Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report October 18, 2010

1. Upcoming School Contact

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Carine Primary School in Perth, Western Australia, Australia on Tuesday, October 19 at 07:06 UTC via telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii. The school has incorporated the contact into its science curriculum. Guest speakers have been invited, including representatives from an amateur radio club and the science center, Scitech. Students from Kindergarten through grade 7 have been involved in research and other activities in preparation for this event, using IT and online resources, including the NASA Web site.

2. George Observatory Contact Successful

On Saturday, October 16, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held with scouts and astronomy club members attending the Astronomy Day event at George Observatory in Needville, Texas. This was a telebridge contact via station WH6PN in Hawaii. Approximately 150 people attended and listened as Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC answered 12 questions about life in space posed to him by the youth. As part of the event, scout troops set up an amateur radio station near the observatory to conduct their all-day Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) radio contacts and also worked on Radio Merit Badges. The Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club was on hand to assist with JOTA activities and prepared for afternoon satellite contacts with an Arrow hand-held antenna.

3. ARRL Article on ARISS Contacts

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran a story on recent ARISS contacts including those with Windsor Central School District, Utah Scouts and IRSEA, as well Doug Wheelock's many general contacts. The article, written by Rick Lindquist, WW3DE may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/news/iss-astronaut-creating-ham-radio-buzz-taking-scienc...

4. Amateur Radio Newsline Covers ARISS

On October 15, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1731 included two ARISS related stories. "Ham Radio in Space: ARISSat-1 Enroute to Russia" announces ARISSat's arrival at JSC and its planned shipment to Russia. "Challenger Learning Center Inaugurates Ham Station" is about the station set up at the CLC in Oregon, Ohio to get students interested in STEM studies. Both stories may be found at: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt

5. ARISSat-1 Safety Review Held

The Johnson Space Center Payload Safety Review Panel performed a Phase 2 flight safety review of ARISSat-1 on Wednesday and Thursday, October 13 and 14 in Houston. ARISSat passed the review with modifications to the hazard reports. As soon as the updates requested are incorporated, the hazard reports will be approved and then passed on for the next phase of the review process.