Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report October 12, 2009

1. Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Boundary Beach Elementary School in Delta, British Columbia, Canada on Tuesday, October 13 at 17:10 UTC. Students have been involved in many space related activities including a trip to the McMillan Planetarium and participation in Dr. Thirsk's "Get Fit for Space" program.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Glenmore Christian Academy in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on Wednesday, October 14 at 16:01 UTC. Students will pose questions about life and work in space to Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for UNICEF-Mali on Thursday, October 15 at 16:33 UTC via telebridge station K6DUE in Maryland. ESA Astronaut Frank De Winne is a UNICEF Belgium goodwill ambassador. UNICEF Belgium is running a campaign called WaSH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene) to make students aware of how important water is for humans. To prepare for this campaign, De Winne went to Mali and visited projects related to WaSH. He met with children there and showed them videos about the space mission and water; it is with these children that the ARISS contact will take place.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Jamboree on the Air (JOTA), Boy Scouts of America Headquarters in Irving, Texas on Saturday, October 17 at 21:56 UTC. This will be a telebridge contact via ground station WH6PN in Hawaii. JOTA is an annual event during which Scouts meet each other through amateur radio contacts. The ARISS activity will provide Scouts with additional background for the Space Exploration and Radio Merit Badges.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Istituto Comprensivo "Romualdo TRIFONE" in Montecorvino Rovella, Salerno, Italy on Tuesday, October 20 at 07:41 UTC. Students are participating in science and technology related educational activities. Teachers are collaborating with astrophysicists of the Astronomical Observatory "Giancamillo Glorious" in M. Rovella and the local amateur radio group ARI Salerno.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for C. E. M. IV in Mbour, Senegal on Friday, October 23 at 10:28 UTC. Plans have been made to install a complete NOAA satellite reception system in the school. The students are studying orbit predictions, tracking programs and systems, receiver techniques and antennas. A video conference is planned with the Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, HB9CN.

VTI Ieper in Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, October 23 at 11:11 UTC via telebridge station VK4KHZ in Australia. The school will use the question and answer session with Expedition 21 astronaut Frank De Winne to commemorate 100 years of aviation.

Samuel Hearne Secondary School in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, October 23 at 16:27 UTC via telebridge station W6SRJ in California.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Belayr Pathfinders in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada on Saturday, October 24 at 15:12 UTC via telebridge station W6SRJ in California. The Pathfinders participating in the ARISS program will be able to earn the Galactic Adventures badge.

2. ARISS Contact Held Between De Winne and Sint-Michielscollege

On Wednesday, October 7, students from Sint-Michielscollege Brasschaat vzw (SMCB) in Brasschaat, Belgium participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact using homemade tracking antennas. Twenty questions posed to Frank De Winne, ON1DWN were answered. Guest speakers included a representative from Verhaert Space Systems and Dirk Frimout, Belgium's first astronaut. Television stations and other media covered the event.

3. ARISS Contact Part of Malaysia's National Space Challenge

Students participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact from the National Planetarium in Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia on Thursday, October 8. Thirteen questions were answered by Michael Barratt, KD5MIJ as approximately 50 people observed from the radio station and another 100 students and teachers watched from the main Planetarium. The contact was webcast live. All major newspapers and at least 2 television networks were present. The contact was part of the National Space Challenge, a program that was created in an effort to instill the talents and desire towards the understanding of space in primary school aged children. Sixteen schools participated.

4. ARISS Contact with Belmont Elementary School

On Friday, October 9, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between Belmont Elementary School in Langley, British Columbia, Canada and Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA onboard the ISS. All 17 questions were answered including one in French and an extra question from the school's coordinating teacher about Bob's past experience with amateur radio. Over 500 were present for the contact, including the school board and city councillors. Media coverage included local press, Vancouver Sun, CBC radio and television. Students learned about Canada's contribution to space exploration, the Canadian astronauts and the construction of the ISS. The Langley Amateur Radio Association (L.A.R.A.) partnered with the school to organize this event.

5. ARRL Article on Columbus Antennas

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran a feature story on the ARISS antennas that will be launched to the ISS on STS-129 in mid-November and installed on the Columbus module during the mission's second spacewalk. See: http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2009/10/05/11110/?nc=1

6. ARRL Articles on Astronaut Frank Caldeiro

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) posted a web story on Astronaut Fernando "Frank" Caldeiro, KE4RFI who passed away on October 3. The article also appeared in the ARRL Letter. See: http://www.arrl.org/?artid=9219 http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/index.html?issue=2009-10-08

7. AMSAT Symposium Held

The AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) Symposium was held over the October 9 - 11 weekend at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Baltimore Washington Airport in Maryland. Several ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) presentations were given and the ARISSat-1 was demonstrated.

8. ARISS-Ops Meeting Held

An ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) Operations team meeting was held following the AMSAT Symposium on Sunday, October 11. Discussions were held on how to make the educational aspects of ARISS better and the team shared information on how to improve the returns of surveys and evaluations. In particular, ARISS has been doing a great job on the "Inspire" position of the pyramid and goes a little into the "Educate" position, but meeting comments put great emphasis on getting much further into the "Educate" position. Dave Taylor, Mark Steiner, Barry Baines, and Rosalie White participated.