Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report December 26, 2011

1. Upcoming School Contact

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for the Historical Museum of Gdansk in Gdansk, Poland on Saturday, December 31 at 14:04 UTC. This year the museum celebrates the 400th anniversary of the birth of astronomer Johannes Hevelius. On display are exhibitions which represent Hevelius' achievements and research instruments. Other presentations showcase modern space exploration. Students from several Gdansk schools will participate in the ARISS contact.

2. Rome Contact Successful

On Monday, December 19, students from Teodoro Mommsen Middle School in Rome, Italy spoke with Astronaut Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX via an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. Telebridge station LU1CGB in Buenos Aires, Argentina handled the radio link. Nearly 80 students attended the event and listened as Burbank fielded sixteen questions about living in a micro-gravity environment. The school, located in the "Appio-Latino" district in the south of Rome, has an enrollment of 800 students, ages 11 - 13. To view contact video, see: http://www.livestream.com/amsat_italia/video?clipId=pla_47be5d99-fe7a-4b1a-9...

3. ARISS Sets New Events Record

The ARISS contact held with Kobe, Japan was number 121 for 2011 and equals the most number of events done in a calendar year (set in 2009). The Teodoro Mommsen Middle School contact held on Monday, December 19 was number 122 and set a new record for the number of events conducted in a single calendar year.

4. ARISS International Teleconference Held

The monthly ARISS International Team teleconference was held on Tuesday, December 20. It was announced that Rosalie White will step down as the U.S. representative and chairman of the ARISS-International Educational Outreach and School Selection Committee. She will be replaced by Frank Bauer. The ARISS status on filing with the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) was given and an update on the HamTV project, which may include a video beacon, was also provided. Minutes have been posted. See: http://ariss.rac.ca/arisstel2011-12-20.htm

5. Amateur Radio Newsline on ARISS

Amateur Radio Newsline posted a few items related to ARISS in its December 23 report #1793 under the heading "Ham Radio in Space." The first story is about new crew members Don Pettit, KD5MDT, Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX and Andre Kuipers, PI9ISS flying to the ISS this past week. The second story gives a new prediction of when ARISSat will re-enter Earth's atmosphere. "Three Astro-Hams Headed to the ISS" and "ARISSat-1 Mission May End December 31" may be viewed at: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt

6. ARRL QST Covers ARISS News

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) January 2012 QST coverage of ARISS items are:

"It Seems to Us," written each month by CEO Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, is titled this month "The Year Ahead" and covers what's expected for 2012. Dave lists World Amateur Radio Day on April 18, 2012, when this year's theme will be "Amateur Radio Satellites: Celebrating 50 Years in Space." Dave says we'll celebrate the launch of the first OSCAR satellite that "was followed by an even greater thrill in 1983 when radio amateurs the world over spoke with Owen Garriott, W5LFL, as he orbited the Earth aboard STS-9."

The "Media Hits" column mentions the ARISS school, Holy Family Catholic School, in Grand Junction, CO. A good newspaper story ran in the Grand Junction Sentinel when reporters attended a demonstration put on by students of on-the-air amateur radio moonbounce operations.

The "In Brief" column listed the crew members, including Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX, who had joined the crew on the ISS.