ARISS News Release No. 21-06
ARISS News Release No. 21-06
DaveJordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
aa4kn@amsat.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARISS Operations Situation
January 28, 2021
All,
Today was a tough one for ARISS. Let me explain.
As you all know, an EVA (spacewalk) was conducted yesterday toinstall cabling on the exterior of Columbus to support the commissioning of theBartolomeo attached payload capability mounted on the Columbus module. OnJanuary 26, prior to the EVA, our Columbus next generation radio system wasshut off and the ISS-internal coaxial cable to the antenna was disconnectedfrom the ARISS radio as a safety precaution for the EVA. During the EVA, ourcurrent external antenna coaxial cable, installed in 2009, was replaced withanother one built by ESA/Airbus with four RF connectors included, as comparedto the current 2 RF connections. This change was made to allow ESA toconnect ARISS and 3 additional customers to Bartolomeo, as compared to ARISSand one additional RF customer. As you might have seen yesterday,the EVA was conducted and our cable connection was swapped out. Thismorning, the crew restarted the radio system. Not hearing any VoiceRepeater reports, we requested a switch to APRS packet. We still did nothear any downlink reports. At 1746 UTC we had a planned ARISS schoolcontact between our certified telebridge station ON4ISS, operated by Jan inBelgium, and Mike Hopkins on ISS. No downlink signal was heard during thecontact. The crew radioed down “no joy” on the contact about halfwaythrough the contact and the Newcastle High School, Newcastle Wyoming, USAcontact attempt ended.
Clearly, there is an issue. More troubleshootingwill be required. It may be the new external RF cable that was installedduring yesterday’s EVA. It might also be from the connect and disconnectof the interior coaxial (RF) cable. So the interior cable cannot not betotally discounted yet. The crew took pictures of the coaxial cable andconnector attached to the ARISS radio inside the ISS. Because theexterior cable is a Bartolomeo cable and not an ARISS cable, we are workingwith ESA and NASA on a way forward. NASA has opened a Payload AnomalyReport on this issue. We have talked to both the NASA and ESArepresentatives. These are the same folks that worked with us on previousARISS hardware systems as well as the ESA Bartolomeo integrationinitiative. We have also asked our Russian team lead, Sergey Samburov, ifwe can temporarily use the radio in the Service Module for school contactsuntil we are able to resolve this issue. As we gather more information,we will share it with you.
On behalf of the ARISS International Board, the Delegates andthe entire team, I want to thank all of you for your tremendous volunteersupport to ARISS. We WILL get through this and be more resilient as aresult.
73, Frank
--------------------------------------------
Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
ARISS-USA Executive Director
ARISS International Chair
ISS Ham Radio Program Manager & PI
ARISS –Celebrating 20 Years of Continuous Amateur Radio Operations on the ISS
About ARISS:
Amateur Radio on the InternationalSpace Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radiosocieties and the space agencies that support the International Space Station(ISS). In the United States, sponsorsare the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio RelayLeague (ARRL), the ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, and NASA’s SpaceCommunications and Navigation program. The primary goal of ARISS is to promoteexploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematicstopics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew membersaboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students,educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, andamateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org
.
Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
Not trying to create any drama between ARISS and AMSAT, but the detailed sharing of info about this issue with ISS hardware is exactly the kind of thing I would like to see about RadFxSat-2.
It explains what happened, what has been done so far, and what will be done next, and tells us more info will be shared as they learn it. I don't think that's too much to ask for about our new sat.
73, John Brier KG4AKV
On Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 21:40 David Jordan n4csitwo@bellsouth.net wrote:
*ARISS News Release No. 21-06*
*Dave Jordan, AA4KN *
*ARISS PR*
*aa4kn@amsat.org aa4kn@amsat.org*
*FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE*
*ARISS Operations Situation*
January 28, 2021
All,
Today was a tough one for ARISS. Let me explain.
As you all know, an EVA (spacewalk) was conducted yesterday to install cabling on the exterior of Columbus to support the commissioning of the Bartolomeo attached payload capability mounted on the Columbus module. On January 26, prior to the EVA, our Columbus next generation radio system was shut off and the ISS-internal coaxial cable to the antenna was disconnected from the ARISS radio as a safety precaution for the EVA. During the EVA, our current external antenna coaxial cable, installed in 2009, was replaced with another one built by ESA/Airbus with four RF connectors included, as compared to the current 2 RF connections. This change was made to allow ESA to connect ARISS and 3 additional customers to Bartolomeo, as compared to ARISS and one additional RF customer. As you might have seen yesterday, the EVA was conducted and our cable connection was swapped out. This morning, the crew restarted the radio system. Not hearing any Voice Repeater reports, we requested a switch to APRS packet. We still did not hear any downlink reports. At 1746 UTC we had a planned ARISS school contact between our certified telebridge station ON4ISS, operated by Jan in Belgium, and Mike Hopkins on ISS. No downlink signal was heard during the contact. The crew radioed down “no joy” on the contact about halfway through the contact and the Newcastle High School, Newcastle Wyoming, USA contact attempt ended.
Clearly, there is an issue. More troubleshooting will be required. It may be the new external RF cable that was installed during yesterday’s EVA. It might also be from the connect and disconnect of the interior coaxial (RF) cable. So the interior cable cannot not be totally discounted yet. The crew took pictures of the coaxial cable and connector attached to the ARISS radio inside the ISS. Because the exterior cable is a Bartolomeo cable and not an ARISS cable, we are working with ESA and NASA on a way forward. NASA has opened a Payload Anomaly Report on this issue. We have talked to both the NASA and ESA representatives. These are the same folks that worked with us on previous ARISS hardware systems as well as the ESA Bartolomeo integration initiative. We have also asked our Russian team lead, Sergey Samburov, if we can temporarily use the radio in the Service Module for school contacts until we are able to resolve this issue. As we gather more information, we will share it with you.
On behalf of the ARISS International Board, the Delegates and the entire team, I want to thank all of you for your tremendous volunteer support to ARISS. We WILL get through this and be more resilient as a result.
73, Frank
Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
ARISS-USA Executive Director
ARISS International Chair
ISS Ham Radio Program Manager & PI
*ARISS – Celebrating 20 Years of Continuous Amateur Radio Operations on the ISS*
About ARISS:
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, and NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program. The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org
.
Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
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This ARISS statement was sent out within hours of the failed school contact, before most people even knew there was a problem. The first AMSAT statement, IIRC, was sent out two days after the launch, and even then it was only after Roy, K3RLD sent an email to amsat-bb asking for a status update. Then the update they finally delivered was a few sentences long, telling us to wait for more info. I think we waited a couple days more before we got the long statement. The third statement was sent out after a random ham did his own detective work and learned some information via a method it seems internal AMSAT folks had never even thought of or tried. Imagine if we were all working together, that information may have been realized much earlier.
This is speculation but it seems you and some others on amsat-bb are defending AMSAT when it doesn't make sense so you can maintain or increase a positive view of you by AMSAT leadership and officers. This could be caused by the cliquey nature of AMSAT leadership and officers. A clique is maintained by judgement of those on the outside and no one wants to be judged. The exclusivity also makes people want to get inside, and the only way to do that is to and prove you have the same opinions as them, causing some to defend their behavior when it doesn't make sense. FWIW, I used to want to be on the inside too and I avoided criticising them even when I thought they were doing something problematic. At this point I'm never getting on the inside so I have little to lose by criticizing them. Unfortunately they have most of the power. This is why they don't have to respond to the criticism or change even if it is fair criticism, but it's all I have so I'll keep doing it when I think it's appropriate. I try to support their actions when appropriate too.
John Brier KG4AKV
On Thu, Jan 28, 2021 at 11:09 PM Clint Bradford clintbradford@mac.com wrote:
Not trying to create any drama between ARISS and AMSAT ...
I find it hard to believe your sincerity - i remember three statements from AMSAT on the new satellite.
Clint Bradford K6LCS
A year-in-the-making ARISS project has a roomful of community members, media, and the students all in attendance - and a world-wide audience watching. It was proper to quickly address that problem for that wide audience.
Our satellite deployment does not have that “immediate” and huge audience. And it also has the “disadvantage” of control operators not being able to access it 24/7 uninterrupted for diagnostics.
I see the responses by responsible parties to these projects has been - from marketing, public relations, and educational perspectives - quite appropriate.
For the satellite: AMSAT has requested that hams world-wide monitor the satellite and make reception reports. Kind of “reasonable,” since seriously interested hams were doing that from the moment of deployment.
For ARISS: A greater audience was educated as to how all this is an experiment - and that the students’ curriculum the past year has included some very exciting STEAM topics.
No unusual delays … no conspiracies of hiding anything from anybody … no “sides” to take. We have two very different projects - each being handled by phenomenal minds who, for the most part, are volunteering their talents for us.
Clint Bradford K6LCS
On Jan 29, 2021, at 5:37 AM, John Brier johnbrier@gmail.com wrote:
This ARISS statement was sent out within hours of the failed school contact, before most people even knew there was a problem.
participants (3)
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Clint Bradford -
David Jordan -
John Brier