Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report

August 13, 2012

1. Upcoming School Contacts

Kangaroo Inn Area School, Kangaroo Inn, South Australia, Australia is planning for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact to be held on Tuesday, August 14 at 08:29 UTC via station W6SRJ in California. The contact will be integrated into a science curriculum covering space and space exploration.

Wada Elementary School in Nagawa Town, Japan has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday, August 16 at 08:01 UTC. The school offers a “General Education” subject through which students select their themes and write reports. One of the most popular subjects chosen this year was “Space.” The subject has been so popular because the children have been exposed to many space-related activities over the past few years including the recent International Year of Astronomy and the unmanned spacecraft, Hayabusa that was developed by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis last year. Children observed an eclipse on May 21 and will visit the Nobeyama Radio Observatory over the summer. They will also be given radio kits so that they understand how receivers work. It is hoped that JAXA will support the school program and provide the youth with further information about space and the ISS.

Meikei High School in Tsukuba, Japan will participate in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, August 17 at 07:09 UTC. The school was established in 1979 by an alumni association formed principally by the graduates of the University of Tsukuba and Tokyo University of Education. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide is a graduate of the school. The school’s science club has a Radio & Electronics Group with its own radio station, callsign JJ1YAF. Club members and other interested students are learning about the ISS, orbital mechanics and amateur radio satellite communications through this activity. The group will speak with Akihiko Hoshide during this ARISS contact.

2. Failed Contact with Canada Science and Technology Museum

Canada Science and Technology Museum Summer Day Camps had been scheduled for an ARISS contact on Thursday, August 9 via station IK1SLD in Italy. The contact was unsuccessful. ARISS is investigating the reason for the failure.

3. Expedition 30/31 Scheduled for Debrief

Astronauts Don Pettit and André Kuipers (Expedition 30/31) will take part in an ISS Ham debrief session to give feedback on the ARISS program. The debrief is scheduled for August 15.

4. AMSAT News Service on ARISS

The August 12 AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) News Service bulletin (ANS-225) has an item about Mark Hammond, N8MH, AMSAT Vice President of Educational Relations who will attend the AMSAT-UK Space Colloquium in September. Hammond will give a presentation on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education, including a status on the ARISS program. See: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2012/000641.html