Tag Archives: ISS

Oct 12 2014

Unforgettable day schoolchildren spoke to an astronaut in space

Reid Wiseman KF5LKT - Image credit NASA

Reid Wiseman KF5LKT – Image credit NASA

The Southend Echo reports on the contact between pupils at Winter Gardens Primary School in Canvey, Essex and the International Space Station.

The contact took place on October 8 having taken two years of preparation. It was organised by the South Essex Amateur Radio Society and involved a link-up with an amateur radio station in California, W6SRJ, who relayed the signal to and from the ISS while it was traveling over the USA at 27,600 km/h. The children were able to speak to astronaut Reid Wiseman KF5LKT who was using the ISS callsign NA1SS.

The newspaper article includes a picture of the school pupils with Pete sipple M0PSX, read it at
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/11526478.The_unforgettable_day_schoolchildren_spoke_to_an_astronaut_in_space/

Read a report on the contact at
http://www.essexham.co.uk/news/iss-winter-gardens-2014.html

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

South Essex Amateur Radio Society
http://www.southessex-ars.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/South-Essex-Amateur-Radio-Society/348979385223793

Oct 2 2014

UK schools contact with International Space Station

Astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO

Astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO

On Wednesday, October 8 at 10:08:49 UT there will be an ARISS contact between astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO on the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Winter Gardens Primary School, Canvey, Essex and Pilton Bluecoat School, Barnstaple, Devon.

The ISS will be over the USA at the time and they will be making use of an amateur radio Telebridge Ground Station in California, W6SRJ, to actually make the link to the Space Station.

South Essex Amateur Radio Club (SEARS) http://www.southessex-ars.co.uk/

Sep 30 2014

ISS Expedition 42 Poster Released

ISS Expedition 42 official crew poster

ISS Expedition 42 official crew poster

Radio amateur and astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZ0UDF has put the final touches to the official crew poster for the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 42. It is now available to download. 

Samantha Cristoforetti IZ0UDF

Samantha Cristoforetti IZ0UDF

The poster parodies the popular The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and is without doubt the best ISS crew poster yet released.

USA’s Terry Virts and Russia’s Anton Shkaplerov portray the two-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox, Russia’s Alexander Samokutyaev is Humma Kavula, USA’s Butch Wilmore is Arthur Dent, Russia’s Elena Serova is Ford Prefect with Italy’s Samantha Cristoforetti as Trillian. NASA’s Robonaut 2 guest-stars as Marvin the Paranoid Android.

Samantha should launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on November 23, 2014 at 2059 UT (3:59pm EST) also flying with her in the Soyuz will be Anton Shkaplerov and Terry Virts. She is expected to return to Earth in May 2015.

Download the high resolution (57 MB) poster from
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/exp_42_sfaposternw-2014-07-007_highres.pdf

Samantha Cristoforetti IZ0UDF on Twitter https://twitter.com/AstroSamantha

ISS Expedition 42 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition42/

Sep 27 2014

TuPOD to enable ISS TubeSat deployment in 2015

TubeSat - Image Credit Interorbital Systems

TubeSat in space – Image credit Interorbital Systems

The TuPOD 3U mission will allow the in-orbit deployment of the first TubeSats – Tancredo 1, from Brazil and Ulises 1, from Mexico.

Both satellites are educational satellites and involve young students in the projects. TuPOD will integrate the two satellites inside a 3U CubeSat Structure designed to allow the coupling between TubeSat and the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) launch mechanism.

The TuPOD will release the two satellites after 2 days, in accordance with NASA safety requirements. After the TubeSat deployment, the TuPOD will start is own mission receiving and sending data to amateur radio ground stations.

The TuPOD electronics have been designed by students at Morehead State University and is an updated version of $50SAT PocketQube electronics and Telemetry, Tracking & Command (TT&C) system.

Proposing a 1k2 GMSK UHF downlink and now expected to be deployed fom the ISS in spring 2015.

Tancredo 1 http://www.frequency.com/video/pres-tancredo-de-almeida-neves/176861394

Ulises 1 in Google English http://tinyurl.com/Ulises-1-TubeSat

IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru

Sep 21 2014

Essex ISS contact on Echolink and IRLP

Astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO

Astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO

The POSTPONEMENT of this contact was announced on September 21 at 19:55

ARISS Contact Tuesday POSTPONED

Due to the one day delay of the Space X launch, berthing day now falls on Tuesday and has resulted in the cancellation of the Winter Gardens Primary School, Canvey Island and Pilton Bluecoat School, Barnstaple, United Kingdom

73, John – AG9D
ARISS Audio

Please join us in listening to the International Space Station (ISS) contact with participants at the Winter Gardens Primary School, Canvey Island, Essex, United Kingdom and Pilton Bluecoat School, Barnstaple, Devon, United Kingdom, on Tuesday, September 23. The students will be talking to astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO on the ISS who will be using the callsign NA1SS. Acquisition Of Signal (AOS) is anticipated at 1137 BST (1037 UT).

The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and VK7KHZ in Australia. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

Audio from this contact will be fed into the:

EchoLink *AMSAT*  Node 101377 and IRLP Node 9010 Discovery Reflector

Streaming Audio on the web at https://sites.google.com/site/arissaudio/

Audio on Echolink and web stream is generally transmitted around 20 minutes prior to the contact taking place so that you can hear some of the preparation that occurs. IRLP will begin just prior to the ground station call to the ISS.

Please note that on Echolink due to server issues the usual automatic breaks will be done manually. Computer based listeners should after opening Echolink click on tools – setup – timing set receive time limit and inactivity timeout to 0, this should keep you from disconnecting. Echolink introduction guide

* Contact times are approximate. If the ISS executes a reboost or other manoeuvre, the AOS (Acquisition Of Signal) time may alter by a few minutes

73, John – AG9D
ARISS Audio Distribution

Echolink Introduction available on the web
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/april2007/echolink_intro.htm

Echolink Status http://www.echolink.org/

MB7IDA Chelmsford, Essex, Echolink Node 265297
Frequency 145.3375 MHz, Channel V27
Access CTCSS Tone-H 110.9Hz
http://www.essexrepeatergroup.org.uk/mb7ida.htm

South Essex Amateur Radio Club (SEARS) http://www.southessex-ars.co.uk/

Sep 17 2014

Essex school contact with International Space Station

Astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO

Astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO

Dave G4UVJ reports that on September 23 there will be an ARISS contact between students at Winter Gardens Primary School, Canvey, Essex and astronaut Alexander Gerst KF5ONO on the International Space Station (ISS).

Just confirming that our ARISS contact has been scheduled with Alexander Gerst KF5ONO, the ESA Astronaut on board the ISS for Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 1037 UT which is 1137 BST.

For information, the ISS will actually be over Australia at the time and we will be making use of one of the amateur radio Australian Telebridge Ground Stations to actually make the link to the Space Station.

As you all know we have been in progress of organizing another Contact with the International Space Station as we did in 2005, this time its Winter Gardens Primary School , Canvey Island the day now been confirmed it will be the September 23, 2014 contact time is 11:37 BST. We will start 1 hour before contact time and finish 30mins after , changes may still occur if there are any emergencies on the station.

73 Dave G4UVJ

South Essex Amateur Radio Club (SEARS) http://www.southessex-ars.co.uk/