November 2006 - Sarex (INACTIVE)

NASA TV Coverage Set for ISS Spacewalk
by Arthur Rowe 16 Nov '06

16 Nov '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 Katherine Trinidad Headquarters, Washington 202-358-4769 James Hartsfield Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 Nov. 14, 2006 Briefing, NASA TV Coverage Set for Space Station Spacewalk Houston - NASA officials will hold a briefing at 1 p.m. CST Thursday, Nov. 16, to discuss an upcoming spacewalk from the International Space Station. The six-hour spacewalk is planned for the night before Thanksgiving. On Nov. 22, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will retrieve equipment and photograph the station's Russian Zvezda Service Module’s docking port. Tyurin also will hit a golf ball from a specially designed tee mounted on the Pirs airlock as part of a Russian commercial activity. Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter will remain inside the station tending to systems during the spacewalk. Both the preview briefing and the spacewalk will be broadcast live on NASA Television. During the briefing, questions will be taken from media at participating NASA sites. Journalists must contact their preferred NASA location by Nov. 15 for participation details. Briefing participants include: -- Kirk Shireman, deputy International Space Station program manager -- Holly Ridings, lead spacewalk flight director -- Paul Boehm, Expedition 14 lead spacewalk officer -- Julie Robinson, International Space Station acting program scientist The spacewalk coverage begins at 4 p.m. on NASA TV and the agency's Internet homepage. The spacewalk begins at 5 p.m. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and Internet streaming video information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv For more information about the space station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

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First Live HDTV Broadcast From Space
by Arthur Rowe 16 Nov '06

16 Nov '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *First Live HDTV Broadcast From Space* The first live HDTV broadcast from space took place Wednesday. It featured Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter, serving as camera operator. The broadcast was carried by Discovery HD Theater and NHK and was also shown at Discovery Channel stores. Known as the Space Video Gateway, the system transmits high bandwidth digital television signals to the ground that are not only spectacular, but also valuable to scientists, engineers and managers. More testing of one of the station's four control moment gyros (CMG-3) took place Wednesday. Engineers repeated some of the CMG-3 testing that was performed earlier. The results will be compared to a previous test and provide additional data on the state of the accelerometer, lubricant and lubrication of the spin bearings. CMG-3 is scheduled to be removed and replaced on shuttle mission STS-118 next summer. The suspect CMG will be stowed on an external stowage platform on the station and will be returned to Earth on the STS-122 mission next fall. The Expedition 14 crew continues spacewalk preparations. The Nov. 22 spacewalk includes a commercial golf experiment performed by Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. This experiment is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Russia and the United States and to commemorate the golf shot of Alan Shepard Jr. on the moon. + Read more about Expedition 14 <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/index.ht…> + View crew's daily timelines <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/timelines/index.html> NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory. + Read more about Expedition 15 <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/index.ht…> + Read the press release <http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/oct/HQ_06337_new_station_crew.html>

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2006-11-15 18:15 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 15 Nov '06

15 Nov '06

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2006-11-15 18:15 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Landesmuseum fuer Technik und Arbeit (Mannheim Museum), Mannheim, Germany 2006-11-20 15:57 UTC via telebridge VK5ZAI (***) Thomas Reiter contact Watch for live IRLP, Echolink, and webcast. Centre Hastings Secondary, Madoc, Ontario, Canada, direct via VE3UR Mon 2006-11-20 16:35 UTC 75 deg During Expedition 14, ARISS expects to have one ARISS school contact per month rather than approximately one per week. It is also anticipated that there many not be many general contacts. Total number of ARISS school contacts is 256. QSL information may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/arissfaq.html http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#QSL's ISS callsigns: DP0ISS, NA1SS, RS0ISS ***************************************************************************** The schedule page has been updated as of 2006-11-15 18:15 UTC. Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt The successful school list has been updated as of 2006-11-10 19:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correctio… tf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf ***************************************************************************** There has been a rumor that the ISS was having direct contacts on the 40 meter band. There is no HF radio equipment on board and available yet. The HF antenna is mounted. Sometimes WA3NAN will retransmit shuttle audio. ***************************************************************************** Expedition 13/14 on orbit: Thomas Reiter DF4TR Expedition 14 on orbit: Michael Lopez-Alegria KE5GTK Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT Expedition 14 future: Sunita Williams, KD5PLB ***************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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RAFT USNA PROJECT
by Arthur Rowe 11 Nov '06

11 Nov '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 > > *Latest Docs:* See*[RAFT-docs]* > <http://www.ew.usna.edu/%7Ebruninga/raft-docs.html> for all the detail > photos, documents, drawings and milestones. > > *Current Status:* Awaiting launch on STS-116 on 6 December. Delivered > 25 Jan 2006 to JSC Houston for vibration testing. Then 17 July 2006 to > Kennedy Space Center for Integration with the Shuttle STS-116 for > launch. **Photo above is delivery from USNA and testing the > separation system in a Zero-G flight. The current debate is the > deployment altitude to safely avoid re-contact with ISS. The plot > below shows how our original altitude ot 180 has been reduced to 175, > and now 165 is being considered which would shorten the life to only 2 > months or less: > > **GO TO FOR THE COMPLETE HISTORY AND CAPABILITIES OF THE "RAFT PROJECT"- > > http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/raft.html > > >

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ARISS contacts General info
by AJ9N＠aol.com 10 Nov '06

10 Nov '06

Hi all, I see that Kenneth N5VHO and Tim W6MU have addressed some of the questions about ARISS contacts. Here is a bit more. I post the information as fast as I get it and thus there could be changes that happen rapidly; after all this is real space business and ARISS is a guest. There have been times when the contact time changed 2 or 3 times in a day and I try to always post the latest info. Please listen in on the contacts if you are in the footprint. ARISS uses 145.800 MHz FM as the international downlink. Even a simple scanner can be used to hear at least part of a contact if you are in the footprint. About 1/3 of the school contacts are handled via the ARISS Telebridge system. The Telebridge system allows for schools that may not have the technical ability to handle a direct contact but still be able to have a wonderful educational activity. It also allows for ARISS to work in conjunction with the ISS crew work schedules, orbital mechanics, etc. Remember 3 things must happen simultaneously; the crew must be awake and available, the school must be in session, and the ISS must be over the ground station. The ARISS ham radio Telebridge ground stations are located in Australia, Hawaii, California, Texas, Maryland, Belgium, and South Africa. All of these locations have an outstanding satellite station equipped with a phone patch. Verizon provides for the Telebridge hookup; this is truly an international phone hookup that they donate time and personnel for and we at ARISS thank them for their contributions. The participants for a typical Telebridge contact are the school, the ARISS ground station, and an ARISS moderator who acts as net control. The remaining contacts are direct; meaning that all of the equipment is at the school. Think of it as your worst case Field Day exercise. It is not that difficulty technically, but you are dealing with anywhere from 500 to 1000 non-hams who think everything should be perfect. If you ever get the chance to help out or to even be the control op; please do so as I think you will find it pretty rewarding. I always tell the schools to plan on 500 to 700 people hours of prep time; all for 10 minutes of contact time. They always think I am crazy until after the contact and then it hits them as to the impact. Because we realize that many of you wish to listen in but may be out of the footprint, ARISS tries to have a live retransmission via IRLP, Echolink, as a live audio web stream, or a live video web stream. All Telebridge contacts will be able to be on the web courtesy of Verizon and their webservices. ARISS volunteers then pick up that audio stream and put it on Echolink and IRLP. If the contact is a direct one, then ARISS works with the school to determine if a retransmission is possible via IRLP, Echolink, or the web. In any case, as soon as I know whether the contact is going to be retransmitted, I post that information. There have been times when a school decided at the last minute to do a live retransmission, so I suggest you check the ARISS announcements right before a contact to get the most up to date info. If you have not done an ARISS contact, consider finding a school, volunteering, getting the application in, and doing one. I have been the control op for 4 and a mentor for almost 30 and each has been a blast. The present wait time is between 1.5 and 2.5 years. The schedule page has been updated as of 2006-11-10 19:00 UTC. Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt There are several ARISS web sites: English: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/ French: http://c.avmdti.free.fr/ariss/index.htm ARISS Europe: http://www.ariss-eu.org/ ARISS Japan: http://www.jarl.or.jp/ariss/ I have also seen comments along the way about what ARISS can and cannot do as far as scheduling. As a school works it way through the scheduling process, it eventually gets to be about 6 months out from a contact date and an ARISS mentor is assigned. So the really hard work may go for about 6 months; serious business where ARISS works with the ISS planners and the school to get a date and for the school to be prepared. But we are only guests and we can only put in our requests for contact times; we can never demand. Sometimes we get our desired times; sometimes it is back to the drawing board. So once again, check for my postings as well as info from the other ARISS mentors for the very latest schedule. I hope this helps explain a bit more on how ARISS works to provide a truly out of this world educational experience. 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS Mentors

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ISS STATUS REPORT #06-49
by Arthur Rowe 10 Nov '06

10 Nov '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *International Space Station Status Report #06-49* *3 p.m. CST Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006* *Expedition 13 Crew* The International Space Station crewmembers spent this week getting ready for an upcoming spacewalk, performing scientific research and voting in the elections back on Earth. Throughout the week, the crew prepared the Pirs docking compartment for the Nov. 22 spacewalk by Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. They gathered tools and equipment they will use on the nearly six-hour spacewalk. Next week, they will prepare the Russian Orlan spacesuits they will wear for the excursion. During the spacewalk, they will relocate a communications antenna, install new experiment hardware and photograph a Kurs rendezvous system antenna on the Progress supply ship that docked to the Zvezda module’s aft docking port last month. Tyurin will also conduct a Russian commercial demonstration by hitting a golf ball teed up on the exterior of Pirs. A top priority for Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter this week was packing material destined to return to Earth on the Space Shuttle Discovery in December. Lopez-Alegria completed a routine checkout of the Mobile Servicing System in support of that shuttle assembly flight. On mission STS-116, targeted to launch Dec.6/7, the shuttle crew will deliver another component of the station’s truss structure and perform spacewalks to rewire the station's electrical system. The shuttle crew includes astronaut Suni Williams, who will relieve Reiter on board. Reiter will have spent six months on the complex. Lopez-Alegria, the NASA ISS Science Officer for Expedition 14, collected his third set of blood and urine samples for the Nutritional Status Assessment, or Nutrition experiment. This experiment measures physiological indicators of the changes in the human body during spaceflight. The samples are stored in the Minus-Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). Once returned to Earth the blood and urine samples will be analyzed to understand a wide variety of systems, including markers of bone metabolism, oxidative damage, vitamin and mineral status and hormonal changes and how they relate to stress, bone and muscle metabolism. The findings are expected to give researchers a better understanding of what happens to crewmembers in space and when it happens during a mission. It also will help to define nutritional requirements and develop food systems for future missions to the moon and Mars. Working hundreds of miles away from home didn’t stop Lopez-Alegria from participating in this week’s general election. Texas law permits residents who happen to be on orbit on Election Day to cast a ballot from space -- it was first done by David Wolf from the Mir space station in 1997. Lopez-Alegria made his choices on an encrypted computer ballot that was downlinked to Mission Control and forwarded to the county clerk’s office in Houston for tabulation. The next station status report will be issued Nov. 17, or earlier if events warrant. For more about the crew's activities and station sighting opportunities: http://www.nasa.gov/station

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2006-11-10 19:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 10 Nov '06

10 Nov '06

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2006-11-10 19:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: "Henri d'Haese" primary school in Gentbrugge, Belgium (formerly Flanders Science Festival 27-29 October 2006 Ghent, Belgium)via telebridge W5RRR Successful Fri 2006-11-10 14:37 UTC via W5RRR 47 deg (***) Landesmuseum fuer Technik und Arbeit (Mannheim Museum), Mannheim, Germany 2006-11-20 14:42 UTC via telebridge WH6PN Thomas Reiter contact Watch for live IRLP, Echolink, and webcast. Centre Hastings Secondary, Madoc, Ontario, Canada, direct via VE3UR Mon 2006-11-20 16:35 UTC 75 deg During Expedition 14, ARISS expects to have one ARISS school contact per month rather than approximately one per week. It is also anticipated that there many not be many general contacts. Total number of ARISS school contacts is 256. (***) QSL information may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/arissfaq.html http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#QSL's ISS callsigns: DP0ISS, NA1SS, RS0ISS ***************************************************************************** The schedule page has been updated as of 2006-11-10 19:00 UTC. Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt The successful school list has been updated as of 2006-11-10 19:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correctio… tf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf ***************************************************************************** There has been a rumor that the ISS was having direct contacts on the 40 meter band. There is no HF radio equipment on board and available yet. The HF antenna is mounted. Sometimes WA3NAN will retransmit shuttle audio. ***************************************************************************** Expedition 13/14 on orbit: Thomas Reiter DF4TR Expedition 14 on orbit: Michael Lopez-Alegria KE5GTK Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT Expedition 14 future: Sunita Williams, KD5PLB ***************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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STS-116 - RAFT - PCSAT2
by Keith N4ZQ 10 Nov '06

10 Nov '06

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FW: ARISS Event - Rescheduled Flanders Science Festival contact, Fri (Nov 10) at 14:37 UTC
by Ransom, Kenneth G. (JSC-OC)[BAR] 10 Nov '06

10 Nov '06

The time issue was a cut and past error, My apologies. A telebridge is when the ISS uses the amateur radio to talk to a ground station and it tied into a phone patch so the school does not have to get up at 3 AM in order to have a direct pass. Sometimes the telebridge option is used when no third party arrangements are available for the school. Does that help? Kenneth - N5VHO -----Original Message----- From: Hugh_m0wye [mailto:m0wye@radiouk.com] Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 2:47 AM To: Ransom, Kenneth G. (JSC-OC)[BAR] Subject: Re: [sarex] ARISS Event - Rescheduled Flanders Science Festival contact, Fri (Nov 10) at 14:37 UTC Group, This is the second time ARISS has posted the announcment that the School contact WILL take place on October 10th this year. Perhaps like NASA, they also have a "year end" issue with their computer. :-) Also, there is no explanation in the FAQs about what a "Telebridge" is. I assume it is some internet link, in which case one wonders if it really has anything to do with amateur radio. We certainly won't be able to "listen in" on 145.800 as I have done in the past - shame. 73 to all Hugh M0WYE ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ransom, Kenneth G. (JSC-OC)[BAR]" <kenneth.g.ransom(a)nasa.gov> To: <SAREX(a)AMSAT.Org> Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 7:29 PM Subject: [sarex] ARISS Event - Rescheduled Flanders Science Festival contact, Fri (Nov 10) at 14:37 UTC > An International Space Station Expedition 14 ARISS school contact has > been planned with students at Henri d'Haese" primary school in > Gentbrugge, Belgium who were part of the Flanders Science Festival. > The contact was aborted due to delays in the Progress docking and has > been reschedule for Friday, 10 Oct 2006. The event is scheduled to > begin at approximately 14:37 UTC. > > The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and W5RRR. The > contact should be audible to anyone in southeastern portions of the > United States. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the > 145.80 MHz downlink. Additional listening options are listed below. > The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English. > > IRLP - Connect to the IRLP reflector 9010. > You may also connect via the IRLP Discovery website at > http://www.discoveryreflector.ca/listen.htm. > > EchoLink - The audio from this contact will be available on the > EchoLink *AMSAT* (node 101 377) and the *JK1ZRW* (node 277 208) > conference rooms. Please connect to the *JK1ZRW* server to keep the > load light on the *AMSAT* server. This will ensure good audio quality > for all listeners. > > _________________________________ > AUDIO STREAMING AND AUDIO REPLAY PARTICIPANT INFORMATION: > > To join the event: > URL: https://e-meetings.mci.com > CONFERENCE NUMBER: 2403776 > PASSCODE: SPACE STATIO > > > To access the Audio Replay of this call, all parties can: > 1. Go to the URL listed above. > 2. Choose Audio Streaming under Join Events. > 3. Enter the conference number and passcode. (Note that if this is a > recurring event, multiple dates may be listed.) Replays are available > for 30 days after the live event._________________________________ > > > Students will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: > > 1. Do you miss your family up there? > 2. Is it difficult to walk on an E.V.A? > 3. How does it feel like to sleep in space? > 4. What is the view outside looking like (dark, shiny)? > 5. Can you see the opening in the ozone layer on earth, from there up? > 6. What kind of tests or work you have to do? > 7. What was the feeling the first time you where in space? > 8. What do you miss the most in space? > 9. Can you see meteorological events on earth up there? > 10. How does your family react when you are so far away? > 11. What are you going to miss most when you are back from space? > 12. Do you ever feel scared? > 13. What was the most beautiful thing you saw in space? > 14. Can you use your own senses to feel ? > 15. Why did NASA prefer to send people instead of robots? > 16. Has this spacetrip made your dream come through? > 17. Would you like to live up there for a longer time? > 18. Why did the agencies choose this crew for this mission? > 19. What do you do in your spare time in space? > 20. Are you feeling sick sometimes when you are moving around all the > time? > > Please note, the amateur equipment on the ISS has not been functioning > in the automatic modes properly and may be silent more than usual. > Information about the next scheduled ARISS contact can be found at > http://www.rac.ca/ariss/upcoming.htm#NextContact . > > Next planned event(s): > Landesmuseum fuer Technik und Arbeit (Mannheim Museum), Mannheim, > Germany 2006-11-20 14:42 UTC via telebridge WH6PN Centre Hastings > Secondary, Madoc, Ontario, Canada, 2006-11-20 16:35 UTC direct via > VE3UR > > > 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 on-board 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. Further > information on the ARISS program is available on the website > http://www.rac.ca/ariss (graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of > Canada). > > Thank you & 73, > Kenneth - N5VHO > > > ---- > Sent via sarex(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/sarex

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Re: ARISS Event - Rescheduled Flanders Science Festival
by Hugh_m0wye 10 Nov '06

10 Nov '06

Group, This is the second time ARISS has posted the announcment that the School contact WILL take place on October 10th this year. Perhaps like NASA, they also have a "year end" issue with their computer. :-) Also, there is no explanation in the FAQs about what a "Telebridge" is. I assume it is some internet link, in which case one wonders if it really has anything to do with amateur radio. We certainly won't be able to "listen in" on 145.800 as I have done in the past - shame. 73 to all Hugh M0WYE ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ransom, Kenneth G. (JSC-OC)[BAR]" <kenneth.g.ransom(a)nasa.gov> To: <SAREX(a)AMSAT.Org> Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 7:29 PM Subject: [sarex] ARISS Event - Rescheduled Flanders Science Festival contact, Fri (Nov 10) at 14:37 UTC > An International Space Station Expedition 14 ARISS school contact has > been planned with students at Henri d'Haese" primary school in > Gentbrugge, Belgium who were part of the Flanders Science Festival. The > contact was aborted due to delays in the Progress docking and has been > reschedule for Friday, 10 Oct 2006. The event is scheduled to begin at > approximately 14:37 UTC. > > The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and W5RRR. The > contact should be audible to anyone in southeastern portions of the > United States. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 > MHz downlink. Additional listening options are listed below. The > participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English. >

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