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

1. Canadian School Contact Successful

On Monday, December 5, students attending Nuvviti School in Ivujivik Nunavik Quebec, Canada participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with on-orbit astronaut Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX. Station WH6PN in Hawaii provided the radio connection. This was Burbank's first contact and most of the community came out for the event, with approximately 200 students and parents present. The radio activity was incorporated into lessons on space and radio communications and was sponsored by First Air and the Makivik Corporation.

2. New Proposal Cycle for ARISS-US Contacts

NASA Teaching From Space (TFS) office recently announced a new proposal cycle for ARISS-US contacts. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 30, 2012 for contacts to be held in the July 15, 2012 - January 15, 2013 timeframe. The next informational session will be held on Tuesday, December 13 at 9 am CST (1500 UTC) to answer any questions concerning the proposal process. To attend the session or to have questions answered, contact TFS at JSC-TFS-ARISS@mail.nasa.gov or call 281-244-1919. For more information, see the TFS Web site: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/teachingfromspace/students/ariss.h...

3. AMSAT News Service Covers ARISS

On Sunday, December 11, AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) News Service bulletin (ANS-345) posted a status on the ISS Shadow Experiment titled, "ISS Sp-Ex Shadow Beacon Experiment Postponed to May-June 2012." The bulletin also announced that Mark Hammond, N8MH is now the AMSAT VP of Educational Outreach. The stories may be found at: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2011/000574.html

4. Amateur Radio Newsline on ARISS

On December 9, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1791 posted a story about the Russian Shadow Experiment being delayed until new equipment is launched to the ISS. The article is titled, "Ham Radio in Space: ISS Shadow Beacon Experiment Postponed." Another item included in the report is about news coverage of the next Soyuz (ISS 29S) launch later this month: "NASA to Cover all Aspects of Next Crew to ISS Live." Both items may be viewed at: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt

5. Astronaut Training Status

Astronauts Suni Williams, KD5PLB and Akihiko Hoshide, KE5DNI will be given a final ARISS training session in January prior to their launch for Expedition 32 in May 2012.