Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report February 28, 2011

1. Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Mackay State High School in Mackay, Queensland, Australia on Wednesday, March 2 at 01:20 UTC via Australian telebridge station VK5ZAI. The contact has been incorporated into the science curriculum covering astronomy, space exploration, physics, communications and biology.

Technological Centre for Innovation in Communications (CeTIC) in Las Palmas, Spain has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday, March 3 at 14:17 UTC. Prior to the contact, workshops will be held to introduce students to satellite communications. Topics will include orbit prediction, satellite tracking and common communications systems in both the space and earth segments. In order to promote interest in space technology across the university community, the school held a contest to choose the most original and relevant questions to ask of the astronaut.

2. Recent ARISS Contacts

On Tuesday, February 22, Preston North East Primary School students in Preston, Victoria, Australia spoke with astronaut Catherine Coleman, KC5ZTH via an ARISS contact made possible through telebridge station W5RRR in Houston. Over 500 students, teachers and parents were present for the event and listened as the astronaut fielded 14 students' questions during the 9.5 minute pass. The ARISS contact was the culmination of a curriculum covering Earth and the Solar System.

Members of the Nishibori Eizaburo Memorial Explorer Museum Radio Club, Higashiomi, Shiga, Japan participated in an ARISS contact with Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, IZØJPA on Tuesday, February 22. Nespoli handled 14 questions and was answering the fifteenth question as the ISS went over the horizon. The contact highlighted lessons about the ISS, its mission and space science.

3. Astronaut Training Status

On Thursday, March 3, astronauts André Kuipers, PI9ISS and Don Pettit, KD5MDT are scheduled to participate in simulated ARISS contacts with students from University of Leuven, Department of Chemistry, Heverlee, Belgium and Manordale Public School, Ottawa, Canada, respectively. The training sessions are terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS equivalent equipment. Both astronauts are slated to fly with Expedition 30 in November 2011.

4. Amateur Radio Newsline Covers ARISSat

On February 25, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1750 posted two items under the heading ARISSat-1 Update. "More on the ARISSat-1 Deployment Delay" and "ARISSat-1 to Help Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's First Spaceflight" may be found at: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt