AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-305

ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:

ans-editor@amsat.org

In this edition: * Ares I-X Completes a Successful Flight Test * Call for Papers * 500th School Contact * LUSAT-1 Silent * ARISS Status

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.01 Ares I-X Completes a Successful Flight Test

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 1, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.01

Ares I-X Completes a Successful Flight Test NASA's Ares I-X test rocket lifted off Oct. 28, 2009, at 11:30 a.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a two-minute powered flight. The flight test lasted about six minutes from its launch from the newly modified Launch Complex 39B until splashdown of the rocket's booster stage nearly 150 miles downrange.

The 327-foot-tall Ares I-X test vehicle produced 2.6 million pounds of thrust to accelerate the rocket to nearly 3 g's and Mach 4.76, just shy of hypersonic speed. It capped its easterly flight at a suborbital altitude of 150,000 feet after the separation of its first stage, a four-segment solid rocket booster.

Parachutes deployed for recovery of the booster and the solid rocket motor, which were recovered at sea and will be towed back to Florida by the booster recovery ship, Freedom Star, for later inspection. The simulated upper stage and Orion crew module, and the launch abort system will not be recovered.

The flight test is expected to provide NASA with an enormous amount of data that will be used to improve the design and safety of the next generation of American spaceflight vehicles, which could again take humans beyond low Earth orbit.

[ANS thanks NASA for this info]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.02 Call for Papers

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 1, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.02

Call for Papers 14th Annual Southeastern VHF Society Conference April 23rd and 24th, 2010 Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky.

The Southeastern VHF Society is calling for the submission of papers and presentations for the upcoming 14th Annual Southeastern VHF Society Conference to be held at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY on April 23rd and 24th, 2010. Papers and presentations are solicited on both the technical and operational aspects of VHF, UHF and Microwave weak signal amateur radio.

The deadline for the submission of papers and presentations is February 5, 2010. All submissions for the proceedings should be in Microsoft Word (.doc). Submissions for presentation at the conference should be in PowerPoint (.ppt) format, and delivered on either a USB memory stick or CDROM or posted for download on a web site of your choice.

For further information about the conference please go to http://www.svhfs.org

Thank you, Robin Midgett K4IDC 2010 Program Chair, SVHFS

[ANS thanks SVHFS for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.03 500th School Contact

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 1, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.03

ARISS celebrates 500th school space contact

ARISS Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF noted that on Tuesday, 27 October 2009, ISS Commander Frank De Winne, ON1DWN answered questions from students participating to a venue at the brand new Copernic Science Center in Warsaw, Poland. This was the 500th School Contact since ARISS began operations in the year 2000. Schools in all continents benefit from ARISS educative School Contacts.

This telebridge contact was operated by ARISS ground station VK4KHZ located in Glenden, Queensland, Australia. At the end of the contact, Frank thanked Shane Lynd VK4KHZ - for the many ARISS telebridge contacts he'd already performed. Shane shares these thanks with his colleagues of the 11 ARISS telebridge ground stations which cover all five continents.

October 15, 2009 students in Gao, Mali talked with UNICEF good will ambassador Frank De Winne onboard the ISS and 23 October, students in Mbour, Senegal got answers to their questions, direct from space. During the same orbit, Frank De Winne also talked with students in Ieper, Belgium.

Audio recordings of the Warsaw and Ieper school contacts are available at http://www.ariss-eu.org/archive.htm.

ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries.

ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers onboard the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, technology and learning.

[ANS thanks ARISS Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF and SouthGate for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.04 LUSAT-1 Silent

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 1, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.04

LUSAT-1 Silent

AMSAT-Argentina reported LUSAT-1, LO-19 stopped transmitting CW telemetry on 437.125 MHz around October 20. Ignacio, LU1ESY reported he last re- ceived a signal on October 11 after which he noted a drift in the down- link frequency beyond the expected doppler shift.

AMSAT-Argentina says, "We hope to re-live LUSAT to allow him to cele- brate its 20 years in space next January 23. We welcome any reception reports!"

[ANS thanks AMSAT-Argentina for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.05 ARISS Status

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 26, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.05

1. Recent & Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been completed with Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, Poland on Tuesday, October 27 at 09:33 UTC via telebridge station VK4KHZ in Australia. The centre organized a student competition for naming the asteroids, using rules of the science naming process. This month the winners travelled to Warsaw for the competition finale and will take part in the ARISS event.

Sherbrooke Community School in Sassafras, Victoria, Australia has been completed for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, October 28 at 07:13 UTC. This will be a telebridge contact with station W6SRJ in California. The school fosters student participation and the advancement of amateur radio in the community. It operates Sherbrooke Community Club station, VK3KID. The school invited representatives from neighboring schools to pose questions to the astronauts and asked its sister schools in China and Bhutan to also submit questions for students to ask the ISS crew.

David Thompson Middle School (DTMS) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada has been completed for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, October 30 at 21:12 UTC via station LU8YY in Argentina. DTMS and the University of Calgary's science department will collaborate on this event.

2. Italian Students Contact Astronaut Frank De Winne via ARISS

On Tuesday, October 20, students attending Istituto Comprensivo "Romualdo TRIFONE" in Montecorvino Rovella, Salerno, Italy participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Frank DeWinne, ON1DWN on the ISS. To prepare for the contact, teachers partnered with astrophysicists of the Astronomical Observatory "Giancamillo Glorious" in M. Rovella and the local amateur radio group ARI Salerno. Assistance was provided by the amateur radio station in "Alighieri Trevigi" School, located in Casale Monferrato, Italy. The school used a combination of a direct and telebridge contact to avoid local obscurations. An audience of more than 40 (Casale Monferrato) and 450 ( Montecorvino Rovella) students, teachers and visitors gathered for the event and the webcast received over 500 connections. Regional television, local media and newspapers covered the news.

3. ARISS Contact with Senegal Students

On Friday, October 23, C. E. M. IV in Mbour, Senegal experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Frank De Winne, ON1DWN on the ISS. Students asked twenty questions of the astronaut. Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, HB9CN also participated in a videoconference with the youth. C. E. M. IV is a technical college and has formed a scientific club at the school based on new technologies.

4. De Winne has ARISS Contact with Ieper Students

Students from VTI Ieper in Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium spoke with Frank DeWinne, ON1DWN via an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, October 23. Telebridge station VK4KHZ in Australia provided the connection. Twenty questions were asked and answered in front of a large audience including several reporters. The school recently built a replica of the plane, 'Mourane Parasol' which Guynemer (a French pilot) flew during World War I and incorporated the ARISS contact as a feature event in their celebration of 100 years of aviation.

5. Astronaut Jeff Williams has ARISS Contact with Arctic School

On Friday, October 23, students from Samuel Hearne Secondary School in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Expedition 21 astronaut Jeffrey Williams, KD5TVQ. This was a telebridge contact via ground station W6SRJ in California. At the school's request, ARISS representatives visited the school and classrooms prior to the contact to talk about amateur radio and the ISS. Six hundred people attended the event and watched as the students asked Williams 22 questions about life and work in space. CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio and the local and area press covered the event. The school is located very near the Arctic Ocean which makes this the most northerly ARISS contact to date.

6. Canadian Bel Ayr Pathfinders Speak with Robert Thirsk via ARISS

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact took place on Saturday, October 24 between Bel Ayr Pathfinders in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada and Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA on the ISS via telebridge station W6SRJ in California. Thirsk answered 17 questions posed to him by the students as an audience of 160 gathered for the event, including the media (CBC, CTV, a community television station, a radio station and a local newspaper). The Pathfinders that participated in the ARISS contact earned Galactic Adventures badges and will share this experience with other Girl Guides of all ages.

7. ARISSat-1 Meeting Held

The ARISSat-1 Team met in Phoenix, Arizona over the October 23 -25 weekend to assemble and test the integration of the various satellite components. The team has also been compiling voice messages to be included on ARISSat and has been preparing for the Safety Review meeting to be held on Thursday, October 29.

8. ARISS International Meeting Held

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Team meeting was held on Tuesday, October 20. Topics of discussions included a status on the Columbus module antennas and an ARISSat-1 update. See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel2009-10-20.htm

[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]

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73, This week's ANS Editor, Dee Interdonato, NB2F nb2f at amsat dot org