Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report September 20, 2010

1. Upcoming School Contact

Windsor Central School District and the Owego-Apalachin School District in New York have been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, September 22 at 14:21 UTC. The school districts have planned an education program with the area's Kopernik Observatory and Science Center which includes topics such as space, radio communication, satellites and rocketry. The program is planned for thirty-six middle school and high school students from each school district. Students have been chosen through a competition process at each grade level. The final outcome of this project will be the purchase of amateur radio equipment for each school and the formation of amateur radio clubs.

2. Astronaut Shannon Walker Radios Australian Students

On Tuesday, September 14, high school students from Perth and Western Australia gathered at Curtin University of Technology to participate in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with astronaut Shannon Walker, KD5DXB on the ISS. The connection was provided by telebridge station LU8YY in Argentina. Walker answered 16 space related questions prepared for her by the students and shared a few words with her husband, Australian astronaut Andy Thomas, who was in Perth to give a presentation on space exploration.

3. Utah Scouts Celebrate Centennial with ARISS Contact

On-orbit astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC conducted an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with scouts from the Utah National Parks Council, Sector 7 in St. George, Utah on Saturday, September 18. The youth celebrated the 100th anniversary of scouting with a centennial jamboree and many completed the requirements for the Space Exploration and Radio merit badges.

4. MAI-75 Experiment Activated

The Russian ISS crew members activated the MAI-75 (Moscow Aviation Institute) experiment on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 14 - 15. The system operated Space Cam in slide show mode. Among those who captured Slow Scan Television (SSTV) images transmitted by the crew were ground stations in Asia, Europe and Africa. For more information, see: http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/ Images have been archived here: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV/

5. Astronaut Training Status

ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli, IZ0JPA participated in a simulated ARISS contact with students from Scuola Media Statale "E.Galice," Civitavecchia, Rome, Italy on Tuesday, September 14. The training session was a terrestrial-based amateur radio contact using ARISS equivalent equipment. Nespoli is slated to fly with Expedition 26 in November 2010.

6. Video of ARISS - Norwegian Museum Contact

The Norwegian Museum of Science, Technology and Medicine in Oslo, Norway experienced an ARISS contact on September 11. A webcast presentation of the contact is now available. See: http://www.tekniskmuseum.no/film/frontpage

7. QST Covers ARISS Activities

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) printed several ARISS news items in its October issue of QST, which has a circulation of 150,000.

"This Just In" column carried a short section about the Amateur Radio educational activities including ARISS and the radio contact with NASA Astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC at the National Jamboree.

The issue featured a two-page article written by ARISS Delegate Rosalie White called, "ARISS Scores an A+ at Midvalley Elementary."

The Correspondence column included a letter from Dave Maley, WA0ZZG, about how exciting it was to make a random contact with Doug Wheelock on the ISS. Dave also tells the ARISS team to keep up its efforts to maintain ARISS because "the educational aspects for youth are worth it."

The "Happenings" column carried a short story about National Jamboree's educational technical activities including "a memorable radio contact with astronaut Doug Wheelock aboard the ISS."