Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report August 29, 2011

1. Upcoming School Contact

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Merritt Island High School, Merritt Island, Florida on Tuesday, August 30 at 18:06 UTC. Sixty of the high school students are members of da Vinci Academy of Aerospace Technology and take part in the "Project Lead the Way" engineering curriculum. The students will study engineering principles of the International Space Station through their courses entitled "Introduction to Engineering," "Principles of Engineering," "Aerospace Engineering" and "Digital Electronics." The entire year's curriculum will be dedicated to the aerospace engineering topic and weekly labs will make the subject real (study of force/motion, circuit boards, ISS construction/engineering, ISS orbit, ham radio engineering, sound waves, and layers of the atmosphere).

2. Successful Contact with Hochtaunusschule

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between youth at Hochtaunusschule in Oberursel, Hessen, Germany and on-orbit Astronaut Mike Fossum, KF5AQG on Thursday, August 25. Telebridge station LU8YY in Argentina handled the radio connection. During the ISS pass, students got in 15 questions concerning topics such as astronaut training and the effect of space on the human body. The contact was a featured event at the school, which provides both general education and vocational training, to pique students' interest in space and wireless technology.

3. AMSAT Covers ARISSat-1

AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) ran a status report on ARISSat-1 in its News Service bulletin (ANS-240) on Sunday, August 28 that included an update on the satellite's battery. To view "New ARISSat-1 FM Operating Mode," see: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2011/000546.html

The Chicken Little Contest, to guess when ARISSat-1 will re-enter Earth's atmosphere, is underway. Predictions must be submitted by October 15. More information on the contest and its categories (students, adults) may be found here: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ARISSat/ARISSatContest

4. EE Times - ARISSat Blog

The sixth and seventh entries in EE (Electronic Engineering) Times "Chips in Space" blog about the amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1 have been posted. See:

Chips in Space: Let's look inside ARISSat-1 (part 2) http://eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4219183/Chips-in-Space--Let-s-loo...

Chips in Space: Let's look inside ARISSat-1 (Part 3) http://eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4219352/Chips-in-Space--Let-s-loo...