[sarex] 2012-06-11 ARISS Status

[Carol Jackson]

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report

June 11, 2012

 

 

1.            Upcoming School Contacts

 

An ARISS contact with ESA-ESTEC in the Netherlands has been scheduled for an
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Tuesday,
June 12 at 09:25 UTC via telebridge station W6SRJ in California. This
activity is part of an educational program around André Kuipers’ Mission:
Spaceship Earth. Part of this program consists of mission assignments
Kuipers gives to Dutch school children. The winners of each challenge are
then invited to the radio contact.  Other program activities include lessons
and experiments.

 

St. Anne’s Primary School, Strathfield South, NSW, Australia has been
scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
contact on Wednesday, June 13 at 10:31 UTC via telebridge station LU8YY in
Argentina.  The contact will be incorporated into the curriculum across all
grades and a contest held to choose the questions to ask of the astronaut. A
Science Fair with a focus on space will be held the day of the contact.
Each class is responsible for investigating one aspect of space/space
exploration and for creating information banks, posters, displays,
interactive activities and games for other classes to engage in. The
creation of the activities and games includes knowledge of basic circuitry
and the use of SMART Board technology. Parents and community members have
been invited.

 

2.            Japanese Contact Successful

 

On Wednesday, June 6, students attending Kawatinagano Higashi Junior High
School in Kawatinagano, Osaka, Japan took part in an Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) contact with André Kuipers, PI9ISS on
ISS. At the beginning of the contact the school was experiencing a power
blackout, but recovered in time so that all children were able to ask their
questions. The event supplemented lessons about space and the ISS.

 

3.            AMSAT News Service on ARISS 

 

On June 10, AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) News Service
bulletin (ANS-162) ran an article titled, “Status of ISS Ham Radio
Operations.” The item gives an update on packet operations that were moved
to the Columbus Module UHF radio in order to accommodate the Automated
Transfer Vehicle (ATV) which is using the same power outlet the Kenwood
radio uses in the Service Module. The ATV will remain docked to the ISS
until September.  See: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2012/000625.html

 

4.            Astronaut Training Status 

 

Astronaut Jeannette Epps took and passed her amateur radio license exam last
week and was given the callsign KF5QNU. She is not assigned to any future
ISS expedition crews at this time.