A large part of the lab’s work is in making connections between ourselves here and the extraterrestrial space out there. We’ve started building specialized antennas for receiving the signals of low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. The first kind of antenna we decided to build was a quadrifilar helix antenna (QFH) for picking up the signals from the NOAA 15, 18, and 19, and METEOR-M 2 weather satellites launched and maintained by the United States and Russia, respectively. Right now the antenna is rather gerry-rigged, so a photo of it will come in a later research note. Because of the different types of signals that the satellites transmit (more on that too in another note), the data that we get from the Russian satellite is of a much higher spatial resolution than the NOAA satellites. The antenna is also mounted most of the time inside, while we search for a permanent outside mounting location, so the images received are not always of the best quality…but it’s pretty amazing that we’re able to pick up anything at all given the interior location of the antenna.
So here are some images that we’ve received and processed from the NOAA satellites as well as the METEOR-M 2 bird. Also included is a sonic excerpt from a NOAA pass. While receiving and processing imagery is what post people are interested in with these satellites, we’re also keen on taking the radio signals we receive and turning them into sound for generative audio compositions. More on that, too, in a later note.
