SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT AC #31468
REPRINTED FROM ARRL WEEKLY-
" NO ACTIVITY FROM ISS"
==>ARISS TEAM "ALWAYS ON A ROLL," ARRL LIAISON SAYS
Recent meetings with NASA officials have laid the foundation for the future of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program http://www.rac.ca/ariss and, at the same time, garnered accolades for Amateur Radio. Sponsorship of the ARISS program is moving from NASA Headquarters to Johnson Spaceflight Center (JSC) in Houston, and ARISS International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, and ARISS International Secretary-Treasurer Rosalie White, K1STO, recently held planning sessions with various JSC offices. White described the sessions as "stepping stones" to the realization of future ARISS projects and programs.
"The ARISS Team continues to be on a roll with new and exciting aspects to plan and develop," White said. "It isn't just daydreaming. It is dreams that turn into reality for hundreds of thousands of youths, thousands hams and even most astronauts!" Accompanying Bauer and White on the visits were Bauer's deputy, Mark Steiner, K3MS, and NASA ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO.
The ARISS team's first stop was the ISS Program Office to review a new, nearly completed NASA-ARISS charter. The ISS Program Office's Carlos Fontanot confirmed that the ARISS team will be charged with overseeing all Amateur Radio-in-space activities, no matter what ham radio group initiates them, White said.
At the JSC Education Office, the ARISS delegation discussed the transition of ARISS sponsorship from NASA Headquarters to JSC. They met with Education Leader Cynthia McArthur -- wife of astronaut and ISS Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR. Bauer and White asked McArthur to thank her husband for thrilling thousands of hams by getting on the air so often during his ISS mission. McArthur said she was impressed by the number of Expedition 12 Google hits that mentioned Amateur Radio.
The ARISS delegation also met with ISS Expedition 9 astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT. "He made it very plain that he truly enjoyed getting on the air for ragchew QSOs and being interviewed by school children about the ISS," said White. "He expressed the hope that all astronauts will earn their ham licenses and be able to realize the same pleasures he got from hamming."
Fincke told the ARISS team that he found ARISS to be both exciting and, as an educational outreach program, a great global teaching tool. He recounted that when he missed his family and friends while on orbit, he'd grab the NA1SS mike and call CQ, finding hams all over the world just waiting to make a contact with him. "ARISS lets the ISS crew make contacts with unknown citizens. A crew member needs that," he told Bauer and White.
Huddling later with Al Holt of the JSC Space Operations Sponsored Experiments Office, Bauer and White said they'd like to an ARISS role in the "Moon, Mars and Beyond" initiative. They cited Amateur Radio's potential as a valuable tool to people living on the moon for several months at a time.
"Moon-base hamming could be similar to hamming in Antarctica," White said. "ARISS is the foundation for worlds of opportunity. The ARISS Team is cautiously optimistic that it will be supporting Moon, Mars & Beyond."
The ARISS Team also consulted with Steve VanderArk, KC5WKH. He heads the Wyle Labs team of contractors that schedules the astronauts' workdays. Once the exploration initiative ramps up, he said, the ISS Program Office will schedule many construction-related flights. He pointed out that while the busy crews may not have as much time for Amateur Radio, more of them will be available to do ARISS QSOs. "ARISS makes a huge impact on the crew and on education," Vanderark said.