Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report October 10, 2011

1. Upcoming School Contacts

Istituto Superiore "G. Curcio," Ispica, Italy has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, October 14 at 11:03 UTC via telebridge station W6SRJ in California. The contact will be integrated into the science curriculum on astronomy. Other activities include a field trip to the Astrophysics Institute in Catania and the Astronomic Observatory on Mount Etna.

Amateur Radio Morioka Club, Morioka, Japan is slated for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, October 15 at 09:47 UTC. The club participated in an ARISS contact last year and after the tsunami hit eastern Japan earlier this year, causing much destruction to the Iwate coast and several elementary schools in the area, a request for another contact was made. Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa will speak with the children who have experienced a death in their family to help boost their morale.

Seiryo Elementary School, Seto, Aichi, Japan has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Tuesday, October 18 at 08:33 UTC. The school was established in 1975 and has an enrollment of 667 students. The contact will highlight the science curriculum which covers electricity, space and technology.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Zespol Szkol Technicznych in Rybnicka 44, Slask, Poland on Friday, October 21 at 16:38 UTC. SP9PKS radio club members have been working with the school to prepare for the contact. Lesson plans have covered construction of radio equipment, contacts via LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites and meteorites.

2. Malaysia National Space Challenge Features ARISS Contact

Students attending S. K. Sri Hartamas in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Monday, October 3. Satoshi Furukawa, KF5AQG onboard the ISS answered twenty questions posed to him about space including such questions as what happens to your tears if you cry in space and whether children should be allowed to travel to space. The contact was held as part of the "Prime Minister's National Space Challenge Trophy 2011," which has been an annual event since 2007, when Malaysian space participant, Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, flew to the ISS. The National Space Challenge involves a large number of students and encourages them to learn about space and science. Several media outlets covered the event. To view the New Straits Times article, see: http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/12alangas/Article/art_print

3. ARISS Contact Highlights Astronomy Day Activities

On Saturday, October 8, visitors participating in Astronomy Day 2011 at George Observatory in Needville, Texas spoke with on-orbit Astronaut Mike Fossum, KF5AQG via an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. Telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii handled the radio connection. Sixteen questions were asked and answered. Astronomy Day is put on each year by all the Astronomy clubs in the greater Houston Area in conjunction with the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The event is held at the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park and draws 4000 attendees each year. The ARRL education and technology program was used to prepare youth for the contact. A NASA booth was set up and amateur astronomers and amateur radio operators were available to discuss the ISS, space travel and forms of communications.

4. DX Coffee Interview with Lou McFadin

The Web site DXCoffee has posted an interview with ARISS Hardware Lead Lou McFadin, W5DID. Lou talks about his work at NASA, amateur radio and ham radio experiments in space. See: http://www.dxcoffee.com/eng/2011/10/03/amateur-radio-nasa/

The article is also available in Italian: http://www.dxcoffee.com/ita/2011/10/03/nasa-hamradio/

5. ARISS Vice Chairman to Speak at HoSARC

ARISS Vice Chairman Mark Steiner, K3MS will be giving a presentation on the ARISS program, via Skype, during New York's Hall Of Science Amateur Radio Club (HoSARC) meeting on Tuesday, October 11 at 7:30 pm ET. The presentation is being advertised on the HoSARC front page: http://www.hosarc.org/portal/

6. ARISS Status on Social Media

ARISS news is available on Twitter and Facebook. ARISS currently has 229 active users on Facebook and 698 followers on Twitter. See:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amateur-Radio-on-the-International-Space-Stati...

http://twitter.com/#!/ARISS_status

7. AMSAT on ARISS

On Sunday, October 9 AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) News Service bulletin (ANS-282) included coverage of the Chicken Little Contest which allows participants to guess when ARISSat will re-enter Earth's atmosphere and the ARISSat CW (Morse code) contest where participants copy and submit any 6 of the over 200 call signs transmitted by the satellite. Another item is about the Scouting Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) event to be held October 15-16. Astronaut Mike Fossum plans to participate. See: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2011/000557.html

8. Amateur Radio Newsline on Chicken Little Contest

On October 7, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1782 contained a story about the ongoing Chicken Little contest held by AMSAT through which participants can guess the date and time ARISSat will re-enter Earth's atmosphere. Certificates will be issued to winners of three categories: grades K-8, grades 9-12 and adult. "Ham Radio in Space: AMSAT Issues ARRISat-1 Chicken Little Contest Reminder" may be viewed at: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt

9. Energia on ARISSat/KEDR

Energia has posted a status report on ARISSat/KEDR to its Web site. See: http://www.energia.ru/en/news/news-2011/news_10-03.html