Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report March 2, 2009

1. Upcoming School Contact

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled with Padthaway Primary School in Padthaway, SA, Australia on Tuesday, March 3 at 08:32 UTC via telebridge station W6SRJ in California. To prepare for the contact, children wrote essays on space related topics. They chose a planet to analyze for feasibility of life, looked at the life of an astronaut (training, diet, etc), researched an event in space history and created a timeline of important events in space history. Media coverage is planned.

2. Upcoming ARISS Simulated Contacts

Three simulated Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contacts have been scheduled for Wednesday, March 4. These training sessions are terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS-equivalent equipment. Audio is expected to be available on IRLP. All times are approximate.

15:15 UTC - Technopolis, Belgium and Andre Kuipers, PI9ISS 15:30 UTC - Ralph McCall School, Airdrie, Alberta, Canada and Chris Hadfield, VA3OOG 15:45 UTC - Ralph McCall School, Airdrie, Alberta, Canada and Cady Coleman, KC5ZTH

3. Fassett Middle School Contact Successful

Fassett Middle School in Oregon, Ohio experienced a successful Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Monday, February 23. Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, answered 16 students' questions while over 550 people who gathered for the event looked on. The Oregon school superintendent was also present for the contact. Audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101377) and JK1ZRW (277208) servers. Thirteen connections were made, including 3 link nodes and one repeater, from England, Germany, Malaysia and the U.S. The Toledo Blade and TV 11 covered the news.

To view the WTOL TV 11 story, "Can you hear me now? Oregon students call outer space," see: http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=9889811&nav=menu34_2_4

The Toledo Blade article may be viewed here: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090224/NEWS16/902249...

4. Australian Contact Successful

Chatham Public School in Taree, NSW, Australia, took part in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, February 25 via telebridge station K6DUE in Maryland. The event was held at the studios of Radio 2RE. Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, answered 13 questions posed to him by ten children. John Key, the New Zealand prime minister, tied in to the contact and sent greetings to Mike from the Asia/Pacific region. Thirty-eight radio stations belonging to the Super Radio Network covered the event the following morning. The audio was also fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW servers and received 19 connections from stations in the USA, New Zealand, Australia, Russia, Belgium and England.

5. Italian School Questions Astronaut

On Wednesday, February 25, students from 1 Circolo Didattico G. Marconi in Casamassima, Italy participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Mike Fincke, KE5AIT. Seventeen students asked one question each of the astronaut. Special guest Princess Elettra Marconi attended the event and spoke briefly with Mike as approximately 250 students, teachers and others watched. Some regional television stations and local newspapers covered the event. For more information, photos and audio, visit the ARISS-Europe Web site: http://www.ariss-eu.org/2009_02_25.htm

6. New York Contact Successful

Students attending Hampton Bays Middle School in Hampton Bays, New York took part in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, February 25. Students created a mockup set of the ISS from which ten students asked 14 questions of Mike Fincke, KE5AIT. The school's IT department provided live coverage of the contact to all the schools in the district via intranet. Video of the event will be available on the school Web site in the near future.

7. Astronaut Training Status

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) training session was held with Cady Coleman, KC5ZTH, on Wednesday, February 18. Coleman is a backup crew member for Expedition 20.

On Tuesday, February 24, two successful simulated ARISS contacts took place. The first was held between students at the European Space Center, Belgium and Frank DeWinne, ON1DWN. The second was held between the Manordale Public School children in Canada and Bob Thirsk, W5/VA3CSA.

8. ARRL Announces Dayton Hamvention Guest Speaker

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran an article about the upcoming ARRL National Convention to be held at the Dayton Hamvention in May. Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, will attend the event and spend time in the ARRL EXPO area greeting visitors. He will also speak at the Hamvention forum. See: https://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/02/21/10660/?nc=1

The ARRL Letter also ran the story, "ARRL National Convention to Feature Richard Garriott, W5KWQ." See: https://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/09/0227/

ARRL's web feature called "ARRL in Action" for the month of March includes an entry on Richard's attendance at the ARRL National Convention (Dayton Hamvention) May 15-17.

The ARRL Web site has 100,000 regular readers; the e-newsletter has a circulation of 115,000.

9. Richard Garriott, Keynote Speaker at AMSAT Banquet

The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) announced that Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, will be the keynote speaker at the AMSAT/TAPR Banquet during Dayton Hamvention 2009. The banquet will be held on May 15. Richard will also give a talk at the AMSAT forum on Saturday, May 16. See: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php

10. AMSAT Story on SuitSat Meeting

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team held a SuitSat-2 meeting on Friday - Sunday, February 20 - 22 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) posted a story summarizing the meeting. See: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php

11. Amateur Radio Newsline Covers ARISS Contact

On February 27, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report #1646 covered the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with South Park Elementary Center. The report may be found here: http://www.arnewsline.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=18&a...