Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report August 8, 2011

1. Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for the National Institute for Higher Education, Research, Science & Technology (NIHERST), Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, West Indies on Monday, August 8 at 15:13 via station LU8YY in Argentina. The institute promotes science, technology and innovation through its Caribbean Youth Science Forum (CYSF). This year the CYSF will host 250 students from 6 countries who will participate in lectures, field trips and a design challenge competition to build a 3 meter high tower using non-traditional building materials.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for the Youth Hostel "La Foresta" in Rome, Italy on Thursday, August 11 at 08:48 UTC via K6DUE in Greenbelt, Maryland. Panda Adventure organizes summer camps for youth, ages 11 -14 that focus on space education. The program is strengthened through the cooperation with ESA /ESRIN that provided the camp with educational materials. Activities include field researches, experiments, use of technical instruments, and games to explore the Earth and Sky and to research solutions to save our planet.

2. Scouts Experience Successful ARISS Contact

Scouts attending Space Jam 5 held at the Octave Chanute Air Museum in Rantoul, Illinois participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, August 6. This was a telebridge contact via station WH6PN in Hawaii. Scouts put 18 questions about life in space to on-orbit astronaut Mike Fossum, KF5AQG. Over 250 Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts as well as 100 scout leaders attended the event. Besides the several merit badge workshops covering electronics, computers and others, activities included a balloon launch (with an on-board repeater) and a ham radio station, complete with satellite antennas.

3. ARISSat-1 Deployed

ARISSat-1, an educational satellite that was developed by AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) in cooperation with the NASA Office of Education ISS National Lab, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) and RSC-Energia, was deployed on Wednesday, August 3 during Russian EVA-29. The satellite contains an experiment developed by Kursk State Technical University students in Russia. Students and others may listen to ARISSat-1 to hear the 24 greetings in 15 languages (secret words included), to receive and decode spacecraft and experiment telemetry and to capture Slow Scan Television (SSTV) images. (Certificates are available to those who report receiving signals from the satellite. Visit the ARISSat Web site for more information.) ARISSat activities provide an excellent opportunity to pique children's interest in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

ARISSat-1 Web site: http://www.arissat1.org/v3/

To view SSTV images: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV/

NASA article, "Hammin' It Up" http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/hammin-it-up_prt.htm

Other articles:

WBIR, "STEM education reaches new heights" http://www.wbir.com/news/article/178784/2/STEM-education-reaches-new-heights

EE Times, "Amateur satellite ready to go in to action" http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4218421/Amateur-satellite-ready-to-g...

EE Times, "ARISSat-1 Deployment Update" http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4218501/Chips-in-Space--ARISS...

Space.com, "Russian Cosmonauts to Take Spacewalk Today" http://www.space.com/12526-russian-cosmonauts-space-station-spacewalk-ham-ra...

Space Daily, "Russian Spacewalkers to Move Cargo Boom, Deploy Ham Radio Satellite" http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Russian_Spacewalkers_to_Move_Cargo_Boom_De...

4. AMSAT Covers ARISSat-1

On August 7, the AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) News Service bulletin (ANS-219) covered ARISSat-1, its deployment and current operations. The following stories may be viewed at http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2011/000542.html

- AMSAT-NA In Orbit Again with ARISSat-1 - NASA Education Express Message - ARISSat-1/KEDR Deployment - ARISSat-1/KEDR Deployed on August 3 - Signals Received - ARISSat-1/KEDR Reception Report Certificates - AMSAT-UK Issues ARISSat-1/KEDR BPSK Reception Challenge

5. ARRL Articles on ARISS

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) posted three ARISS news items in its August 4 ARRL Letter. The first story is about the new ARISS proposal process for U.S. schools and the other two cover the ARISSat-1 deployment and status. See http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2011-08-04 for the following stories:

- ARISS Excited by New Proposal Process - ARISSat-1 Finally Deployed from ISS - Hams Report ARISSat-1's Linear Transponder Is Working

6. EE Times - ARISSat Blog

EE (Electronic Engineering) Times ran a second entry in its "Chips in Space" blog covering the amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1. See: http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4218353/The-importance---chal...

7. Amateur Radio Newsline on ARISSat-1

On August 5, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1773 included a report on the deployment of ARISSat-1. "Ham Radio in Space: ARISSat-1 Now on Orbit" may be found at: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt

8. Astronaut Training Status

Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG attended an ARISS Basic Ops class on Monday, August 1. Hopkins is slated to fly with Expedition 37 in September 2013.