December 2014 - ANS - mailman.amsat.org

ANS-215 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 28 Dec '14

28 Dec '14

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-215 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * July/August 2014 AMSAT Journal is Ready and at the Print Shop * AMSAT ARRL Centennial Videos Added to www.AMSAT.org * AMSAT-UK Space Colloquium Videos Now Available * Enhanced FUNcube-1 Dashboard App now available * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-215.01 ANS-215 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 215.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE August 3, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-215.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- July/August 2014 AMSAT Journal is Ready and at the Print Shop JoAnne, K9JKM reports that the July/August 2014 AMSAT Journal has been sent to the print shop. Look for your copy in your mailbox in a couple of weeks depending on the post office. Thanks to all of our contributors and Editors: Bernhard, VA6BMJ; Douglas, KA2UPW/5; James, K3JPH for their help getting this issue ready. In this issue you will find ... + AMSAT Announcements: Call for 2014 AMSAT Space Symposium Papers + Apogee View by Barry Baines - WD4ASW + Fox-1C to Launch on Spaceflight's SHERPA in 3Q 2015 + Get Ready for Fox-1 Hamfest Handout + AMSAT at ARRL Centennial Celebration in Hartford + Board of Directors Meeting Minutes and 2014 AMSAT BOD Election Notice by Alan Biddle - WA4SCA + AMSAT at Dayton 2014 by Keith Baker - KB1SF/VA3KSF + AMSAT Engineering 2014 - Virtual Teamwork by Jerry Buxton - N0JY + AMSAT at Ham-Com 2014 + New President's Club Donor Drive Announcement + Star Comm Group Satellite Operating Awards by Damon Runion - WA4HFN + June 19 DNEPR Launch Lofts 37 Satellites + AMSAT Field Day 2014 by Bruce Paige - KK5DO + UKube-1 With FUNcube-2 Transponder Aboard Launched on July 8 by Graham Shirville - G3VZV A color preview of the cover page has been posted to the AMSAT North America Facebook page. The AMSAT Journal welcomes all your input about Amateur Radio in space. We'll do all the final formatting and layout for you. All we need are your article in text, MS-Word, or OpenOffice format. Please send photos separately as JPG or BMP files in as high resolution as possible. We have a writer's guide posted at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=1709 -and-feel free to contact the editor directly with your questions. Sample articles from previous issues are posted at: http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=2074 The AMSAT Journal is sent to all members bi-monthly. We report on all aspects of Amateur Radio in space including launches, equipment, operating techniques, antennas, activities, and membership news. Not yet a member? You can find out how to join at: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=1095 Please send your articles, photos, and news to journal(a)amsat.org or k9jkm(a)amsat.org. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Journal Editor Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT ARRL Centennial Videos Added to www.AMSAT.org The following are videos of Patrick WD9EWK demonstrating working satellites during the ARRL Centennial. Two of the 3 use audio Patrick recorded, with a slideshow complete with pictures and descriptions of the audio and other stuff related to AMSAT at Hartford. This is a slideshow from the AO-7 demonstration Patrick gave, after our training seminar wrapped up on the Thursday of that weekend (17 July): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5TjXbuLv5s This is a slideshow from the NA1SS contact on Saturday (19 July) morning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoFbhPXsUx0 This is an actual video from the AO-7 demonstration at the end of the convention on Saturday (19 July). Thanks Peter W2JV for running the camera for this video!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHd91H_t88o See the AMSAT Presentations at the 2014 ARRL Centennial webpage: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2914 [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-UK Space Colloquium Videos Now Available Thanks to the hard work of volunteers from the British Amateur Television Club (BATC) videos of the presentations given to the AMSAT- UK International Space Colloquium held in Guildford on July 26-27, 2014 are now available to view online or download to your PC. Links to the presentation videos, PDF’s of the slides and the schedule are at http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2014/presentation-videos/ You can also access them by following these steps: • Go to http://www.batc.tv/ • Click on the ‘Film Archive’ icon • Select ‘AMSATUK 2014? from the Category drop down menu • Click on ‘Select Category’ • Select the video you wish to watch from the Stream drop down menu • Click on ‘Select Stream’ • Click the play icon ‘>’ on the player • Clicking on the icon to the left of the player volume control will give you full screen display. • To download the video file to your PC right-click on the ‘Click Here’ link under the player. AMSAT-UK publishes an newsletter, OSCAR News, that is full of Amateur Satellite information. A sample issue of OSCAR News can be downloaded here. Join AMSAT-UK online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Enhanced FUNcube-1 Dashboard App now available AThis weekend saw the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium take place and Jim Heck G3WGM and Ciaran Morgan M0XTD together gave a presentation on the FUNcube-1 CubeSat mission. The presentation included the announcement of a new version of the FUNcube-1 Dashboard. This has greatly improved decoding performance for weak signals – especially for Dongle users. Additionally the Dashboard can now activate the Bias-T pre-amp power from the Dongle. The new version can now be downloaded and the guidance notes have been updated to provide full information about it. All users are encouraged to install this new version to improve their system performance and further increase the amount of data being captured in the Warehouse. Reports will be very welcome on the FUNcube forum http://forum.funcube.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=195 Dashboard App – Telemetry Decoder http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboard/ Data Warehouse – Telemetry Archive http://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Events Iformation about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). * Saturday, 2 August 2014 – Fairbanks Hamfest in Fairbanks AK * Friday through Sunday, 12-14 September 2014 – ARRL Southwestern Division Convention 2014 in San Diego CA (near Montgomery Field and I- 805/CA-163 interchange) * Saturday, 8 November 2014 – Tucson Hamfest 2014 in Marana AZ (along I-10 west frontage road, east of exit 236) * Saturday, 6 December 2014 – Superstition Superfest 2014 in Mesa AZ (Mesa Community College, Dobson Road between Southern Avenue & US- 60 exit 177) * Saturday, 10 January 2015 – Thunderbird Hamfest in Phoenix AZ (43rd Avenue, between Greenway and Bell Roads) * Friday and Saturday, 20-21 February 2015 – Yuma Hamfest in Yuma AZ (Yuma County Fairgrounds, 32nd Street between Pacific Avenue & Avenue 3E, south of I-8 exit 3) [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Upcoming Contacts * A direct contact via 8J3AK with students at Amino Kita Elementary School, Kyotango, Japan is scheduled for Wed 2014-08-06 10:25:43 UTC 68 deg. Amino Kita Elementary School was opened on April 1, 1983. Our school is located at the northernmost tip of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. We have 244 students now, who all study hard and pursue sports actively. Our school is surrounded by a rich, natural environment. The location of our school is recognized as a part of Quasi-National Park and the National Geo Park. It is also only 100 meters away from the beach. Students in the 6th grade swim one kilometer in the sea every year. During the current season, summer, a lot of lights from squid fishing boats can be seen in the sea at night. Maybe you can see them from the ISS? Our school has beautiful grounds covered with green grass. At recess, our students play in the grounds full of energy. There are straight hallways more than 100 meters long in our school. They are sometimes used in our arithmetic classes to learn how to measure distance. The members of our space club will ask you some questions today. These questions were thought of by all of the students. It is a new club that began this year. They are studying the stars and moon, and practicing English hard so that they can make contact with you. All of the people in our school are really looking forward to getting in touch with the astronauts in the ISS. Latest News * A telebridge contact with Scouts at Space Jam 8, Rantoul Airport & Chanute Aerospace Museum, Rantoul IL, USA was successfu on Sat 2014-08-02 12:23:19 UTC 60 deg via W6SRJ in Santa Rosa, CA, USA. ARISS reports "The contact Space Jam 8 just had a very successful contact with Greg. We had 24 questions answered that were on the list plus 2 extra ones for a total of 26. I only heard one very very very brief change in signal strength but Greg was rock solid through the entire pass. He actually called W6SRJ first. The Space Jam 8 group was heading off to their next project of the day, launching a balloon with ham radio on board. They also reported that there was at least 1 TV station there." SpaceJam 8 provided the following information - Greetings to all stations from the participants and volunteers of Space Jam 8 in Rantoul, Illinois. Though primarily a weekend Scouting and STEM education event, we are open to all interested youth. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Venturing Crews from 22 states and this year Canada have come together in an educational and fun format to learn more about the life skills that will prepare them for the increasingly complex technological future. While it is well known that Scouting teaches pioneering skills like camping and wilderness survival, the new pioneers and wilderness are in outer space and we are working hard at 44 technology oriented Merit Badges and activities, plus some fun things like the Duct Tape Merit Badge and experiencing 1/3 gravity. Talking to the astronauts on the ISS is an unforgettable part of the experience at Space Jam and that's next on our list. We will not know for many years whether one of these youths becomes an astronaut themselves but it is certain that they are all part of tomorrow's leaders. Find more information about Space Jam at http://spacejamboree.com/pages/about. * A telebridge contact with students participating in the ESA 2014 Space Camp, Rossall School, Fleetwood, United Kingdom was successful Tue 2014-07-29 14:01:13 UTC 53 deg via W6SRJ. Audio on Echolink and Web stream was transmitted. This annual camp is organized by the ESA Space Camp Committee takes place in a different European country each summer for 2 weeks. This year the camp takes place between 27 July and 10 August where 185 young space explorers aged 8 to 17 will meet each other in the UK at Rossall School. The children come from the following ESA establishments (UK, France, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands and Germany). This will be the 20th Space Camp organized by ESA. This year the children will also be involved in celebrating this milestone with marking 50 years of ESA. Children, their parents and educators from the area will join the ESA campers on this special celebration day. Rossall is a boarding school situated on a beautiful 160-acre site, there is plenty of room for extensive sports and cultural facilities, including a swimming pool, squash and tennis courts, as well as a fitness room and a climbing wall. The ESC 2014 program will feature a balanced mix of sports such as flag rugby, life-guarding, kayaking and martial arts. The theme for camp will be ‘Reach for the Stars!’ Well-equipped IT labs, classrooms and an on-site planetarium will be instrumental in setting up a space education program that will keep the children motivated with new and exciting hands-on activities and educational tasks involving space- related themes, as well as learning about the culture of the host country. As with all ESA Space Camps, there will be specific emphasis placed on socialization and respect among the participants. We hope to make the camp a really unique experience for juniors and teenagers who are in the process of becoming citizens of a multicultural society. * On July 25, 2014, A direct contact via RZ9WWB with students participating in Gagarin From Space at Vii Youth Rally Of Radio Amateurs In Bashkiria, Ufa,Russia was successful 2014-07-25 21:38 UTC. [ANS thanks ARISS and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over * $248 Billion for Manufacture and Launch of 1,155 Satellites Over Next Decade According to Euroconsult's newly released research report, Satellites to be Built and Launched, 115 satellites will be launched on average yearly over the next decade (2014-2023). In comparison with last year's forecast, the number of satellites is stable while market value is growing, thus translating the growing economic importance of the sector, for both governments and commercial satellite companies. Governments all over the world will be responsible for more than 75% of the $248 billion in revenues expected from the manufacturing and launch of these 1,155 satellites. Governments' dominance of the space industry continues to increase as established space countries replace and expand their in-orbit satellite systems and more countries acquire their first operational satellite systems, usually for communications and broadcasting or for Earth observation and imagery intelligence. Nearly 90% of the government market value will remain concentrated in the 10 countries with an established space industry, but growth in the government market will derive from new satellite systems in 35 nascent space countries, creating a market of $2 billion on average per year to be provided principally by foreign suppliers as local industry capabilities develop simultaneously. According to Rachel Villain, Principal Advisor at Euroconsult and editor of the report, "governments in established space countries continue to drive innovation for satellite systems with benefits to local industries and the foreign governments to which they export." In the commercial space sector, Euroconsult anticipates a total of 350 satellites to be launched over the decade, most of which will be for the replacement of capacity existing in-orbit. These satellites will be equally divided between the geostationary orbit (GEO) and lower altitude orbits (MEO and LEO); 83% of market value remains concentrated in the geostationary orbit, the destination of 300+ satellites operated by 30 commercial companies for communications and broadcasting services. Still, the constellations to be launched in non-geostationary orbits for communications services and Earth observation imagery should represent a market of $1 billion per year on average over the decade. Technology advances in satellite payloads and higher competition in launch services allow the continuous improvement of CAPEX efficiency of commercial GEO satellites for communications and broadcasting services. Electric propulsion will definitively be part of the economic equation, even if only five all-electric commercial satellites are now under construction. [ANS thanks spacemart.com for the above information] * US aerospace firm outlines New Zealand-based space program A United States aerospace company is aiming to make New Zealand one of the exclusive group of countries with a space program by promising a revolutionary new satellite-carrying rocket for a fraction of the current satellite launch costs. Rocket Lab announced Tuesday that it had developed a light- weight, carbon-composite rocket, named Electron, at its Auckland plant and hoped to offer small satellite launches for less than 5 million U.S. dollars, compared with a current average price of 133 million U.S. dollars. The company, which has received research and development funding from the government, was being backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Khosla Ventures, Rocket Lab founder and New Zealander Peter Beck said in a statement. The lead-time for businesses to launch a satellite would be cut from years to just weeks and the company already had commercial commitments for 30 launches, said Beck. At 18 meters in length, 1 meter in diameter and weighing more than 10 tones, Electron would be the first vehicle of its class capable of delivering payloads up to 100 kg into low Earth orbit at an altitude of about 160 km. Businesses faced a severe barrier in launching satellites as rockets had remained prohibitively large and expensive, despite the trend for satellites to become smaller, more capable and more affordable, he said. "Along with benefits for commercial enterprises, cheaper and faster space access has the potential to lead to more accurate weather prediction, global high speed Internet access, as well as real-time monitoring of the impacts of human development," said Beck. New Zealand was in an ideal launch position for a variety of different types of orbits and plans were underway to build a space port at several potential locations. Powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene, Electron would have a lift- off mass of 10,500 kg and a possible top speed of 27,500 km per hour. [ANS thanks space-travel.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org

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ANS-355 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-355 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Worked All USA Grids Via Satellite - #488 for Doug Papay, KD8CAO * Opportunities to Help at AMSAT User Services * 73 on 73 Award #4 - EA5TT * Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, Reflects on Her First ARISS Contact * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-355.01 ANS-355 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 355.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE December 21, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-355.01 Worked All USA Grids Via Satellite - #488 for Doug Papay, KD8CAO Congratulations to Doug Papay, KD8CAO for working grid #488 of the 488 USA grids. Doug worked N2COP/p, in FM13, for his final grid. The contact was via SO-50 and was logged on 15/Dec/2014 @ 1252Z. For his efforts he has been granted GRID MASTER award # 2. In a recent AMSAT-BB email exchange with Damon Runion WA4HFN, Doug said of his accomplishment, "...it certainly would not have been possible without the help of the many individuals that went to extra effort to activate so many rare grids. These include those who recently helped put the last 30 or so girds in the log: my father K8YSE, Tom KA6SIP, Denny WB8K, Bill N2COP, Ron N8RO, Craig KL4E, Ed WA7ETH, Steven KF7SLV, Wyatt AC0RA, and Clayton W5PFG. Special recognition goes to my father K8YSE, Jim ND9M, Patrick WD9EWK, and Ted AA5CK for having been major contributors over the years to this accomplishment. I'm sure there are may more that I have not mentioned, and so I'm thankful for every effort, every contact is appreciated! "I also want to thank Rick WA4NVM for the heads-up via text from my father K8YSE about FM13 on Sunday morning--while I missed Bill N2COP that day, this head's-up gave the motivation to be at the radio on Monday morning, and sure enough Bill was there and the contact was logged. Without these guys watching out for me I would have missed the grid yet again. (Thanks Rick!)." The Star Comm Group sponsors the Grid Master Award. To qualify for this award you must make a satellite contact with all 488 grids in the U.S. and get confirmation. Send your information to Ricky, WA4NVM or Damon, WA4HFN. All Star Comm Group awards are free, they only ask that you make a donation to AMSAT NA. Grid Master Award #1 was awarded to Doug's father, John Papay, K8YSE. More information on the Grid Master and other Star Comm Group awards can be found at: http://www.starcommgroup.org/ [ANS thanks the Star Comm Group and Doug KD8CAO for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Opportunities to Help at AMSAT User Services AMSAT's User Services Department is recruiting for several volunteer positions to augment our dedicated and elite staff! The User Services Department provides support in several areas including: + AMSAT News Service + The AMSAT Journal magazine + AMSAT's web presence at www.amsat.org The AMSAT News Service ----------------------- We need two or more volunteers to step forward who can dedicate time on a rotating shift of news editors. The AMSAT News Service (ANS) sends out a weekly news bulletin of everything of interest to amateur radio in space. The entire ANS crew (currently 3 editors) helps round up the news and each ANS editor takes a week as editor to compile the week's ANS bulletins. We'll get you into the bulletin rotation and you'll take your turn as the ANS editor this week. The AMSAT Journal Magazine -------------------------- We need two or more volunteers who can help compile one of AMSAT's key membership benefits ... The AMSAT Journal Magazine. An assistant editor is needed to help our existing team of editors (currently 3) to locate articles and establish contact with potential authors. All you need is an eye for articles of interest to amateur radio in space. You'll compile input from AMSAT HQ, volunteer authors, and amateur radio news sources into articles for publication in our bi- monthly magazine. We also need one volunteer who is capable of assuming the position of editor-in-chief of the AMSAT Journal. You'll help develop article sources and using AMSAT provided software and templates compile the 32-page magazine for six issues per year. Our publishing system is the Adobe InDesign CS6 package. This can be learned quickly by any computer literate ham. InDesign is MS-Word on steroids. AMSAT's Web Presence -------------------- Help is needed on the front to locate and publish up to date content for the AMSAT web. We publish late breaking news of amateur radio in space. We also publish reference information to help operate on the satellites ... software, radios, antennas, operating techniques. Web content containing late-breaking operating news and reliable operator tips currently has several gaps needing to be filled. Our WordPress environment makes the web display easy but you'll be spending your volunteer time on the content. This is a job for 5 or more volunteers and needs to be filled immediately! AMSAT also is looking for a webmaster who will assume responsibility for the display of all content in a WordPress environment. The basic framework is in place but can definitely stand to be fine tuned and made into a world class display of amateur radio in space. For most hams on-line www.amsat.org is our "front door" and we are looking for the most capable help on this important user interface! Our team is the "voice of AMSAT". News, operator tips, and membership benefits are important products for AMSAT User Services. For questions or to volunteer please contact AMSAT's Vice President of User Services, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM at k9jkm(a)amsat.org [ANS thanks AMSAT Vice President of User Services, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 73 on 73 Award #4 - EA5TT Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, who is sponsoring the award for contacts made via the AO-73 (FUNcube-1) amateur radio satellite, recently recognized Manuel D. Ruiz Carrasco, EA5TT, for becoming the fourth recipient of the 73 on 73 Award. He submitted a list of 73 stations worked via AO-73 between September 1, 2014 and December 8, 2014. The award aims to promote activity on AO-73. The requirements are straight-forward: 1. Work 73 unique stations on AO-73. 2. Contacts must be made on or after September 1, 2014. 3. There are no geographic restrictions on your operating location. There will be no cost for this award (donations to AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NA's Fox program are encouraged though). No QSL cards are required. When you complete the requirements, email your log extract including the callsign of each station worked, time GMT, and date to n8hm(a)arrl.net as well as the address where you'd like the award certificate sent. Congratulations Manuel! [ANS thanks Paul N8HM for the above information]] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, Reflects on Her First ARISS Contact In her blog shared 16 Dec 2014, Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, reflects on her first ever ARISS school contact with twenty students from Elena di Savoia in Bari and "Alessandro Volta" in Bitonto. In her comments she thanks the "army of volunteers in many countires" who make the contacts possible and how impressed she was with the quality of all the questions that "showed a great interest and knowledge in science and technology..." "Yesterday I had my first HAM radio contact with school pupils. A big hello to the students of the schools 'Elena di Savoia' in Bari and 'Alessandro Volta' in Bitonto! It was fun talking to you and thanks for the great questions! Amateur radio contacts between astronauts and school kids have a long tradition on ISS, thanks to a little army of volunteers in many countries who work with the local schools not only on the day of contact, but also in the weeks and months leading up to the event: they teach students about radio technology and about space, to get them ready and hopefully excited about the event. >From my side, I only needed to be ready on the proper channel at the proper time: it is very important, because we need direct line-of- sight with the amateur radio station on the ground and the pass is only about ten minutes long. A couple of minutes before the expected acquisition-of-signal time, I started making calls to check if someone was already picking me up. Eventually I picked up a call from the ground station and sure enough, we started our conversation. I heard them loud and clear, which positively surprised me: somehow I expected signal quality not to be as good. I hope they had the same quality on the other side. On such contacts, there's no time for small talk and formalities: in less than ten minutes, we had to make sure that the 20 students who were lined up to ask their question got their chance. So here I was, ready to go. And here came the first question - are you ready? Here's it is: 'It is known that people become taller when they are in space. What happens to bio-molecules? Is there any alteration in the tertiary structure of proteins?' I almost fell off my chair... well, if I had had a chair. (Wonder what a good equivalent of this expression would be in weightlessness... any suggestions?) Where are the good old question about space food and the space toilet? Jokes apart, I was really impressed with all the questions: they showed a great interest and knowledge in science and technology and gave me great hope for our future generations of scientists and engineers. Keep up the great work, girls and boys!" Cristoforetti's adventures in space can be followed at https://plus.google.com/+SamanthaCristoforetti/posts [ANS thanks Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between ELENA DI SAVOIA, BARI AND ALESSANDRO VOLTA, BITONTO, Italy and Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF using callsign IR0ISS. The contact began Monday 15 December 2014 at 1518 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via IZ7EVR. ARISS Mentor was IKØWGF. The Alessandro Volta school teaches communications, social-history, mathematics, science and technology in different contexts: life, study, job. In addition it fosters useful competence, allowing students to access continuous innovations through 3 specializations: Mechanics and Mechatronics, IT and Telecommunications, Electronics and Electro-technics. ARISS mentor Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF proposed to Radio Contact Coordinator Mr. Michele Mallardi IZ7EVR to set up a direct contact, with the support by IK1SLD back-up ground station, and this was accepted. The event took place in Elena di Savoia school, where an audience of more than 200 students, visitors (including some Italian Air Force officers) and Media (2 TV, 2 newspapers) participated at contact site, and about 200 at both schools. Total of more than 400 people. Before the contact, Mrs. Rosa Tagliamonte by ASI (Italian Space Agency) presented the Cristoforetti mission and the Italian contribution to the International Space Station. Mr. Michele Mallardi IZ7EVR presented ARISS and explained how a contact with the ISS is performed via Ham Radio. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Yekaterinburg, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS Contact is a go for Sun 2014-12-21 11:55 UTC (primary) or Sun 2014- 12-21 13:00 UTC (backup) Kursk, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS Contact is a go for Thu 2014-12-24 TBD UTC Kursk, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS Contact is a go for Fri 2014-12-25 TBD UTC [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Revised Tracking Utilites for DESAPTCH and Shin-en2 The spacecrafts, DESAPTCH and Shin-en2 are still alive. Masahiro Sanada JI1IZR has recently revised the predict tracking utilites for the extension of the data range. The new versions can be obtained from: http://ji1izr.air-nifty.com/ham_satellite/2014/12/artsat2-desp-11.html [ANS thanks Masahiro,JI1IZR for the above information] + Radio ham helps ESA with tracking widget Thanks to radio amateur Chip Sufitchi N2YO the European Space Agency's new satellite tracking widgets are live The tracking widgets are fed with the latest orbital tracks for ESA missions, or missions with significant ESA participation. The default track shows the ISS. Track ESA missions http://blogs.esa.int/rocketscience/track-esa-missions/ ESA tracking widgets are powered by http://www.n2yo.com/ [ANS thanks Southgate ARN for the above information] + In Liue of the recent SSTV transmissions from the International Space Station, everyone is reminded that information is available by visiting the ARISS SSTV Blogspot. http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/ Also, the full set of archived SSTV images are located at: http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php Those that receive images can upload to the above link. The best of the best uploads may make it to the blog. --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, EMike McCardel, KC8YLD kc8yld at amsat dot org

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ANS-348 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 13 Dec '14

13 Dec '14

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-348 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * SSTV transmissions from the International Space Station * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule * OSCAR Number for DESPATCH * UWE-3 CubeSat Update * Send your code into space with astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-348.01 ANS-348 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 348.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. December 14, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-348.01 SSTV transmissions from the International Space Station The Russian ARISS team members plan to activate SSTV from the ISS on Thursday December 18 and Saturday December 20, 2014. Expected SSTV mode will be PD180 on 145.800 MHz with 3 minute off periods between transmissions. A total of 12 different photos will be sent during the operational period. Start time would be around 14:20 UTC on December 18 and 12:40 UTC on December 20. The transmissions should terminate around 21:30 UTC each day. For ongoing information visit the ARISS SSTV Blogspot http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/ Also, the full set of archived SSTV images are located at: http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php Those that receive images can upload to the above link. The best of the best uploads may make it to the blog. SpaceX CRS-55 will be launching this week and delays in the launch could adjust SSTV operational times. [ANS Thanks Gaston ON4WF, ARISS-Europe chairman, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Istituto Tecnico Statale Economico e Tecnologico "Elena di Savoia" -- " Piero Calamandrei", Bari, Italy, direct via IZ7EVR and State Technical Institute of Technology Alessandro Volta, Bitonto, Italy, direct via IZ7EVR Contact is presently scheduled to be with IRØISS Contact is a go for: Mon 2014-12-15 15:18:40 UTC 44 deg Yekaterinburg, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS Contact is a go for Sun 2014-12-21 11:55 UTC (primary) or Sun 2014-12-21 13:00 UTC (backup) Kursk, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS Contact is a go for Thu 2014-12-24 TBD UTC Kursk, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS Contact is a go for Fri 2014-12-25 TBD UTC ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. For US schools, just a reminder that proposals for hosting an ARISS contact are due December 15, 2014. [ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- OSCAR Number for DESPATCH Prof. Akihiro Kubota of the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan has informed AMSAT-NA of the successful launch on December 3 of deep space probe DESPATCH. One important mission for DESPATCH is an experiment in what is called "cooperative diversity communication." In this experiment, an attempt will be made to collect signals from the spacecraft received not only at the ground station in Tokyo, but also at many ham radio stations around the world. This is in order to reconstruct the original data from the spacecraft. Reception of such weak signals to reconstruct data from the spacecraft will require the expertise of exceptionally skilled ham operators. The builders are thereby providing a rare opportunity to receive radio signals transmitted by a spacecraft in deep space, and ask for cooperation radio amateurs around the world in the project. Initially, it was expected that the spacecraft would last only a few days but now it appears that this assessment was pessimistic with a longer life now expected.. Since DESPATCH appears to have met all of the requirements for an OSCAR number, including IARU coordination, I hereby with the authority vested in me be the AMSAT-NA President, do confer on DESPATCH, the OSCAR number Fuji OSCAR 81 or FO-81. I use the Fuji designation in recognition of the long history of contributions the Japanese have made to Amateur Radio satellites. I trust that Fuji OSCAR-81's mission will be successful and much valuable date collected. 73, William (Bill) Tynan, W3XO OSCAR Number Administrator Further information about the Cooperative Data Reconstruction project can be found at the link below. http://despatch.artsat.jp/en/Cooperative_Data_Reconstruction [ANS thanks Bill, W3XO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- UWE-3 CubeSat Update UWE-3 was launched with FUNcube-1 on November 21, 2013, the team says they will now be temporarily ending operations. Today, more than one year after launch, there will be a temporary end of operations caused by the end of funding. However, UWE-3 is in a very good health condition with fully charged batteries and operations may be continued depending on future research plans. Without any reception from ground, UWE-3 will carry out a warm reset every four days and switch regularly between the redundant on-board processors and radios. Therefore, UWE-3 will switch back to its nominal frequency of 437.385 MHz. Nevertheless we appreciate the extensive support we received from the HAM amateurs in the past and hope that also in the future the status of UWE-3 will be monitored with your support, like you did so many times in the past year. Thank you so much for the very helpful cooperation in this respect! UEW-3 News http://www7.informatik.uni- wuerzburg.de/forschung/space_exploration/projects/uwe_3/uwe_3_news/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Send your code into space with astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI Leading UK space organisations have joined forces with UK Astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI and Raspberry Pi to offer students a chance to devise and code their own apps or experiment to run in space. Two Raspberry Pi computers are planned to be flown to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Tim's 6 month mission and both will be connected to a new "Astro Pi" board, loaded with a host of sensors and gadgets. Launched December 10 at an event held by the UK Space Agency, the Astro Pi competition will be officially opened at the BETT conference (January 21-24) and will be open to all primary and secondary school aged children who are resident in the United Kingdom. The competition will be supported by a comprehensive suite of teaching resources that are being developed by ESERO-UK and Raspberry Pi. During his mission to the ISS, Tim Peake KG5BVI plans to deploy the Astro Pi computers in a number of different locations on board the ISS. He will then load up the winning code whilst in orbit, set them running, collect the data generated and then download this to Earth where it will be distributed to the winning teams. Speaking at the Astro Pi launch event, Dr David Parker, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, also revealed that the UK Space Agency has been given a £2 million programme, as part of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement, to support further outreach activities around Tim's mission, particularly to help inspire interest in STEM subjects. Tim Peake KG5BVI said I'm really excited about this project, born out of the cooperation among UK industries and institutions. There is huge scope for fun science and useful data gathering using the Astro Pi sensors on board the International Space Station. This competition offers a unique chance for young people to learn core computing skills that will be extremely useful in their future. It's going to be a lot of fun! To help students on their way in developing their code, five inspirational themes have been devised to stimulate creativity and scientific thinking. The themes are Spacecraft Sensors, Satellite Imaging, Space Measurements, Data Fusion and Space Radiation. In the primary school age category, teams will be asked to devise and describe an original idea for an experiment or application which can be conducted on the Astro Pi by Tim during his mission. The two best submissions will get the opportunity to work with the Astro Pi team to interpret their ideas and the team at the Raspberry Pi Foundation will then code them ready for flight on the ISS. In the secondary school age group, the competition will be run across three age categories, one for each of Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 (in England and Wales, and their equivalent ages in Scotland and Northern Ireland). In the first phase, competitors can submit their ideas for experiments and applications. At least the best 50 submissions in each age category will win a Raspberry Pi computer and an Astro Pi board on which to code their idea. In phase 2, all teams will develop code based on their original concept and two winning teams will be selected in each age category. The winning teams' code will be readied for flight by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and CGI. As well as having their code uploaded to the ISS, all winning teams will each receive a class set of Raspberry Pi and Astro Pi boards, meet the Astro Pi team and participate in a winners event during Tim's flight. In addition to the main prizes, each of the UK space companies supporting the project have offered a prize. These prizes will be awarded to the best submission associated with each of the themes, across the age ranges. ESERO-UK and Raspberry Pi are developing a comprehensive suite of teaching resources to link to the curriculum and assist teachers of STEM subjects in engaging their students in the competition. As well as explaining how to use and write code for the Astro Pi and its sensors, the resources will provide a context for the Astro Pi in the curriculum and link to teaching subjects and areas. The first two resources of the series are available now in the National STEM Centre eLibrary and the rest will follow. Launching the Astro Pi computers, and consequently the successful implementation and completion of this competition is subject to nominal progress through the ESA integration programme and operations on-board the ISS. BBC TV News: Astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI invites Raspberry Pi challenge http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30415207 Astro Pi: Your code in space http://astro-pi.org/ [ANS thanks the UK Space Agency for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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