Tag Archives: Astro Pi

Oct 25 2018

ARISS and Amateur Radio in Raspberry Pi magazine article

Students programming the Astro Pi computers Credit: UK Space Agency (Max Alexander)

Radio amateur Dave Honess M6DNT is interviewed in the popular Raspberry Pi magazine MagPi about “Taking Education to the Stars”.

The article, on pages 84/85 of issue 75 November 2018 MagPi, covers the educational role of the two Astro Pi units on the International Space Station.

Dave mentions Tim Peake KG5BVI / GB1SS and the work of ARISS – Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, saying:

“Radio remains the only way to communicate with all our spacecraft throughout the solar system, and organisations like ARISS and local HAM radio clubs are, in my opinion, becoming more and more necessary to attract new talent.”

Download the Free PDF of MagPi magazine from
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/MagPi75.pdf

David Honess M6DNT with both ISS Astro Pi computers

David Honess M6DNT with both ISS Astro Pi computers

In 2017 Dave Honess M6DNT and Tim Peake KG5BVI / GB1SS were inducted into the prestigious CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame for their educational work in the ISS Astro Pi program and ARISS, Dave said:
“I was really surprised when I heard I’d been inducted into the Hall of Fame, especially alongside Tim! Thank you to CQ magazine for the honour.”
https://amsat-uk.org/2017/05/19/cq-mag-honors-astro-pi-britons/

Since March 2018 Dave Honess M6DNT has been working at ESA ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Centre) in the Netherlands where he is ISS and International Education Operations Coordinator
https://twitter.com/dave_spice

ARISS http://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

May 19 2017

CQ Magazine honours Britons involved in Astro Pi project

David Honess M6DNT with both ISS Astro Pi computers

David Honess M6DNT with both ISS Astro Pi computers

Radio amateurs David Honess, M6DNT, and Tim Peake, KG5BVI / GB1SS, have been inducted into the prestigious CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame.

The CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame honours those individuals, whether licenced radio amateurs or not, who have made significant contributions to amateur radio; and those amateurs who have made significant contributions either to amateur radio, to their professional careers or to some other aspect of life on our planet.

David Honess, M6DNT, developed the Astro Pi project which sent two Raspberry Pi computers to the International Space Station as platforms for students on Earth to write and run their own computer code in space. In November 2016 he was honored for this work with the Sir Arthur Clarke Award, presented by the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society.

David said “I was really surprised when I heard I’d been inducted into the Hall of Fame, especially alongside Tim! Thank you to CQ magazine for the honour.”

“I’m so jealous of the kids these days, if you could have sent BBC Basic code to the Mir space station when I was kid I would have gone mad for it! Astro Pi gives young people a chance to be real ISS scientists, to have their code run in space and do something meaningful.”

Tim Peake KG5BVI training on the amateur radio station equipment he would use on the ISS

Tim Peake KG5BVI training on the amateur radio station equipment he would use on the ISS

UK astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI /GB1SS, coordinated the International Space Station end of the Astro Pi project.

Tim was very active in the ARISS program during his mission on the ISS. In his free time he used the amateur radio station in the Columbus module to talk to students at schools in the UK and around the world. These contacts included the first use of Digital Amateur Television (DATV) transmissions to schools from space.

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
http://www.ariss.org/

ARISS Principia UK school contacts https://principia.ariss.org/

Videos of Tim Peake GB1SS amateur radio contacts with UK schools
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQS-yDk7PdE9cRv4MNu8pCw/videos

Astro Pi: Your Code in Space https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/tag/astro-pi/

Astro Pi https://astro-pi.org/
Twitter https://twitter.com/astro_pi
Izzy Astro Pi https://twitter.com/astro_pi_ir
Ed Astro Pi https://twitter.com/astro_pi_vis

CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame
http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_awards/cq_hall_of_fame_awards/cq_hall_of_fame_awards.html

David Honess, M6DNT, presented with Sir Arthur Clarke Award
https://amsat-uk.org/2016/11/25/radio-ham-awarded-space-achievement-honour/

Nov 25 2016

Radio ham awarded space achievement honour

Astro Pi Logo

Astro Pi Logo

Cornwall Live reports that radio amateur David Honess M6DNT has been awarded a prestigious space achievement honour for his Astro Pi work with the Tim Peake GB1SS Principia mission.

David Honess M6DNT was presented with a Sir Arthur Clarke Award, on behalf of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society, for Space Achievement – Industry/Project Individual.

This came after Mr Honess and his Astro Pi project which installed two Raspberry Pi’s (Izzy and Ed) on to the International Space Station as the platform for students to run their own code in space and speak with Major Tim Peake GB1SS.

Mr Honess has been “the driving force” behind getting two UK designed and manufactured Astro Pi computers onto the International Space Station to provide a unique facility to inspire children and adults to learn to code.

Read the full story at
http://www.cornwalllive.com/west-cornwall-man-wins-award-for-space-achievement-after-project-with-tim-peake/story-29893608-detail/story.html

Sir Arthur Clarke Awards Winners
http://www.bis-space.com/2013/04/05/9719/sir-arthur-clarke-awards-winners

You can follow the two ISS Astro Pi’s Izzy and Ed at
https://twitter.com/astro_pi_ir
https://twitter.com/astro_pi_vis

AMSAT-UK https://amsat-uk.org/
Twitter https://twitter.com/AmsatUK
Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK
YouTube https://youtube.com/AmsatUK

Oct 30 2015

Tim Peake KG5BVI and the ISS Astro Pi’s

Competition winner Hannah Belshaw with the Astro Pi flight unit. Hannah’s entry logs data from the Astro Pi sensors, and visualises it later using structures in a Minecraft world.

Competition winner Hannah Belshaw with the Astro Pi flight unit.
Hannah’s entry logs data from the Astro Pi sensors, and visualises it later using structures in a Minecraft world.

AMSAT-UK members are leading on the Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) Schools contacts programme for the upcoming Tim Peake Principia mission to the ISS. A number of high profile school contacts are planned to be carried out and this activity is being coordinated with the UK Space Agency as part of the overall Principia Educational Outreach programme.

Two specially augmented Raspberry Pi’s called Astro Pi‘s are planned to fly on an Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo freighter to the ISS in early December. They will be used by UK astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI during his Principia mission on the Space Station which is expected to commence in mid-December.

The Astro Pi’s are planned to run experimental Python programs written by young people in schools across the country; the results will be returned back to Earth at the end of the mission. ARISS/AMSAT-UK members are actively involved in discussions with the UK Space Agency, ESA, the Raspberry Pi Foundation and others to establish the feasibility of re-purposing one of the Astro Pi units, either within or post Tim Peake’s mission, to provide an alternative video source for the amateur radio HamTV transmitter in the ISS Columbus module. Additional discussions are ongoing with all parties for joint educational activities into the future with the Astro Pi units being networked and potentially enhancing the capability of the amateur radio station on board Columbus.

The main mission of HamTV is to perform contacts between the astronauts on the ISS and school students, not only by voice as now, but also by unidirectional video from the ISS to the ground. ARISS has been working with Goonhilly and hope to provide a video download facility via one of their large dishes for the schools contacts as well as attempting to receive the video at each school as part of the contact.

Principia mission http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Principia

School Shortlist for Tim Peake Space Station Contact
https://amsat-uk.org/2015/07/14/school-shortlist-tim-peake-iss/

HamTV https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/hamtv-on-the-iss/

Astro Pi http://astro-pi.org/
Twitter https://twitter.com/astro_pi

Oct 20 2015

Astro Pi launch changed

Astro Pi LogoTwo specially augmented Raspberry Pi’s called Astro Pi‘s were planned to fly with UK astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 15.

On the ISS the Astro Pi’s are planned to run experimental Python programs written by school-age students; the results will be downloaded back to Earth and made available online for all to see. It is hoped that subsequently one of them will be used to provide a video source for the amateur radio HamTV transmitter in the ISS Columbus module.

It appears the amount of cargo on Tim’s Soyuz flight was overbooked so the Astro Pi’s will instead fly to the ISS on an Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo freighter. The launch is currently planned for December 3 at 22:48 UT.

Read the full story on the Raspberry Pi site
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/astro-pi-mission-update-7-launch-vehicle-changed/

HamTV https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/hamtv-on-the-iss/