S. Cakaj (Kosovo), W. Keim (Austria), and K. Malariæ (Croatia)
Desensibilization, LEO, satellite.
The project “MOST” (Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars) is a Canadian micro satellite space telescope mission. The micro satellite carries a Rumak-Maksutov telescope with an aperture of 15cm. The size of the satellite is 65cm x 65cm x 30cm and the mass is about 65kg. The goals of the mission are to analyze the inner structure of stars, to set a lower limit to the age of the universe and to search for Exoplanets. The project MOST consists of a Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) Satellite and three Ground Stations, one of them in Vienna [1]. The Vienna ground station was set up at the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Institute of Communications and Radio Frequency Engineering of the Vienna University of Technology. The satellite link operates full duplex at the 2GHz band. This paper presents the methodology and the experiment for checking an eventual desensibilization of the receiving system caused by the presence of the permanent uplink signal. The Vienna LEO ground station design concept was based on three objectives: affordable cost, unattended work and safety system. Usually, satellite ground stations are located in rural areas, in order to minimize the interference by man made noise. Through the station in Vienna it is demonstrated that a ground station can operate reliably also in urban areas at a fraction of the initial costs of commercial stations [2]. The block diagram of the Vienna LEO ground station is presented in Fig. 1.
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