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

1. Upcoming School Contact

Lompoc High School in Lompoc, California has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday, September 29 at 16:04 UTC. Lompoc High has an informal amateur radio club which is part of the STaRS (Space, Technology and Robotics Systems) academy. Students have been studying the history of space flight, the space environment, orbital motion, ground tracking, life support systems and rockets, among other topics. Students are also building a model of the ISS and designing another module for it.

2. First ARISS Contact for Louisiana

On Thursday, September 22, the first Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact to be held in Louisiana took place between students attending Kiroli Elementary School in West Monroe and Satoshi Furukawa, KE5DAW on the ISS. Approximately 500 students were on hand for the event. Representatives from the school board, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the media were also present. The contact was a featured activity held in conjunction with a well developed education plan covering space and communications. The University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) will open its observatory in an upcoming month to Kiroli Elementary to allow students to view various celestial bodies and events, as well as the planets and stars within our solar system. Contact information and links to articles, video and audio may be found on this Web site: http://www.cs.ulm.edu/~pdw/KiroliARISS/

3. ARISS International Team Teleconference Held

The ARISS monthly teleconference was held on Tuesday, September 20. Among the agenda items discussed were the upcoming Houston face-to-face meeting and the HamTV project that ESA plans to support through a contract with Kayser-Italia. The Project Selection and Use committee will discuss HamTV and a second Kenwood radio for the Columbus module once the proposals are submitted. Minutes have been posted. See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel2011-09-20.htm

4. Astronaut Training Status

Three simulated ARISS contacts were held on Wednesday, September 21. Chris Hadfield, KC5RNJ/VA3OOG spoke with youth at the Euro Space Camp in Belgium. Kevin Ford, KF5GPP contacted the Manhattan Challenger Learning Center (CLC) and Tom Marshburn, KE5HOC answered questions from students at the CLC of Indianapolis. The training sessions were terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS equivalent equipment that will prepare the astronauts for participation in ARISS contacts during their upcoming missions on the ISS. Ford is slated to launch with Expedition 33 in September 2012 and Hadfield and Marshburn are scheduled to fly with Expedition 34 in November 2012.

5. EE Times - ARISSat Blog

On September 17, a new entry was made to the EE (Electronic Engineering) Times "Chips in Space" blog about amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1. This week the blog covers the project's lessons learned. See: http://eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4227392/Chips-in-Space--Lessons-l...

6. World Radio Magazine Covers ARISSat-1

The World Radio Magazine October 2011 issue featured an article about ARISSat-1. To view the story, "Amateur Satellites: A Bumpy Ride for ARISSat-1 on its Way to Space," see: http://www.worldradiomagazine.com/

7. AMSAT Covers ARISS

AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) included two ARISS-related items in its News Service bulletin (ANS-268) on Sunday, September 25. The first piece requests participants to take a survey about ARISSat operations and provides information about the ARISSat Chicken Little Contest. The second story, "Frank Bauer, KA3HDO Retires From NASA After 36 Years" is about the retirement of former ARISS Chairman, Frank Bauer. Both items may be found at: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2011/000553.html

8. Amateur Radio Newsline on ISS Crew, Former ARISS Chairman

On September 23, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1780 included two ARISS items under "Ham Radio in Space." The first story talks about a possible Soyuz flight on November 14 that may carry the next 3 crew members of Expedition 29 to the ISS. The second item follows up with the return of Expedition 28 crew members Ron Garan, KF5GPO, Andrei Borisenko, RW7LFG, and Alexander Samokutyayev. A third item under "Names in the News" covers Frank Bauer's retirement from NASA. To view "Next Manned Flight to ISS Will be Nov 14," "Three ISS Crew Members Return to Earth" and "KA3HDO Retires from NASA After 36 Years," go to: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt