Tag Archives: International Space Station

Dec 21 2011

Soyuz rocket blasts off for International Space Station A Russian Soyuz rocket, carrying three astronauts, has blasted off to the International Space Station from Kazakhstan.

The rocket carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko RN3DX, Nasa astronaut Don Pettit KD5MDT and the European Space Agency’s Andre Kuipers PI9ISS lifted off under freezing conditions at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The crew, who will stay at the International Space Station until March, are on a mission to bring the station back up to full manpower after an August cargo launch accident disrupted flights.

The all-veteran crew is scheduled to reach the orbital outpost at 1522 GMT on Friday. They will join station commander Dan Burbank and two Russian cosmonauts who arrived last month, bringing the complex back to its full staff of six.

With the space shuttles’ retirement, Nasa is dependent on Russia to fly crews to the station, a service that currently costs the United States about $350 million (£222 million) a year.

The station, a $100 billion project of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada, is a multi-purpose research laboratory for biology, physics, astronomy and other studies that orbits about 240 miles above Earth.

Dec 19 2011

Cuban TV features Amateur Satellite Operation

Hector Luiz Martinez CO6CBF was interviewed on Cuban TV about his amateur radio satellite operating.

Hector, CO6CBF, got his first license at the age of 11 and has been licensed for 11 years. He first became interested in satellites when he heard about the deployment of Suitsat from the International Space Station and he began to search for information about space communications. He eventually built an antenna and made his first satellite contact on January 27, 2011 via the AO-51 satellite.

Since then he has had a contact with an astronaut on the International Space Station and was recently awarded the first satellite VUCC from Cuba. The satellite VHF/UHF Century Club (VUCC) is awarded for contacts with stations in 100 grid squares.

Hector is one of only three radio amateurs in Cuba who are active on the satellites.

Watch the Spanish language TV interview which starts with Hector assembling his satellite antenna

Nov 20 2011

Amateur Radio Assistance Requested: ISS Plasma Thrust Shadow Experiment

International Space Station

International Space Station

The Central Research Institute of Machine Building (TSNIIMASH) in Russia is conducting a series of space plasma experiments in order to evaluate the shape of previously observed “dead” zone, or shadowing due to the firing of an onboard arcjet plasma source.

Radio Amateurs are invited to participate in the Space plasma experiment “Shadow” onboard the International Space Station (ISS) taking place Nov 25-28 and Dec 2-5.

Integration of Electric Thrust (ET) onboard a spacecraft poses a certain set of problems including electromagnetic compatibility of ET. One matter of interest is that highly ionized exhaust plumes of ET may scatter RF-signals producing large “dead” zone for communications. Continue reading →

Nov 17 2011

UHF Station on ISS Columbus module

The amateur radio station located in the Columbus module is currently operational with the UHF Ericsson FM transceiver and AX.25 packet system using the frequency of 437.550 MHz.

To utilize the the packet system, operators need to set the UNPROTO path to ARISS (the id is RS0ISS) for digi relay or they may connect to the BBS using the callsign RS0ISS-1.  The packet beacon is set for 2 minute intervals so it may not appear to be active over many parts of the world but keep listening and mind the Doppler shift (+ or – 10 kHz).

To check when the ISS is in range see the real time tracking at  http://www.issfanclub.com/ (top left).

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information. A sample edition of the newsletter can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join AMSAT-UK online here http://alturl.com/avuca

Aug 3 2011

ARISSat-1/KEDR is now ready for deployment Today.

ARISSat-1/KEDR deployment on August 3

ARISSat-1/KEDR is now ready for deployment from the International Space Station during EVA 29 today, August 3.

NASA TV will cover the EVA live starting at 1400 GMT, August 3.
1430: Hatch Open
1446: Egress ARISSat-1/KEDR and secure to airlock ladder
1452: Remove solar panel covers
1507: Translate to deploy site, activate PWR, TIMER1 and TIMER2 switches, verify LEDs on, and deploy
(Internet streaming:http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html)

Read the NASA Press Release about EVA-29 and ARISSat-1/KEDR at: http://tinyurl.com/3hdn5k4 (nasa.gov)

 

Jul 28 2011

Deployment of ARISSat-1/KEDR satellite expected August 3

Deployment of ARISSat-1/KEDR satellite expected August 3

After a postponed deployment in February from the International Space Station (ISS), the ARISSat-1/KEDR amateur radio satellite is expected to begin its mission on August 3, 2011. This was the word received from Energia official, Sergey Samburov during an ARISS teleconference on July 19. Deployment of the craft is planned during EVA-29.

NASA TV will cover the EVA live starting at 1400 GMT on August 3.
1430: Hatch Open
1446: Egress ARISSat-1 and secure to airlock ladder
1452: Remove solar panel covers
1507: Translate to deploy site, activate PWR, TIMER1 and TIMER2 switches, verify LEDs on, and deploy

(Internet streaming:http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html)

ARISSat-1/KEDR is a satellite designed and built by amateur radio operators to specifically interest students in scientific and technological careers. Through the use of ham radio equipment, students and teachers should be able to access and utilize the satellite from a classroom environment with minimal set up.

ARISSat-1/KEDR is a cooperative effort between AMSAT, ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station,) RSC-Energia (The Russian Space Agency) and NASA. The design, development and construction of the satellite was done by AMSAT volunteers. Original plans called for the satellite to be housed inside an old Russian spacesuit, but when the suit became unavailable, a spaceframe was developed to house the radio equipment and solar panels. The new satellite was named ARISSat-1/KEDR. Another name for the spacecraft is RadioSkaf-V. The transmitted callsign will be RS01S.

The mission was specifically designed as an education-based satellite.

Some of its broadcast features include a voice identification, voice, digital and morse code telemetry, stored image and on-board camera transmissions via Slow Scan TV and digital telemetry from a Russian science experiment that will measure vacuum in earth’s lower atmosphere. Other aspects of the mission include CW (Morse code) and voice message contests to interest students in participating along with stored images submitted by students all over the world as part of its payload.