AmbaSat-1 Satellite Kit STARTER

The AmbaSat-1 STARTER Kit provides an accessible entry point into Low Earth Orbit Space. It includes a fully-assembled satellite mainboard equipped with an ATMEGA 328 microcontroller, an RFM95 LoRaWAN radio transceiver offering a 700 kilometer+ range, a gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, capacitors, resistors, clock crystal, voltage regulator, and an LED. The kit also comes with a user’s chosen sensor board, a 2xAA battery holder for portable power, and an FTDI programmer for direct coding from Windows or Linux personal computers. Full example source code, a step-by-step assembly guide, and templates are supplied. Assembly requires basic soldering skills for attaching the sensor board, six connector pins, and the LoRaWAN radio transceiver antenna. Once assembled, the included programmer allows code upload to the ATMEGA328P-AU microcontroller via USB. The satellite is fully Arduino compatible, supporting programming with Arduino IDE or Microsoft Visual Studio Code, with open-source code examples available on GitHub. Communications are handled via LoRaWAN, sending sensor data to a desktop or mobile device and appearing on the AmbaSat Dashboard. Proximity to a TTN Gateway is needed for data transmission to the web Dashboard, but not for assembly and testing. The kit is upgradeable for an actual Low Earth Orbit Space launch, including pre-launch testing, shipping to the launch site, and a certified place on an AmbaSat Launcher, with a live video feed of the launch available via the AmbaSat Dashboard.

Included in the kit:
– AmbaSat-1 main board with assembled components
– Sensor of your choice (options below)
– Programmer board to connect your computer with AmbaSat-1
– 2xAA battery holder and connectors
– Welcome pack with links to step-by-step assembly instructions
– Free open source access to example code
– Free access to the AmbaSat Web Dashboard with live rocket launch video feed

Available Sensor Options:
– Sensor 01 – Humidity and Temperature (SHT3X: fully calibrated, linearized, temperature compensated digital output, wide supply voltage, I2C Interface up to 1MHz, two user selectable addresses)
– Sensor 02 – Temperature (STS21: 3x3mm, fully calibrated digital temperature, I²C address, high accuracy, low power consumption)
– Sensor 03 – Gas, Pressure, Temperature & Humidity (BME680: 4-in-1 multi-functional MEMS environmental sensor integrating VOC, temperature, humidity, and barometer sensors)
– Sensor 04 – Ambient Light (OPT3001: measures visible light intensity, spectral response matches human eye, infrared rejection, single-chip lux meter)
– Sensor 05 – TVOC (Total Volatile Organic Compounds) (ZMOD4410: 12-pin LGA assembly, gas sense element and CMOS signal conditioning IC, heater element on Si-based MEMS, metal oxide (MOx) chemiresistor)
– Sensor 06 – UV Sensor (Si1132: low-power, UV index, ambient light sensor with I2C digital interface, programmable-event interrupt output, ADC, integrated high sensitivity visible and infrared photodiodes, digital signal processor)
– Sensor 07 – Carbon Emissions (CCS811: ultra-low power digital gas sensor, metal oxide (MOX) gas sensor for VOCs, ADC, I²C interface, intelligent algorithms for eTVOC and eCO2 values)
– Sensor 08 – GPS (Teseo-LIV3R: Global Positioning System module, easy to use GNSS standalone positioning receiver IC, multiple constellations, optimized RF, embedded firmware, 9.7×10.1 mm, supports GPS, Glonass, BeiDou & QZSS. Note: Earth-based usage only due to footprint and COCOM restrictions in space.)

Custom sensors can also be created if they conform to design specifications (size, power & safety), utilizing additional connectivity pins exposing the ATMEGA’s I2C bus, digital and analogue pins, MISO, MOSI, and power.