Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report September 12, 2011

1. Upcoming School Contact

Università degli Studi di Foggia, Foggia, Italy has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, September 14 at 08:38 UTC via station IK1SLD. "Researchers' Night" promotes the role of the scientific researcher through games, quizzes, shows and conferences. Amateur radio and its role in research and experimentation in communications will be featured.

2. Kobe Science Museum Contact Successful

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between youth visiting the Kobe Science Museum in Kobe-city, Japan and ISS Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, KE5DAW on Monday, September 5. Children were interested in how astronauts prepare for their missions and how life in space differs from that on Earth. Approximately 90 people were present for the event and media coverage included at least two newspapers and one television station. The contact highlighted lessons covering the ISS, space and regional and global environments.

3. Pine Tree Middle School Students Radio Mike Fossum

On Friday, September 9, Pine Tree Middle School in Longview, Texas participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. Mike Fossum, KF5AQG answered over 20 questions posed to him by the students about what it is like to live in space and the experiments currently being conducted on the ISS. The contact was incorporated into a science curriculum which covered space, ecosystems and the contributions of scientists to society.

4. U.S. Schools Selected for ARISS Contacts

The ARISS-U.S. proposal selection committee met at the end of August and chose ARISS proposals for contacts to be held in the January - June 2012 timeframe. Five primary schools as well as several alternate schools were selected. The schools were notified of their status and ARISS mentors are currently being assigned to assist the schools in preparing for their contacts.

5. ARISS Member Gives ARISSat Interview

On September 6, Steve Bible, N7HPR appeared on Ham Nation to talk about ARISSat-1 and AMSAT. The interview, episode 16, may be viewed on TWiT.TV. See: http://twit.tv/show/ham-nation/16

6. Amateur Radio Newsline on ISS Crew

On September 9, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1778 included two ARISS items under "Ham Radio in Space." The first story gives a short status on ARISSat-1and the second item talks about how the ISS crew may be affected by the failed launch of Progress 44 in August. To view "ARISSat-1 Celebrates its First Month Onorbit" and "ISS Could be Vacated if Russian Launch Vehicle Problem not Resolved Quickly," see: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt

7. Astronaut Training Status

Four simulated ARISS contacts are scheduled for September 21 between the following schools and astronauts:

Euro Space Center, Belgium at 13:20 UTC - Chris Hadfield, KC5RNJ/VA3OOG Manhattan Challenger Learning Center (CLC) at 14:05 UTC - Kevin Ford, KF5GPP CLC of Indianapolis at 14:30 UTC - Tom Marshburn, KE5HOC CLC of Alaska at 15:50 UTC- Chris Cassidy, KF5KDR

These training sessions are terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS equivalent equipment. The sessions will prepare the astronauts for participation in ARISS contacts during their upcoming missions on the ISS.

8. ARRL Article on ISS Astronauts

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran a story in its September 8 ARRL Letter about NASA's need to hire more astronauts. The story went on to talk about the possibility of abandoning the ISS if the Russians do not resolve the issues associated with the Progress 44 launch. See: http://www.arrl.org/news/report-calls-on-nasa-to-hire-more-astronauts