Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report May 24, 2010

1. Upcoming School Contacts

The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) in Bayswater, Victoria, Australia has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, May 29 at 10:43 UTC via ON4ISS in Belgium. The WIA will hold a special dinner to celebrate its centenary and has invited students from local schools in Canberra to make an ARISS school contact on that evening. It is anticipated that this dinner will be a high key event with Australia wide coverage.

Istituto Comprensivo Camaiore - Scuola Secondaria 1° Grado "M. Rosi," Camaiore, Italy has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, June 5 at 10:21 UTC. Students participating in the contact have learned about space science, principles of radio communications and the benefits of space exploration and have prepared to use English in a real life situation.

2. ARISS Contact for Pita Kallak School

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between Pita Kallak School in Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Canada and on-orbit astronaut Timothy Creamer, KC5WKI on Thursday, May 20. Telebridge station ON4ISS in Belgium provided the connection. Some technical difficulties were encountered, but nine questions were answered during the session. In preparation for the contact, students learned about the ISS and amateur radio through video, the internet and guest speakers and created science related projects in the classroom.

3. ARISSat Presentation Available for Viewing

Gould Smith, WA4SXM gave a presentation on ARISSat-1 at the Dayton Hamvention, held over the May 14-16 weekend. His presentation has been posted to YouTube. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEDfSCw6VcU

4. ARRL QST Covers ARISS

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) June QST carried an article by Steve Ford, WB8IMY titled, "Ground Control to Major Tom." The story was about ARISS and making general contacts with the ISS crew members. It started off with how ARISS is mainly to enhance youth STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education, but that all amateur radio operators can have an ARISS contact. It talked about the types of contacts and included a picture of astronaut Mike Fincke. Then it talked about Richard Garriott and his SSTV (Slow Scan Television). The ARRL monthly journal has a circulation of 150,000.

5. Astronaut Training Status

Astronaut Don Pettit, KD5MDT had a productive ham radio training session review on May 19. He expects to be active with the amateur radio system while on the ISS and is currently assigned to Expedition 30.

6. ARISS Presented at Scout-O-Rama

"Scout-O-Rama" was held over the May 15 weekend in Wheaton, Illinois. ARISS Mentor John Spasojevich set up an exhibit about amateur radio and ARISS at this event.