All satellites need their counterpart on the ground; the ground station. This is the equipment that we use to communicate with our satellites. At NTNU, we have antennas that can operate in the UHF-bands (HAM-band around 435 MHz and Earth monitoring band around 401 MHz), in addition to S-band (around 2200 MHz).

UHF-antenna (left), S-band antenna (right)

The UHF-antennas are used for operations of SelfieSat for Orbit NTNU, but can also act as a backup communications link to the HYPSO-1 and HYPSO-2 satellites. The S-band antenna provides a megabit connection to the HYPSO-1 and HYPSO-2 satellites. We use our ground station together with the KSAT satellite network to provide optimal data transfer from our satellites.

The UHF-antennas can also be used for radio experiments, such as channel measurements with the HYPSO-2 SDR. By also utilizing an SDR as the ground station radio, we can support other satellites with a wider range of radio equipment (after adaptation).

Both antennas tracking the Spanish LUME-1 satellite in tandem (timelapse).