Automated and Remote Controlled Ground Stations of Masat-1, the First Hungarian Satellite

Abstract

In 2007, a group of students at Budapest University of Technology and Economics had decided to create the first Hungarian satellite called Masat-1. In 2012, Masat-1 was launched from French Guyana by VEGA maiden flight (the first really own rocket of European Space Agency – ESA) to an elliptical orbit. Nowadays, Masat-1 is still working, although the planned lifetime was only 3 months. Our aim was to develop a fully automated and remote controlled ground station (ground station network) for Masat-1 to be able to receive telemetry from and send telecommands to the satellite without supervision.