Tag Archives: ISS

Jun 11 2012

Radio Amateur VK5ZAI on TV Show

Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI

Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI

This video shows Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI on the Channel 7 Today Tonight TV show talking about amateur radio and the ARISS schools program.

Tony Hutchison, VK5ZAI's ARISS Satellite Ground Station in Kingston SE. South Australia

The show provides some great insights as to how Amateur Radio can provide support for NASA as well as raise public awareness through the ARISS schools program.

Tony VK5ZAI has provided many Telebridge links for the International Space Station (ISS) to schools around the world. An ISS Telebridge contact is where a dedicated ARISS amateur radio ground station, located somewhere in the world, establishes the radio link with the ISS. Voice communications between the students and the astronauts are then patched over regular telephone lines.

Watch ARISS Tony VK5ZAI on Today Tonight

ARISS co-ordinator VK5ZAI receives NASA award http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2008/vk5zai.htm

ARISS and Ham Radio Opportunities video http://www.uk.amsat.org/8099

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station ARISS http://ariss.rac.ca/

Jun 10 2012

Status of ISS Ham Radio Operations

ISS Amateur Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO reports the ARISS AX.25 digipeater has changed frequency from 145.825 MHz (up/down) to 437.550 MHz (up/down). The same digi alias ARISS is still used.

This change was started with the docking of the ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). The ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply spacecraft delivering propellant, water, air, payloads and experimental supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).

International Space Station

International Space Station

Packet radio operations were moved to the Columbus Module UHF radio when the Kenwood D700 radio was recently powered off due to needing an  additional air purifier to support the ATV. Normally the air purifier is located in the ATV but recent power support issues related to the ATV and ISS necessitated the system be relocated to the Service Module.

The purifier is now using the power outlet that the Kenwood radio normally uses. The Russian team has agreed to briefly power the purifier off for the scheduled ARISS school events but then will re-activate the purifier right afterwards. This appears to be a long term impact as ATV is currently scheduled to depart from ISS in September.

ARISS and Ham Radio Opportunities Video http://www.uk.amsat.org/8099

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station ARISS http://ariss.rac.ca/

Jun 8 2012

ARISS and Ham Radio Opportunities Video

Dayton 2012 presentation by Mark Hammond N8MH describing the different roles and opportunities for Technical Mentors and Ground Station operators to play in an ARISS contact with the International Space Station.

Watch ARISS and Ham Radio Opportunities by N8MH Dayton 2012.mp4

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station ARISS http://ariss.rac.ca/

Jun 8 2012

Video of HTV-3 Spacecraft and CubeSat Deployer

Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment

The Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle “KOUNOTORI” (HTV) is an unmanned transfer vehicle which can carry amateur radio CubeSats along with food, clothes and equipment needed for experiments in the International Space Station (ISS).

“KOUNOTORI 3” (HTV-3) is planned to launch on July 21, 2012 from Tanegashima Space Center and will be carrying four amateur radio CubeSats WE-WISH, FITSAT-1, F-1, and TechEdSat along with the CubeSat Raiko which carries a beacon in KU-Band.

This video, produced by the Japanese Space Agency JAXA, gives an overview of the HTV-3 and its payloads. At  3:56 into the video there is a segment on the JEM-Small Satellite Orbital Deployer  (J-SSOD) that Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI will use to deploy the CubeSats from the ISS. The Software Defined Radio gets a mention at 7:34.

Watch KOUNOTORI3 (HTV3) – Third Expedition to Space at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uxRbANmxik

Jun 8 2012

FITSAT-1 to Write Morse Code Across The Night Sky

FITSAT-1 plans to use LED’s to signal in Morse code

The Amateur Radio CubeSat FITSAT-1 will carry an Optical Communications experiment that aims to write Morse Code across the night sky.

Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment

Kibo Robot Arm CubeSat Deployment

This innovative satellite also plans to transmit 115.2 kbps digital data in the Amateur Satellite Service 5.8 GHz band using a transmitter capable of 2 watts output.

FITSAT-1 (aka NIWAKA) is a 1U CubeSat (10*10*10cm) developed by students at the Fukuoka Institute of Technology (FIT).

In July 2012 it should be carried to the International Space Station (ISS) in the HTV-3 cargo vessel.  FITSAT-1 will then be deployed from the ISS around September by Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI using the Kibo robot arm.

The main mission will be to demonstrate high speed data transfer from a satellite, it can transmit a VGA-size (640×480 pixel) JPEG photograph in only 5 to 6 seconds.

Takushi Tanaka JA6AVG and FITSAT

Takushi Tanaka JA6AVG and FITSAT

The second mission is to determine if a satellite can be made to appear as an “artificial star” using high-output LEDs in flash mode. The light from this flash will be received by the ground station, which has a telescope with photo-multiplier linked to a 5.8GHz parabola antenna. This is a basic experiment to investigate the possibility of optical communication with satellites.

A UHF AX25 1k2baud transceiver will be carried for telemetry and telecommand purposes and a UHF CW beacon will also be provided. It will be deployed along with the satellites RAIKO and WE-WISH, F-1 and TechEdSat into a 350x350km 51.6deg inclination orbit.

The following downlink frequencies have been coordinated by the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel: CW 437.250 MHz, FM 437.445 MHz, High speed data 5840.00 MHz.

FITSAT-1 information, pictures and deployment movie http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml

Kibo Robot Arm http://kibo.jaxa.jp/en/about/kibo/rms/

IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel pages hosted by AMSAT-UK http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/

May 19 2012

Columbus Ham Radio Powered-On

Joe_Acaba_KE5DAR

Joe Acaba KE5DAR

NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba, KE5DAR, and his two Russian crewmates, Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin, RN3BS, arrived on the International Space Station (ISS) this week.

They joined the three other radio amateurs on the ISS – Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX, of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Flight Engineer Don Pettit, KD5MDT, of NASA and Flight Engineer Andrei Kuipers, PI9ISS, of the European Space Agency.

A status report video released by NASA for May 14-18 notes that Joe Acaba, KE5DAR, powered on the ham radio in the ESA Columbus module. The ham radio reference occurs 09:05 into the video.

 

Watch ISS Update: Weekly Recap for May 14-18, 2012

The NASA ISS daily status report for May 18 notes that Joe KE5DAR also powered on the ham radio station in the Russian Service Module.
http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/reports/iss_reports/2012/05182012.html

Listening to the International Space Station http://www.uk.amsat.org/3491