

Looks like a yes! Not enough SNR to decode.

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The only strange thing is that the satellite wasn’t over Boston from where it is commanded to transmit. However it may be commanded from another location.

@ematz can you check it? Do you know if there was any command sent to CuPID at that time?

I do not think CuPID was receiving commands at that time. The TLE track and timing look way too far west of Boston to be over our heads. It could be possible that CuPID did receive a command from the ground on a pass this morning, and has stayed charged enough to keep transmitting. The 1920 - VA6RPI looks like a bigger antenna system than we have, so could it be possible that CuPID’s weak voice was heard by a bigger ear?

This looks an awful lot like what we have seen in lab testing. Except for the large 30/40 second gaps. Would you say that the packets we see are about 5 seconds apart? Is there some way we can verify that other than squinting at the graph?

This is GREAT. I don’t know how I am going to sleep tonight.

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Unfortunately currently we can only measure the time by analyzing the pixels of the waterfall.

So, each burst seems to be every 30s and each signal of the burst seems to be every 1s.

The signal looks like the one from DEMO 8(TENZING) satellite which is the NORAD OBJECT 48951. It was on the edge of the station but it seems to follow this pattern in the observations we have.

Unfortunately it is difficult to say if the signal in the waterfall fits the OBJECT 48951 or the ones from the Landsant 9 launch. Let’s keep watching!