Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report September 13, 2010

1. Upcoming School Contacts

University of Western Australia, Astronomy Division, Perth, Western Australia has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Tuesday, September 14 at 10:26 UTC via telebridge station LU8YY in Argentina. Australian astronaut Andy Thomas will give presentations on science and technology careers as well as the benefits of space exploration. High school students who will participate in this event have researched and studied these themes. The students come from schools located in Perth and regional Western Australia and are involved in the Aspire program. Aspire works with schools, communities and educational organizations to raise aspirations amongst high school students in communities typically under-represented in higher education. Western Australia is currently gearing up to potentially host the biggest radio telescope in the world, the Square Kilometre Array. As such, being directly involved in research that furthers our understanding of the Universe is a very real prospect for the students attending this special event and as part of the presentation they will hear more about this mega-science project of the future.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Utah National Parks Council, Sector 7, Boy Scouts of America in St. George, Utah on Saturday, September 18 at 17:10 UTC. Sector 7 is celebrating the 100th anniversary of scouting in the U.S. with a centennial jamboree. Nearly 4000 scouts are expected to attend the event and will be encouraged to complete the requirements for the Space Exploration and Radio merit badges.

2. ARISS Contact with Norwegian Museum

On Saturday, September 11, the Norwegian Museum of Science, Technology and Medicine in Oslo, Norway experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with on-orbit astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC. The connection was made possible through telebridge station LU8YY in Argentina. Wheelock talked about life in space with the students, answering 10 questions during the session. Approximately 100 people were in attendance. A total of 63,000 students at all levels in the Norwegian school system attend 25 different programs at the museum throughout the year.

3. SSTV to be Activated on ISS

The Russian ISS crew members plan to activate Slow Scan Television (SSTV) on September 13 and 14. The activity should run from 12:00 - 16:00 UTC on both days. Crew times indicate that Monday will have monitored activity intended for Western Russia and Tuesday will have monitored activity intended for Northwestern parts of South America.

4. Astronaut Training Status

ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli, IZ0JPA is scheduled for a simulated contact with students from Scuola Media Statale "E.Galice," Civitavecchia, Rome, Italy on Tuesday, September 14 at approximately 19:00 UTC. Audio should be available on IRLP. This training session is a terrestrial-based amateur radio contact using ARISS equivalent equipment.

5. Amateur Radio Newsline Covers ARISS

On September 10, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1726 included a story about Doug Wheelock, KB5BOC making general contacts from the ISS. "Ham Radio in Space: ISS on the Air" may be found at: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt

6. ARRL Article on ARISS School

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Letter announced an upcoming article written by ARISS Delegate Rosalie White, K1STO which will appear in the October issue of QST. The story is about Midvalley Elementary School and how its ARISS contact in December 2009 generated students' interest in amateur radio. See: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2010-09-09#toc06

7. Article on General Contact with Doug Wheelock

Your News Now (YNN) posted a story about a general contact made between a New York amateur radio operator and Doug Wheelock during which Wheelock mentioned an ARISS contact he is looking forward to, his alma mater, Windsor Central High School. To view the article, see: http://binghamton.ynn.com/content/top_stories/516907/vestal-man-makes-long-d...