Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report May 17, 2010

1. Upcoming School Contacts

Pita Kallak School in Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Canada has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday, May 20 at 16:28 UTC via station ON4ISS in Belgium. The school plans to form a space club with participants from all grade levels. The students will learn about the ISS and radio protocol through video, the internet and guest speakers and will create projects (mobiles, posters, banners, murals) related to these subjects and display them in "Mission Control" (the gym).

The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) in Bayswater, Victoria, Australia has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, May 29 at 10:43 UTC via ON4ISS in Belgium. The WIA will hold a special dinner to celebrate its centenary and has invited students from local schools in Canberra to make an ARISS school contact on that evening. It is anticipated that this dinner will be a high key event with Australia wide coverage.

2. Successful ARISS Contact Held with Komoro Higashi Junior High

On Friday, May 14, Komoro Higashi Junior High School students in Komoro, Nagano, Japan contacted onboard astronaut Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP via the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. Prior to the event, children visited Nobeyama Radio Observatory and worked on radio kits as part of their science curriculum. Over 140 students, parents and guests watched as 15 students had their questions answered during the contact, while 2 television stations and 5 newspapers provided media coverage.

3. MAI-75 Experiment Activated

The MAI-75 (Moscow Aviation Institute) experiment was activated on Friday, May 14. The ISS crew transmitted several SSTV (Slow Scan Television) images which were received by ground stations in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Images have been posted to the SSTV Web site: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV/

4. ARISS at Dayton Hamvention

Dayton Hamvention 2010 was held at the Hara Arena Complex in Dayton, Ohio over the May 14-16 weekend. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) manned exhibition booths at the event. Gould Smith, WA4SXM, AMSAT Project Manager for ARISSat-1, gave a presentation on the satellite. The ARISSat-1 prototype was on exhibit and demonstrated to the crowds. ARRL held a Teachers Workshop and distributed ARISS bookmarks to educators interested in the ARISS program. The Dayton Hamvention is an internationally attended amateur radio convention that draws crowds of 25,000 annually.