Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report May 30, 2011

1. Upcoming School Contacts

The ARISS team continues to work on scheduling school contacts as the STS-134 crew members depart the ISS.

2. Successful ARISS Contact for Escola EBI/JI de Montenegro

On Monday, May 23 students from Escola EBI/JI de Montenegro in Faro, Portugal participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with on-orbit astronaut Cady Coleman, KC5ZTH. The contact complemented the school's science and math curriculum through which students took part in astronomy contests, built small AM radios, and attended presentations given by amateur radio operators. An audience of 50 students and hams attended the contact and listened as Coleman answered 20 questions. Another 900 students nationwide viewed the event over the internet. Local and national radio and television provided media coverage. To view the digital mais tv report, see: http://www.digitalmaistv.com/videos/1840.html

3. ARRL Letter Covers ARISS Proposal Process

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran a story on the new ARISS proposal process for U.S. schools in its May 26 ARRL Letter. There will be two windows of opportunity each year for U.S. schools and organizations to submit proposals for an ARISS contact. A window is currently open for U.S. schools; proposals should be submitted by July 15, 2011 for a contact that will be scheduled during the January - July 2012 time frame. NASA sent out an EXPRESS message to 18,000 educators letting them know of this opportunity. See: http://www.arrl.org/news/nasa-and-ariss-reach-out-to-educators

4. AMSAT - New ARISS Proposal

The May 29 AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) News Service bulletin (ANS-149) included a story on the new ARISS-US proposal procedure. "ARISS Announces New Process for US School Contact Proposals" may be found at: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2011/000517.html

5. Amateur Radio Newsline on ARISS

On May 27, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1763 included two ARISS-related items. "Hamvention 2011: It Was the Show to be at" describes Doug Wheelock's appearance at the Dayton Hamvention over the May 20-22 weekend, which was a big hit with the crowds. The second piece under "Ham Radio in Space" covers the return to Earth of Expedition 27 crew members Dmitri Kondratyev, Cady Coleman, KC5ZTH and Paolo Nespoli, IZ0JPA on May 23. See: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt