Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report October 25, 2010

1. Upcoming School Contacts

Funakata Elementary School, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, October 29 at 08:20 UTC. The school was established in 1873 and has an enrollment of 698 students. It hopes to pique the children's interest in science through this radio activity.

S.K. Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Tuesday, November 2 at 18:02 UTC. The contact will be made from the satellite ground station at the National Planetarium in conjunction with the "Prime Minister's - National Space Challenge Trophy 2010" event. The planetarium teaches space science and has an exclusive section displaying a mock up of the ISS as well as a rocket engine. Space participant Sheikh Muszaphar is frequently invited to schools to give talks to the students, encouraging them to study space science.

2. Successful ARISS Contact with Carine Primary School

Carine Primary School in Perth, Western Australia participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC on Tuesday, October 19 via telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii. The school incorporated this contact into its science curriculum and invited guest speakers, including representatives from an amateur radio club and the science center, Scitech to give talks to the youth. Students from Kindergarten through grade 7 prepared for the contact by studying and researching various space related topics using IT and online resources, including NASA Web sites.

3. ARISS International Team Meeting Held

The ARISS International Team monthly teleconference was held on Tuesday, October 19, 2010. A status was given on the amateur radio equipment that will be installed in the Columbus module in early 2011. Also discussed were the results of the ARISSat-1 Phase 2 Safety Review; the satellite is ready to ship to Russia. Minutes have been posted. See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel2010-10-19.htm

4. Latest ARISSat News on AMSAT Web Site

ARISSat-1 news may be found on the AMSAT Web site http://www.amsat.org along with photographs of the vibration testing by David Jordan, AA4KN. The page has links to a color ARISSat-1 frequency guide as well as the ARISSat-1 Overview presentation. The links to these items follow.

ARISSat-1 Color Frequency Guide: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/images/fck_images/BandPlanI%281%29.jpg

ARISSat-1 Overview Slides: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/images/fck_images/ARISSat-1%20Overview%20Colo...

5. ARRL Reports on ARISSat-1 Presentations at AMSAT Meeting

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran a Web story, which also appeared in the ARRL Letter, about the many ARISSat presentations given at the AMSAT Symposium held in Elk Grove, Illinois October 8-10. "ARISSat-1 Tops Agenda at AMSAT-NA's Annual Meeting" may be found here: http://www.arrl.org/news/arissat-1-tops-agenda-at-amsat-na-s-annual-meeting

6. QST Covers ARISS

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) November QST's column called "75, 50 and 25 Years Ago" has a partial column that features the November 1985 QST cover. The column talks about the cover photo, which shows the space shuttle and photographs of two youth groups receiving Slow Scan Television transmissions. The transmitting was done by Astronaut Tony England, W0ORE, when he was onboard the Challenger. His aim was to operate the Amateur Radio station onboard to pique students' interest in science and technology.