Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report August 3, 2009
1. Upcoming School Contact
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for United Space School in Seabrook, Texas on Wednesday, August 5 at 13:47 UTC via telebridge station ON4ISS. The school is a once a year session of high school students that meets annually in the NASA/Clear Lake Area. These students come from around the world for a two week session, during which they stay with local host families while being mentored by astronauts, engineers, and scientists to design a mission to Mars as their team project. Class sessions are held at the University of Houston at Clear Lake. The contact will allow students to learn firsthand what the experience of spaceflight is like. They will use this knowledge in putting together their team project presentation, which they will present to the Houston space community at the end of their session.
2. ARISS Contact with Hospital for Sick Children
On Thursday, July 30, patients of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. Children spoke with Astronaut Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA via telebridge station ON4ISS in Belgium and were able to ask 18 questions about life in space. Nearly 100 people were present for the event and the contact was broadcasted throughout the hospital on closed circuit television.
3. ARISS Contact Between Michael Barratt and Summer Playground Camp
Borough of New Providence, NJ, Summer Playground Camp in New Providence, New Jersey took part in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday, July 30. Ten children asked twenty questions of Expedition 19's Michael Barratt, KD5MIJ in front of an audience of approximately 100 people. This was a town sponsored summer camp activity for elementary school children (K - 6). The New Providence Amateur Radio Club (NPARC) has been involved with this type of camp for the last five years and regularly provides an introduction to amateur radio on the air by setting up HF and VHF stations so that campers may communicate with hams around the world. The ARISS contact was an extension of this activity.
4. ARISS News on Amateur Radio Newsline
On July 31, Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1668 reported on the Scout Space Jamboree in Rantoul, Illinois which included an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. To view "Ham Radio in Space: Space Jam 3 in Illinois," see: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News-A/news.txt
5. ARISS International Meeting Minutes Posted
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team held its annual meeting at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands in June. Minutes are now available and have been posted to the ARISS Web site. See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/ARISS-I%202009%20Annual%20Mtg%20final%20edit%20minut...
6. ARRL Articles on FUNcube
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) posted a Web story on a new AMSAT-UK (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) satellite project, FUNcube. FUNcube is a cubesat which will educate youth about radio, electronics and physics. For more information, see: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/07/29/10985/?nc=1 The article may also be found in the ARRL Letter: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/09/0731/
7. SuitSat-2 Demo
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) SuitSat-2 prototype was demonstrated at the Microchip Master's conference which was held in Phoenix on July 29 - August 1. See: https://secure.microchip.com/usmasters/EveningEvents.aspx
8. De Winne Comments on Importance of Amateur Radio on ISS
During a recent Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact, Astronaut Frank De Winne was asked about the importance of amateur radio on the ISS. He answered that the radio was an important means of psychological support. The audio of this contact may be found on the ARISS-Europe Web site. See: http://www.ariss-eu.org/2009_07_31.htm
9. ARISS Teleconference Minutes Posted
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 21. Agenda items included a recap of the face-to-face meeting held in the Netherlands and the status of the SuitSat-2 project. The minutes have been posted. See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel2009-07-21.htm
10. MAI-75 Experiments Planned
MAI-75 (Moscow Aviation Institute) experiments are planned for August 3 and 4. The VC-H1 unit will run in auto mode (Robot-36 and transmitting once every 3 minutes) and should be operational on 145.800 MHz from approximately 0800-1600 UTC each day. Information on the MAI-75 experiment is available at: http://www.energia.ru/eng/iss/researches/education-26.html
11. Astronaut Training Status - Simulated Contact Scheduled
A simulated contact is planned for Thursday, August 6 at approximately 13:30 UTC. The contact will be between Euro Space Camp (ESC) and Paolo Nespoli, IZ0JPA. Audio should be available on EchoLink and IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project). The training session is a terrestrial-based amateur radio contact using Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) equivalent equipment.