Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report September 21, 2009

1. Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Vrij Technisch Instituut Sint-Lucas in Oudenaarde, Oost - Vlaanderen, Belgium on Tuesday, September 22 at 13:47 UTC. Students have learned about Earth rotation, orbit speed, time zones, satellites, weather forecasts and geostationary versus polar satellites. The antennas which will be used for the contact as well as a UPS device have been constructed by the students themselves.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for the HMS Beagle Project in Parati, Brazil on Tuesday, September 22 at 18:20 UTC via ground station K6DUE in Maryland, USA. The project (which aims to rebuild the ship that carried Darwin around the world) and NASA have signed an International Space Act Agreement, with Mike Barratt as the initiator and main connection on the NASA side of the project. The project will unite ISS astronaut photography with ocean surface water and other biological and physical samples taken by the crew of the new Beagle.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Cedarview Middle School in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on Thursday, September 24 at 19:07 UTC. Students have learned about the ISS through videos, the internet and guest speakers.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Garfield Elementary School in Boise, Idaho on Thursday, September 24 at 20:34 UTC via telebridge station W6SRJ in California. Students will visit the NASA Exploration Experience traveling exhibit on display at the Idaho Historical Museum and will learn about space exploration and its benefits.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Houya Elementary School in Nishitokyo, Japan on Saturday, September 26 at 09:28 UTC. Students will learn about amateur radio, space science and the global cooperation involved with running the ISS.

2. Liberty Middle School - ARISS Contact Successful

On Tuesday, September 15, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between students at Liberty Middle School in Camas, Washington and Mike Barratt, KD5MIJ, on the ISS. Telebridge station ON4ISS in Belgium facilitated the contact. Twelve students were able to ask 17 questions of the astronaut. A large audience gathered to observe the contact, including Barratt's mother, and his uncle was able to listen in from the hospital. The audio was also fed into the school PA system. Two newspapers covered the event.

3. ARISS Contact Held During Belgian Space Week

Euro Space Center (ESC) in Transinne, Belgium experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, September 16 via telebridge station W6SRJ in California. Frank De Winne, ON1DWN answered 18 questions posed to him as an audience of approximately 70 people looked on. Audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW servers. The contact was held as part of Belgian Space Week 2009, which was held at ESC from September 14 -18. The theme of the event was "Life in Space." ESC is recognized by the educational ministries.

4. Delta Researchers Schools Experience ARISS Contact

On Friday, September 18, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between Delta Researchers Schools, Dutch Ministry of Education and Frank De Winne, ON1DWN on the ISS. Telebridge station VK4KHZ in Australia provided the connection. All 18 prepared questions were answered with time left over for an additional question. This was an ESA event from Space Expo, Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

5. Astronaut Training Status

On Wednesday, September 9, Astronaut Tracy Caldwell took and passed her amateur radio license exam. She has been issued the callsign, KF5DBF. Caldwell is scheduled to fly with Expedition 23 in April 2010.

6. AMSAT Symposium, ARISS Ops Meeting

The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) Symposium will be held on Friday, October 9 through Sunday, October 11 at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Baltimore Washington Airport in Maryland. An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) presentation will be given and a demo of ARISSat-1 is planned. The AMSAT banquet keynote speaker will be Dr. Martin Collins, a curator in the Space History Division at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. For more information, see the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) articles: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/09/14/11074/?nc=1 http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/09/0918/

The ARISS Operations team will hold a meeting after the symposium on Sunday, October 11.