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UA9FBV > SAT 12.06.05 04:16l 116 Lines 5172 Bytes #999 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS-163.10
Read: GUEST
Subj: ARISS Status - 06 June 2005
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<OK0PPL<RZ6HXA<R3CR<ER3KAZ<UA9FBV
Sent: 050612/0255Z @:UA9FBV.PRM.RUS.AS #:27957 [Perm] GATEWAY $:ANS-163.10
From: UA9FBV@UA9FBV.PRM.RUS.AS
To : SAT@AMSAT
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 163.10
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 12, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-163.10
ARISS Status
June 6, 2005
1. Australian School Contact Successful
On Thursday, June 2, students from Brigidine College in Sydney,
New South Wales, Australia spoke directly with the ISS via amateur
radio. Eighteen girls were able to ask their questions of John
Phillips, KE5DRY, as an audience of two hundred gathered in the
auditorium. Two Sydney television stations and other media covered
the event. Matt Ryan, the teacher responsible for organizing the
contact, remarked, "Students were tracking the space craft,
controlling the directional antenna, operating the radio transmitter
and talking to an astronaut. Science doesn't come into the classroom
better than this."
2. Upcoming School Contacts
Ecole De la Source, Mascouche, Quebec, Canada, has been scheduled for
a contact on Friday, June 17 at 13:34 UTC.
3. SuitSat Status
The SuitSat Educational Proposal has been translated into several
languages, and distributed to many schools, worldwide. AMSAT has
carried the proposal on its website.
See: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/articles/SuitsatSchool/
The ARRL has also promoted the project in an article, entitled
"ARISS Seeks School Involvement in 'SuitSat' Project." See:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/06/03/100/?nc=1
Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, ARISS International Chairman, and AMSAT V.P. for
Human Spaceflight Programs provided this late breaking update to the
SuitSat project:
I am proud to announce that on June 10 the ARISS-US team delivered
their portion of the Suitsat hardware to the NASA Johnson Space Center.
NASA is in the process of shipping this hardware to Energia in Russia
where it is expected to be certified and integrated with the Russian
team's Suitsat equipment for eventual launch on the 19P Progress launch
vehicle in the August/September 2005 timeframe.
The Suitsat amateur radio system, coupled with a school artwork DVD project
that will be delivered later this month, is planned to be installed in an
outdated Russian Orlon spacesuit in late September. It will then be
deployed from the ISS during an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA, or
spacewalk). The Suitsat amateur radio system will beam down special
messages and an SSTV image from within the Orlon space suit as it floats in
space. Suitsat radio system will allow hams and students to track the suit
and decode special international messages, space suit telemetry, and a
pre-programmed Slow Scan TV image through its specially-built digital voice
messaging system and amateur radio transmitter. As built, Suitsat will be
a transmit-only capability that will run on the space suit's battery
power.
The idea for Suitsat was first conceived by the ARISS-Russia team, led by
Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, and was extensively discussed at the joint AMSAT
Symposium/ARISS International Partner meeting in October 2004. The
project, also called Radioskaf or Radio Sputnik in Russia, is being led by
project manager A. P. Alexandrov and Deputy Project Manager A. Poleshuk
from RSC Energia, located in Korolev (Moscow area) Russia. On the US
side, the hardware project development was led by Lou McFadin, W5DID.
Since October the Suitsat design concept matured and evolved due to the
challenging development time constraints. A joint NASA letter, allowing
the ARISS team to proceed forward with the Suitsat project was signed on
May 10, 2005. In the four short weeks since that letter was signed, the US
project team, has designed, built and tested a simple, yet fully featured
system that we hope will inspire hams and students around the world.
On behalf of the ARISS International team, I want to congratulate the
Suitsat hardware development team for their "Can Do" spirit and ability to
deliver the Suitsat hardware on such a very challenging schedule.
Congratulations!!!!!
4. Astronaut Training
Kenneth Ransom reports that ESA French astronaut Leopold Eyharts
began training for his U.S. amateur radio license. Kenneth has
also set up time to present an ARISS overview to John Grunsfeld,
KC5ZTF, on June 22. Grunsfeld is a backup for Expedition 13.
5. Dayton Hamvention 2005 Presentations
The presentations given at the AMSAT Forum during the Dayton
Hamvention 2005 may be found on the AMSAT website. Inactive
astronaut Tony England's presentation entitled, "Amateur Radio/AMSAT:
A Motivator for a Career in Science & Engineering," is included.
See: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/articles/05DaytonPresentations/index.php
6. Field Day
John Phillips, KE5DRY, and Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, have been
invited to participate in ARRL's Field Day, to be held on
June 25 - 26. Both Phillips and Krikalev expressed interest in
this event and plan to participate on a limited basis. Kenneth
Ransom has been working on a list of pass times when U.S. amateur
radio operators will be able to contact the ISS crew during this
event; however, there are few favorable passes and some will occur
in the early morning hours.
[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, and Frank KA3HDO for the above information]
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