International Space station

October 24, 2007

Tuesday 23 October 2007 at 10:51 UTC, i.e. 12:51 local time, the "Giosue Carducci" school, call sign IZØLRI, in Santa Marinella, Italy, established a radio contact with US astronaut Clay Anderson, KD5PLA, onboard the International Space Station.

The GIOSUE’ CARDUCCI secondary school is located in the town of Santa Marinella, 60 km northwest of Rome. The classes having the ARISS QSO comprise students (boys and girls) aged 12 to 15 years old. The ARISS activity is well integrated into the school curriculum with the programme called GUGLIELMO MARCONI. This project is about the Research and Experiments conducted by Guglielmo Marconi at the NATIONAL RADIOELECTRIC CENTRE established in the town. Marconi conducted experiments with microwaves, RADAR, Radio Mobile Telephone and the use of the moon as reflector. Marconi bounced off waves from the town to the moon.

Loru Stefano, IØLYO, was the contact coordinator for this ISS contact. The operator of the contact was ARISS mentor Francesco De Paolis. The questions were read by the students. The audience in the shack room was about 265 students, guests and media operators. In addition, the audio was relayed by Skype into EchoLink and IRLP. Thanks to Dieter Schliemann, KX4Y who fed the ARISS contact audio into EchoLink.

At 10:51 UTC contact with NA1SS was established and Clay answered 17 questions. The signal and audio from the ISS was excellent.

Two TV stations, 2 radio stations and all local newspapers covered the event.

Congratulations to the ARISS “Carducci” team!

73,

Francesco De Paolis, IKØWGF, ARISS mentor

Carducci audio
Carducci picture 1
Carducci picture 2
Carducci picture 3
Carducci picture 4

ARISS ANTENNAS INSTALLED ON COLUMBUS

October 20, 2007

A few days ago, two ARISS antennas have been installed on the European Space Laboratory Columbus. The module will be delivered to the International Space Station by a nearby Shuttle mission. From the beginning, there will be Amateur Radio antennas on the European segment of the ISS.

All this started five years ago, when the ARISS-Europe chairman took the initiative to submit a request for amateur radio facilities on the Columbus module to Mr Jörg Feustel-Büechl, ESA Director of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity:

"The ARISS international working group provides the many organizational and operational services needed to insure successful educational school contacts. All these activities are offered, free of charge, by volunteering amateur radio operators of the different countries involved. ARISS, especially the European team, wishes to gain access to the Columbus module. An amateur radio station on European territory in space would considerably enhance amateur radio research in Europe and contribute to orient talented students to space related careers. Considering the freely offered expertise of the volunteering amateurs involved in such a project, the return ratio would be most favourable.No amateur radio activity is possible without access to one or more antennas affixed outside the module. This involves the disposal of coaxial feedthroughs to access the antennas".

Following this request, the Columbus management convened a meeting at the EADS offices in Bremen, Germany. EADS is the main contractor for the Columbus project. This meeting took place February 19th, 2003 with representatives of ESA, EADS and ARISS. ARISS was represented by Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, ARISS-Europe chairman, and Danny Orban, ON4AOD, developer of patch antennas. When asked where we would like to have the antennas installed, we said "On the nadir of Columbus, facing the Earth". Impossible: Columbus will fly in a Shuttle bay and not enough room is left for antennas. "But what about patch antennas?" That seemed feasible, but the weight should be very low. Finally, it was agreed to work on UHF, L-band and S-band antennas, VHF being too large to accommodate on the Meteorite Debris Panels (MDP) which protect Columbus' hull.

Another issue was how to get coaxial feed lines from inside Columbus to the nadir. No feedthroughs existed. Finally, ESA's management decided to install an eightfold feedthrough fixture on the port cone of Columbus and to support the cost. An element of the cone was dismounted and sent to Alenia Spazio in Italy, where the fixture was installed.

Also in 2003, Danny Orban ON4AOD submitted plans for VHF, UHF, L-band and S-band antennas. December 2003, the VHF patch antenna was abandoned, being too large and too heavy. In 2004 Danny, who was very busy developing his microwave business overseas, wished to be discharged of his task. Dr Pawel Kabacik, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Telecommunications and Acoustics of Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland, who had developed the patch antennas for the SSETI project, accepted the development of the ARISS antennas.

Meanwhile an agreement was reached between ESA and ARISS: ARISS was to support the cost of the antennas development and manufacturing as well as 50.000 euro of the installation cost. ESA was willing to support the remainder of the installation cost, estimated well over 100.000 euro. Consequently, a funding campaign was launched by ARISS-Europe, gathering donations for the Columbus project.

June 25th, 2005 a contract was signed between Wroclaw University and UBA, the Belgian Royal Amateur Radio Society, bearing development and construction of combined L/S-band patch antennas. UHF was abandoned by lack of funding. The University was to build two flight antennas, two spare antennas and an engineering antenna. Indeed, ESA/EADS had decided to install two identical antennas on two different Meteorite Debris Panels. If one panel was to be removed in space for inspection, that antenna would probably be lost. The contract amounted to 47.000 euro. The UBA would pay the bill and recover the expense with donations gathered by AMSAT Belgium.

July 19th, 2005 a meeting was convened at ESTEC, Noordwijk in the Netherlands, where ESA, EADS, Alenia Spazio, Pawel Kabacik and Gaston Bertels finalized and signed an Interface Control Document detailing the tasks of each party involved.

November 17th, 2005 and December 15th, 2005 meetings were convened at EADS, Bremen. Oliver Amend, DG6BCE represented ARISS. Pawel Kabacik presented the L/S-band engineering model ARISS 1. Two coaxial cables had been installed between the feedthroughs on the port cone and the MDP's on the nadir. Meanwhile, ESA had accepted to support the installation cost totally, for ARISS had not been able to collect enough donations to cover their part. Early in 2006, five L/S-band antennas were manufactured: ARISS 21-22-23-24-25.

June 12th, 2006 AMSAT Belgium signed a contract with Wroclaw University for qualification tests (3.000 euro). The mechanical vibration tests were very severe (49G at 2kHz) with regard to extreme acoustical vibrations produced by the Shuttle boosters during launch. The antennas failed.

March 15th, 2007 UBA signed a contract with Wroclaw University (18.000 euro) for the development and manufacturing of modified L/S-band antennas: ARISS 31-32-33-34-35. One of these antennas, ARISS 31, was exposed in the Exhibition Ham Radio a European Resource set up in the European Parliament, Brussels by the EUROCOM working group of the International Amateur Radio Union. The antennas were successfully submitted to vibrations tests, but failed thermal/vacuum tests (several cycles -100°C / + 120°C in vacuum chamber).

August 14th, 2007 UBA signed an Annex to the Wroclaw contract (additional 18.000 euro) for the development and manufacturing of 2 flight antennas and 1 qualification antenna with different materials.

September 25th, 2007 ARISS 41-42-43 antennas were successfully submitted to vibrations tests in Germany and ESA decided installation on Columbus.

October 9th and 10th ,2007 ARISS 41 and ARISS 43 were installed on Columbus in the high bay of the Kennedy Space Center. October 12th the electrical properties of cables and antennas have been tested and validated.

In the week of October 15, qualification antenna ARISS 42 was successfully submitted to thermal tests in vacuum chamber in the Netherlands.

ARISS 42 will also be submitted to detailed efficiency tests to determine the precise electromagnetic characteristics of the antennas.

Since September 2005, the Columbus working group has met 17 times per teleconference. These meetings will now intensify in order to finalize the project for the onboard ARISS equipment. The intention is to build a wideband transponder, L-band uplink, S-band downlink. Moreover, digital ATV is also thought of. Anyway, among many other
aspects, equipment volume, weight, power consumption and heat budget are to be discussed with ESA and EADS.

We are very grateful to Mr Bernardo Patti, ESA's Columbus project manager, as well as to ESA's Education Programme leaders Sylvie Ijsselstein and formerly Elena Grifoni, who supported the ARISS project. Many thanks also to the ESA, EADS and Alenia engineers for their efficient guidance. Special thanks and congratulations to
Dr Pawel Kabacik and his team who developed the ARISS antennas and used Polish research funds for this purpose.

Not all the bills are paid. The funding campaign continues.

73
Gaston Bertels ON4WF
ARISS-Europe chairman

CLAYTON ANDERSON TALKS WITH HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY FOR APPLIED SCIENCES IN GERMANY

September 24, 2007

Monday 24 September 2007 at 08:00 UTC, i.e. 10:00 local time, the “Heidelberg University for Applied Sciences” in Heidelberg, Germany, established a telebridge contact with US astronaut Clayton Anderson, KD5PLA, on board the International Space Station, via the ARISS Ground Station WH6PN in Hawaii operated by Nancy Rocheleau. Will Marchant was the moderator of the contact.

Heidelberg is located in the northwest corner of the Bundesland Baden-Würtemberg on the banks of the river Neckar. The city is known for its university and its history. The "Heidelberg Man", whose jaw-bone was discovered in 1907, lived there approximately 600,000 years ago; that is probably the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. About 40 AD the area was occupied by the Romans. The beginnings of a permanent settlement go back to the 5th century. The University of Heidelberg, Germany’s oldest and most famous university, was founded in 1386. Today Heidelberg has a population of 135,000 and more than 28,000 students.

The Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences was founded in 1969. As a private university they place considerable value on the individual success of their students. They offer (Under-) Graduate Studies and Master Programmes in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, business engineering, facility management and architecture.

The Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences is involved in building a satellite (Cubesat) called HeidelSat. The satellite will measure cosmic rays.

Professor Achim Gottscheber, the contact coordinator for this ISS contact, decided in favour of a bridge contact. The operator of the contact was Peter Wright, the president of the German Radio Astronomy Society. The questions were read by the students. The audience in the shack room was about 200 people. In addition, the university set up an audio and video link to the main hall.

At 08:00 UTC, right on schedule, contact with NA1SS was established by WH6PN. Astronaut Clayton Anderson answered all the 20 questions in 7 minutes. The astronaut replied for example that they can see the Pyramids of Egypt and the Empire State Building from the ISS.

The signal from the ISS was excellent all the time at the university’s contact site. The astronaut’s voice faded while answering the 20th question.

One TV station, 6 radio stations and 4 newspapers covered the event. The audio was available also via IRLP and Echolink.

Congratulations to the Heidelberg team!

73, Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ, ARISS mentor

Heidelberg audio

SuitSat-1 (AO-54) SK

September 8, 2006

All,

On September 7, 2006 at 16:00 GMT, SuitSat-1 re-entered about 1400 km south-southwest of Western Australia. For more details, including the winners of the Chicken Little Contest, please go to: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ariss/suitsatContest.php

I want to thank all who made SuitSat-1 the phenomenal event that it was. Your hard work and dedication paid off.

In just 3 weeks the SuitSat team developed and delivered a safe satellite system that has gained the confidence of the international space agencies. The web and PR team were able to garner unprecedented press coverage of our ham/educational outreach activity, including over 9 million hits on www.suitsat.org in February. Students around the world had the opportunity to participate in a 7 month "school spacewalk" with the artwork, pictures, signatures and voices on-board. And the "super-sleuth" ham radio operator extraordinaires were able to pull a significant amount of data from the satellite despite of its low signal strength.

And my congratulations to the students and adults who won the Chicken Little contest!!

Next for SuitSat-1--the commemorative certificates/diplomas. And at the AMSAT-NA symposium/ARISS meeting we will discuss our thoughts and plans for a potential SuitSat-2.

Stay tuned!

73, Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs
ARISS International Chairman

THOMAS REITER TALKS TO ESA SPACE CAMP, PATRAS, GREECE

July 31, 2006

Saturday 29 July 2006 at 12.27 UTC, ARISS set up a live space talk for ESA Space Camp in Patras, Greece with German astronaut Thomas Reiter, DF4TR presently onboard the International Space Station.

The radio contact was performed by ARISS ground station in Sacred Heart’s College, Honolulu, Hawaii, operated by Nancy Rocheleau, WH6PN. Signals will be relayed to Greece by telebridge, courtesy of Verizon Teleconferencing.

Participating to this ESA organized event was Mrs Marietta Giannakou, Minister of National Education and Religious Affairs, who put the first questions, inviting Thomas Reiter to address a message to the youth and to comment experiments presently conducted onboard the International Space Station.

Thomas said there is so much we can gain for the benefit of mankind by going to space and explore other planets. He encouraged young people to engage in careers related to space flight. One of his experiments is to study the behaviour of fluids of different densities in microgravity.

Answering questions of students, Thomas insisted on the importance for candidate astronauts to firstly study hard and acquire a solid background in sciences such as biology, physics or medical science. About space exploration he said we will go back to the Moon within a few years and possibly to Mars 25 years from now.

The Patras event was highlighted by Greek national TV evening news and largely commented in several newspapers.

The ARISS School Contact was also distributed on EchoLink and IRLP.

Several hams around the world offered their time and efforts to this educational event:

Thomas Reiter, DF4TR, ISS [12] Astronaut

Nancy Rocheleau, WH6PN, Honolulu, Hawaii [2] Operator

Tim Bosma, W6MU, Santa Rosa, California [5] Backup

John Nickel, WD5EEV, Winfield, Kansas [7] Coordinator

Will Marchant, KC6ROL, Berkeley, Californa [5] Moderator

Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, Houston [7] NASA

Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, Korolev [16] Energia

Dieter Schliemann, KX4Y, Scottsboro, Alabama [7] EchoLink

Graham Lawton, G7EVY, UK [13] EchoLink

Satoshi Yasuda, JK1ZRW, Japan [19] Echolink

Wayne Harasimovitch, VE1WPH , Halifax, Canada [9] IRLP

Manos Darkadakis, SV1IW, Patras [15] Telebridge

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, Brussels – Patras [15] Telebridge

The numbers in brackets are the local times for each of the participants during the event.

A great “Thank you” to everyone!

An audio recording and pictures will be available on http://www.ariss-eu.org/archive.htm

ARISS, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, an international working group of several amateur radio societies from countries participating to the ISS, provides a free educational outreach programme in collaboration with the Space Agencies, involving a team of volunteering amateur radio operators.

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

ARISS-Europe chairman

Patras audio
Patras picture 1 : Elena Grifoni-Winters, Marietta Giannakou, Michel Tognini, Reinhold Ewald
Patras picture 2 : Gaston Bertels (ON4WF), Marietta Giannakou, Minister National Education and Religious Affairs
Patras picture 3 : ON4WF
Patras picture 4 : ON4WF, M. Giannakou, Manos Darkadakis, SV1IW
Patras picture 5 : ON4WF, Student, SV1IW

ASTRONAUT JEFF WILLIAMS TALKS WITH SCIENTIFIC CENTER KUWAIT

June 29, 2006

Wednesday 28 June 2006 at 11:26 UTC, i.e. 14:26 local time, the Scientific Center Kuwait in Salmiyah, Kuwait, performed a telebridge contact with US astronaut Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, onboard the International Space Station, via the ARISS Ground Station in Hawaii operated by Nancy Rocheleau, WH6PN. Will Marchant moderated the contact.

The Scientific Center of Kuwait's (TSCK) mission is dedicated to the advancement of sciences and the cultural heritage of Kuwait. The Center promotes public awareness, knowledge of and commitment to the care and conservation of the wildlife and ecosystems of the Arabian Gulf region. The Center is a gift to the nation built by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences and was opened in April 2000. The Scientific Center serves as an excellent support for environmental education in the Arabian Gulf region. Visitors can observe natural habitats such as the desert and marine life.

Maryam Aljoaan, 9K2MD, coordinator for this ARISS School Contact, decided in favour of a telebridge. She did a very good job and the students were very well prepared.

At exactly 11:26 UTC, right on schedule, contact with NA1SS was established by WH5PN. Astronaut Jeff Williams answered 22 questions on various topics. The astronaut explained that the crew are doing a lot of experiments based on microgravity and that space-walking is one of his favourite activities.

Signals from the ISS were a bit noisy in the beginning, but soon became loud and clear. When the 22 questions were answered, coordinator Maryam Aljoaan thanked the astronaut for a great space talk and let him hear the enthusiastic applause from the audience. Then Jeff Williams said Goodbye to Kuwait.

The attending audience was about 40 persons in the conference room and 100 in central court.

Many media covered the event:

Al-Hadaf; Weekly Arabic magazine

The Daily Star, Daily Arabic Magazine

Al-Qabas, Local daily newspaper

Al-Rai Al-Am, local daily newspaper

Arab Times, local daily English newspaper

Kuwait Times, local daily English newspaper

Layalina, Arabic bi-monthly magazine

Al-Yaqaza, Arabic weekly magazine

Kuwait National TV for Evening show

Kuwait National TV Children Program

KUNA, Kuwait News Agency

Al-Nahdha, Arabic Weekly magazine

Kuwait Science Club Media.

Moreover the event was webcast live on www.tsck.org.kw.

It was a historic moment. The first ARISS School Contact in Kuwait.

A great success in every aspect!

The audio recording of the radio contact will be appended to this Bulletin, archived on http://www.ariss-eu.org/archive.htm

73, Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ, ARISS mentor

ESC audio
ESC picture 1
ESC picture 2
ESC picture 3
ESC picture 4
ESC picture 5

ASTRONAUT JEFF WILLIAMS TALKS WITH BRITISH STUDENTS ON SPACE CAMP

June 15, 2006

Tuesday 13 June 2006 at 13:38 UTC, British students had an exciting space talk with US astronaut Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, onboard the International Space Station.

About 60 students and their teachers from Gillingham School, Dorset, UK are on Space Camp this week at the Euro Space Center. ESC is a residential (100 beds) Space Camp for youngsters (8-18), located in Belgium near Bastogne (see Battle of the Bulge, Christmas 1944). Youngsters from many European countries come on Space Camp to ESC where monitors handle several languages. ESC also hosts a permanent Space Expo and a restaurant open to visitors, as well as amateur radio club station ON4ESC.

This week, the ISS passes over Europe occur at night. Therefore, the ARISS School Contact at ESC was done per telebridge. ARISS ground station W6SRJ, located in Junior College, Santa Rosa California, established the radio contact with the ISS and Verizon Conferencing offered the phone link to Belgium. W6SRJ was operated by Bill Hillendahl, KH6GJV, assisted by Don Dalby, KH6UAY. Will Marchant, KC6ROL moderated the contact. At the Euro Space Center, operations were handled by Gaston Bertels, ON4WF and Philippe Van houte, ON5PV.

Twenty students (age 15-17) had been prepared carefully for the space talk, queuing to read their question loud and clear in the microphone, without losing any time. Once the contact established, all twenty questions were answered by Jeff Williams :

- seeing all the details of the earth is a unique experience

- launch and docking went pretty much as expected

- we get up at 06:00 GMT and go to bed at 10:00

- we have a special toilet onboard; bodily waste is collected in sealed containers and put in the Progress which burns up completely on re-entry

- to become an astronaut the best suited studies are sciences, engineering or the medical field

- it has never happened that an astronaut had to leave the space station on short notice because of illness or accident; we have a lot of medical equipment onboard

- considering the commitment of several countries, a manned space flight to mars around 2020 seems realistic

- the sea wave of a tsunami would only be visible from space under a given angle of sun reverberation, but the destructions are clearly visible

- we have redundant sources of oxygen onboard and repair of the electric oxygen generator causes no real worry

- the space station is a noisy environment; we have earplugs at our disposal, but I don’t use them

- the Soyuz, the Progress and the future European ATV are sufficient for maintaining a permanent crew onboard, but the Shuttle is needed to install the European and the Japanese modules and achieve complete construction of the station

- when two crewmembers perform an EVA the advantage is they can help each other

- fumes of volcanoes are very easy to see; a few weeks ago I saw an eruption in the Alaskan Aleutian islands

- we can see meteor tracks in the atmosphere when looking down in the night sky; I saw some on a previous mission

- the rising moon looking bigger than when it is high in the sky is an atmospheric phenomenon; from space it is quite different

- many experiences we perform in space are beneficial for life on earth, for example research on renal stones and bones disease

- I see dust storms and haze but it is difficult to say if there is pollution in it; general atmospheric pollution is not easily observable, but some forms of pollution, such as big fires, are easy to see

- looking at the earth from space and seeing how beautiful it is makes you aware what we have been given and how much we should take care of it

- when going to bed and closing the eyes in the dark, I experience light flashes in the corner of the eye; they say this is due to cosmic rays

- after two months in space, weightlessness has become a quite natural feeling.

The audience thanked Jeff Williams for this space talk by sending him a huge applause. Before the ISS went over the horizon in Santa Rosa, Jeff had still time enough to wish the students a enjoyable space camp. He also encouraged them to study hard and said perhaps some of them would contribute to space exploration and even go to mars.

In the auditorium, not only the sixty British students assisted to the event, but also fifty French schoolchildren who were visiting the Euro Space Center for just one day. When the contact was over and Will Marchant had congratulated and thanked the volunteering team members, the telebridge came to an end. Next, for the benefit of the French visitors, a teacher translated the questions and the answers into French.

The ARISS School Contact was broadcast on IRLP by Waine Harasimovitch, VE1WPH and on Echolink by Dieter Schliemann, KX4Y.

An audio recording and pictures of this space contact are hereto attached.

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

ARISS-Europe chairman

ESC audio
ESC picture 1
ESC picture 2
ESC picture 3

JEFFREY WILLIAMS TALKS TO ITALIAN SCHOOL NEAR VENICE

May 22, 2006

Monday 22 May 2006 at 13:28 UTC, i.e. 15:28 local time, the Primary School “Virgilio” in Mestre near the city of Venice in northern Italy performed a radio contact with US astronaut Jeffrey Williams, KD5TVQ, on board the International Space Station.

The primary school was built in 1980, and its name is “Virgilio” like the name of an important Roman emperor poet’s name. It’s a big school with two floors and a wonderful garden. In the school, there are 210 pupils and 23 teachers, and only one of them is a man; all the other teachers are women. There are ten classrooms, a library with many books, a computer room, a gym, a music room and a video room, an English room and a dining hall.

Mestre is a little town 6 miles from Venice and it’s an important economic and industrial center of Venice, and it is also a very interesting place to live, because it is close to Venice, close to the sea and close to the mountains (Dolomites) too. Mestre is connected to Venice with a long bridge on the lagoon. About 150.000 peoples live in Mestre. There is a commercial port and the international Airport of Venice (Marco Polo Airport). In the Middle Ages there was an important castle with 11 towers in Mestre, but now just one of them is still there. This tower is the symbol of Mestre.

Since the US does not have a 3^rd party agreement with Italy, the questions were read by the amateur radio operator Paolo Rosin, IW3GPO.

Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF, Kira Collevati, IW3EXQ, Giorgio Pagan, IW3IBG and Stefano Mannelli, IZ5ENH, strongly supported the project.

The technical team set up a satellite station as well as a vertical backup antenna.

The pupils were very excited when the contact with NA1SS was established. Astronaut Jeffrey Williams answered 15 questions. He explained that the Planet Earth is the most beautiful thing that he has seen from the ISS, for example the splendid volcano Etna on Sicily.

The signal was quite good all the time. During the answer of the 15^th question the signal of the ISS went suddenly down. The operator Paolo said goodbye and thanked Jeff for the contact.

The newspapers Il Gazzettino and La Nuova Mestre/Venezia, and the TV stations RAI 3 VENETO, ANTENNA 3, TELEVENEZIA and CANALE 5 covered the event.

73, Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ, ARISS mentor

Email: peter.kofler@schule.suedtirol.it

WILLIAM McARTHUR TALKS WITH SCHOOL IN SOUTH-EAST ITALY

March 21, 2006

Tuesday 21 March 2006 at 13:54 UTC, i.e. 14:54 local time, the school “1°Circolo didattico Giuseppe Settanni” in Rutigliano near the city of Bari in south-east Italy performed a radio contact with US astronaut William McArthur, KC5ACR, on board the International Space Station.

This radio contact is a common activity of two elementary schools (pupils´ age 6 to 11) and one middle school (pupils´ age 11 to 14) in Rutigliano, the elementary schools “1°Circolo didattico Giuseppe Settanni” (500 pupils) and “2°Circolo didattico Aldo Moro” (475 pupils) and the middle school “Alessandro Manzoni” (615 pupils).

The questions were read by the amateur radio operator Michele Mallardi, IZ7EVR.

Pupils, teachers, high representatives of the military and civilian authorities and the Principessa Elettra Marconi, the daughter of Guglielmo Marconi, were present at the contact.

Rutigliano, called “city of red soil”, is located 8km from the Adriatic Sea, near the city of Bari in South-east Italy. Because of the fertile soil, agriculture is very important for the economy of the area, above all the production of grapes and wine.

Michele Mallardi, IZ7EVR, the coordinator of the school station and operator of the radio contact, did a very good job!

The technical team set up a satellite station with automatic antenna tracking as well as a vertical backup antenna on the roof of the school “Giuseppe Settanni”.

They also installed the audio and video links from the shack at the “Giuseppe Settanni” school to the assembly halls of the two other schools “Aldo Moro” and “Alessandro Manzoni”.

At exactly 13:54 UTC, right on schedule, contact with NA1SS was established. Astronaut William McArthur answered 17 questions on any topics.

He explained for instance that the main experiments are to study the human body so that we better understand how people can live and work for a long period of time in space.

The signal was absolutely clear and loud. After the 17th question the Principessa Elettra Marconi spoke to the astronaut. While William was answering, the ISS went over the horizon and its signal went slowly down.

The TV stations RAI3, Telenorba, Telepuglia, Telebari and Teleregione, the radio station Canale 103 and the newspapers Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, La Repubblica, Blu and Fax covered the event.

73, Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ, ARISS mentor

Email: peter.kofler@schule.suedtirol.it

WILLIAM McARTHUR TALKS WITH GERMAN SCHOOL

March 8, 2006

Wednesday 8 March 2006 at 14:56 UTC, i.e. 15:56 local time, the EVANGELISCHES GYMNASIUM LIPPSTADT in Lippstadt, Germany established a radio contact with US astronaut William McArthur, KC5ACR, on board the International Space Station.

The Evangelisches Gymnasium Lippstadt is a grammar school belonging to the Protestant Church of Westfalia. At present about 900 pupils aged 10 to 19 attend our school. The school has set itself the ambitious aim to integrate the vast part of the necessary preparations for the ISS contact into its school curriculum. The preparation will be part of the school lessons. In addition to working with the ISS education kit, many questions arousing from the theoretical field of amateur radio technology (technical knowledge) were well combined with compulsory topics of an extensive physics course. The youngsters´ goal is to obtain an amateur radio operator’s license.

Ralf Karrasch, DF4DC, the radio contact coordinator for this ISS contact and the teacher Daniel Ahrens, DO7DAN, supported the participating kids in a fantastic way in their preparation for the amateur radio license exam. The goal was perfectly achieved because they have all recently passed the exam and now they are waiting for their own amateur radio operator’s license from the authority. Congratulation to the new members of our worldwide radio ham family!

The technical team of different local amateur radio clubs sets up a satellite station with automatic antenna tracking as well as a secondary backup station with a vertical antenna on the roof of the school.

The school shack was located in the huge assembly hall where the audience of 400 listeners such as students, parents and teachers could follow the contact.

At 14:56:30 UTC contact with NA1SS was established. Astronaut William McArthur answered 21 questions on various topics. The astronaut replied for example that “right now the Space Station produced about 18kW of power. When it is complete, it will produce 110kW”.

The signal was all the time absolutely clear and loud. The circular polarization of the downlink signal changed from left-hand side to right-hand side and vice versa several times during the contact. Then, during the answer of the 21st question, the ISS went over the horizon and its signal went slowly down.

The TV channel Westdeutscher Rundfunk WDR, the newspaper "Der Patriot" (first appearance in 1848) and the two radio channels Hellweg-Radio and WDR 1 Live covered the event.

The Radio station WDR 1 Live did even a live coverage of the contact.

73, Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ, ARISS mentor

Email: peter.kofler@schule.suedtirol.it

SuitSat Status 02/23/06

SuitSat-1/Radioskaf/AO-54---the mission that has captured the imagination of people and students around the world---is now a confirmed
silent key. The outreach, press requests and visibility of SuitSat was absolutely amazing and appears to be unprecedented for a ham radio
event. While the press requests are just now starting to wane, we expect that you will continue to see SuitSat status reports and pictures
in magazines, websites and other literature over the next few months. One metric which shows the interest---we had over 9 MILLION
hits at the www.suitsat.org web site. Quite impressive indeed!!

Based on the reports we have received, the last confirmed reception of the SuitSat voice audio was on Saturday February 18 at 3:32 UTC
by Bob King's station, VE6BLD in Canada. The last confirmed telemetry was received by Richard Crow's station, N2SPI in the USA. Richard
copied the SuitSat-1 voltage dropping precipitously to a low of 18.3 volts before vehicle stopped transmitting. I have included Richard's
compiled telemetry document at the end of this e-mail. SuitSat-1 operated for over two weeks---much longer than the 4-9 day initial
predictions.

Despite its much lower than expected signal strength, SuitSat-1 was heard by ham radio operators and school students around the world.
SuitSat's low signal strength required antennas with some gain. Many, including me, heard SuitSat with a 3 element Arrow antenna
attached to a handheld radio. Another challenge to signal reception were the very deep fades due to the Suit rotation. One great positive
that came from these issues is that it challenged the ham radio community, worldwide, to improve their station receive capabilities so
that they could pull every bit of signal from SuitSat.

"Virtual Reception"

"Virtual reception" of the student messages, SSTV image and telemetry was made possible through SuitSat web sites and blogs that stored
MP3 files from key ham radio stations around the world. The SuitSat team thanks these system administrators as well as our international
ham radio "detectives" that worked around the clock to receive the SuitSat signals and compile the telemetry.

Some of the key websites that were instrumental in this mission included the www.suitsat.org website sponsored by Steve Dimse, K4HG,
http://www.aj3u.com/blog/ sponsored by A.J. Farmer, AJ3U, and http://pd0rkc.ontwikkel.nl/ sponsored by Cor. In addition, bulletins
sent by Miles, WF1F, the AMSAT news/web page team---Emily, N1DID, JoAnne, WB9JEJ and many others around the world kept all of us
informed while SuitSat operations unfolded. As a result of these efforts and the efforts of our ham radio detectives, teams have
identified the "secret words", the messages from students and Mr. Alexandrov, the SSTV image and the telemetry.

SuitSat Myths Debunked

There were reports that the Suit was non-operational and that the battery was frozen shortly after deployment. This NEVER occurred. As
the telemetry has shown, temperatures within the Suit were a somewhat comfortable 12-16C during the entire mission. So the "frozen
battery" myth is just that--a myth.

So is the early demise and resurrection of the SuitSat. It was alive and operated flawlessly, except the signal strength issue, from the
time the crew flipped the switches until the battery power was used up.

Another potential myth is the statement that the radio output is 1-10 mW. More precisely, the SIGNAL STRENGTH is much lower than
expected. It is entirely possible that the radio output could have been at 500 mW and the feedline, connector or the antenna caused the
problem.

SuitSat Signal Strength Issue Investigation

The SuitSat team is just starting to look at the potential causes of the vehicle low signal strength. As described above, the cause was
either an issue with the antenna, feedline, connectors, power amplifier of the radio, or some combination of the above. As we conduct
this investigation and start to learn information on the potential cause, we will provide public releases on this.

SuitSat Educational Outreach

As was mentioned, many schools around the world have participated in SuitSat operations. One example of this is the R. Tait McKenzie
Public School in Almonte, Ontario. Neil Carleton, VE3NCE, sent us this message: "Thank you to the SuitSat team for the opportunity to
have students involved in such an exciting space project. It's been a week of adventure, and I'm happy to report on the involvement of my
class as part of our grade 6 science studies of space."

The ARISS team also plans to harvest the substantial SuitSat downlinks obtained by the ham radio community to develop lesson plans for
schools. One great idea is to use the audio with the spin fades as well as the EVA release video to let students determine whether the spin
rate slows down, speeds up or remains the same during the mission---a simple physics experiment using ham radio! We have many other
lesson plan ideas too.

SuitSat Orbit Life

Prior to the SuitSat deployment, we received an orbit analysis which predicted a 70-120 day orbital life for SuitSat. This would put SuitSat
deorbit around mid-April to early June. The orbit life, of course, is dependent on the atmospheric drag that the satellite experiences.
More details will be provided as de-orbit approaches.

SuitSat Additional Object

An extra object has been observed to have detached from SuitSat and become its own satellite. This object is most likely one of the
SuitSat gloves or the Student CD which was attached on the outside of the Suit.

SuitSat Visual Passes

There has been at least one visual of SuitSat. You can see that on A.J. Farmer's blog. Let us know if you see SuitSat. I would expect you
will need binoculars to see it.

SuitSat Accomplishment Summary

While the transmission part of the SuitSat experiment was not stellar, SuitSat-1 has been tremendously successful in several areas. Some
of these successes include:

-We captured the imagination of students and the general public worldwide through this unique experiment
-The media attention to the SuitSat project was tremendous
-We have had well over 9 million internet hits on www.suitsat.org web site
-Our student's creative artwork, signatures and voices have been carried in space and are on-board the spacesuit---the students are now
space travelers in the Suit as it circles the Earth. This was a collaboration with the NASA Explorer Schools.
-The ARISS international team was able to fabricate, test and deliver a safe ham radio system to the ISS team 3 weeks after the
international space agencies agreed to allow SuitSat to happen. This was a tremendous feat in of itself.
and most importantly,
-We successfully deployed an amateur radio satellite in a Spacesuit from the ISS, demonstrating to the space agencies that this can be
safely done.

The above engineering accomplishment will open new opportunities for small, low cost satellites in the future.

Special Certificate/Diploma

If you heard SuitSat, don't forget the special SuitSat certificate/diploma. Information on obtaining this certificate/diploma can be found
on the AMSAT web site: www.amsat.org

The Future

The AMSAT/ARISS team have been talking about a SuitSat-2. Correcting the signal strength issue would be a top priority for this flight.
So would be a longer-term power generation device, like solar arrays. As our thoughts mature on this, we will keep you informed of our
plans.

SuitSat-1/Radioskaf/AO-54 represented a space pioneering effort. While we did not have total success, we captured the imagination of
students and the general public worldwide. And we have learned a lot from this activity. This will help us and others grow from this
experience.

On behalf of the AMSAT, ARISS and SuitSat teams, I thank you all for your help, encouragement and advice.

73, Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
AMSAT-VP for Human Spaceflight Programs
ARISS International Chairman

Telemetry from Richard N2SPI:

SuitSat SuitSat SuitSat
N2SPI Telemetry Mission Temperature Battery File name for
Update message heard @: Time in in Degrees Voltage source audio:
Number Mo Day Time UTC Minutes Celsius (Volts) (".wav" file)
------ --- --- -------- ------- ----------- -------- ----------------
Feb 8 13:49:41 006607 12 26.- 8Feb1340z_telem
Feb 9 12:37:29 0--967 -- -6.7 9Feb1237z_telem
2 Feb 10 06:39:29 009-44 13 26.7 10Feb0639z_telem
3 Feb 11 07:04:41 010501 -- 26.7 11Feb0704z_telem
4 Feb 11 11:50:53 010786 -- 26.7 11Feb1153z_telem
5 Feb 12 05:52:34 01--62 14 26.- 12Feb0552z_telem
6 Feb 13 04:39:57 01-222 -- 26.6 13Feb0439z_telem
7 Feb 13 06:18:18 --3320 14 2-.6 13Feb0618z_telem
8 Feb 14 05:05:24 0-4680 15 26.6 14Feb0505z_telem
9 Feb 15 03:52:54 016040 -- 26.5 15Feb0348z_telem
10 Feb 16 04:18:32 0--49- 16 26.3 16Feb0411z_telem
11 Feb 17 03:05:45 ------ -- 25.2 17Feb0300z_telem
12 Feb 17 10:59:42 0--3-9 15 18.3? 17Feb1057z_telem

Pass1@ Feb 18 01:49:30 Nothing heard*
Pass2@ Feb 18 03:22:45 Nothing Heard
Pass3@ Feb 18 04:58:30 Nothing heard
Pass4@ Feb 18 06:34:30 Nothing heard --- Farewell SuitSat-1!
------ --- --- -------- ------- ----------- -------- ----------------

Discover Engineering Family Day Contact

As many of you heard, we had an outstanding, horizon to horizon contact with Astronaut Bill McArthur on Saturday February 18 at the Discover Engineering Family Day at the National Building Museum in Washington DC. Thanks to the help of Dick Flagg, AH6NM, at the ARISS ground station in Honolulu Hawaii, 16 children of various ages got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to talk to Commander McArthur on ISS.

Over 7000 people crowded the National Building Museum. Just prior to the contact, the Engineering exhibits and activities were quieted to listen to the ISS connection. This included an exciting engineering Robotics competition from NASA Goddard that ran the entire day.

Prior to the event, the ARISS contact was publicized in the Weekend edition of the Washington Post newspaper and was described on many of the local TV broadcast channels.

The student questions and the students selected for the contact were solicited from the National Building Museum web site: http://www.nbm.org/

An MP3 audio excerpt of the contact is expected to be posted on this web site on Tuesday.

In addition to the contact, a team of volunteers from AMSAT supported the ARISS booth the entire day of the Engineering Family Day function. The team provided a hands-on view of the ham radio equipment used on ISS, provided updates on the SuitSat project, and handed out information on ham radio and the ARISS program to children and their parents and guardians.

I have attached a few photos taken during the event (we will post this on the AMSAT web site). I have many more that I can provide on request.

73, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO

Dale High School and DeGolyer Elementary ARISS Contacts

We had successful “back to back” ARISS contacts at Dale High School in Dale, OK, and DeGolyer Elementary School in Dallas, TX, yesterday.

The Dale contact started out a little rough with a very high noise level giving us problems on the first couple of questions, but it got much better after that. We completed 15 questions on the 20 degree pass before a crowd of 500 students, faculty, and guests. Dale Public Schools have a total enrollment of 700 and we had all of the students from grades 3 through 12 in the gymnasium for the contact. There were two television stations from Oklahoma City, several newspapers, and CQ VHF Magazine represented. Coy Day, ARRL West Gulf Division Director, and John Thomason, ARRL Oklahoma Section Manager, were both present. After an 80 minute break, we listened to the DeGolyer Contact before tearing down. The same students that asked the Dale questions read the DeGolyer questions while we were listening to the DeGolyer Contact. This was a “neat” climax to successful event.

The DeGolyer contact went off without a hitch before a crowd that filled the auditorium plus closed circuit TV to the rest of the school. DeGolyer completed 17 questions on their 35 degree pass. The media was well represented and the Dallas ISD Video Production Crew did a documentary of this event including the Space Day activities that preceded it. Jim Haynie, ARRL Past President, and Tom Blackwell, ARRL North Texas Section Manager, were present. The DeGolyer Crew was able to listen to the Dale Contact prior to their event.

More details will be provided as full reports are prepared.

73 – Keith, W5IU

SuitSat in 10 Days!

If all goes well, SuitSat will be deployed in 10 days. Are you ready?
Have you talked to a school in your area about SuitSat? Or a student group? Is your SSTV receive capability ready for the challenge?

SuitSat will be deployed during a Russian EVA scheduled to take place on Friday, February 3 at approximately 22:20 UTC.

Once activated, those who hear SuitSat transmissions are asked to enter their realtime data on the SuitSat website, http://www.suitsat.org/so that participants around the world can track the satellite.

Educational Outreach reports (at schools or informal education sites) as well as Slow Scan TV images can be sent to suitsat@comcast.net. This information will be compiled by the ARISS team.

Other information on SuitSat can be found on:

http://www.amsat.org
http://www.rac.ca/ariss
http://www.issfanclub.com
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/sarex/48hour/threads.html

NASA Education Website information for students:
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/home/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/features/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/index.html

SuitSat QSL Information:

Those that hear SuitSat should send their signal reports with a large (9x12 inch) SASE to the following depending on their area. They will get a certificate commemorating their reception. Those that receive the picture or copy the special words will get a special endorsement on their certificate.

For the USA :
ARRL Headquarters, SuitSat QSL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA

For Canada :
Radio Amateurs of Canada, SuitSat QSL, 720 Belfast Road, Suite 217, Ottawa Ontario K1G 0Z5

For Europe:
F1MOJ - Mr CANDEBAT Christophe, SuitSat Europe QSL Manager, 7 Rue Roger Bernard 30470 AIMARGUES FRANCE

For Japan:
SuitSat Japan QSL, JARL International Section, Tokyo 170-8073 JAPAN

For Russia:

Alexander Davydov, RN3DK, Novo - Mytishchinsky prospekt 52 - 111, Mytishchi 18, Moskovskaya obl. 141018, RUSSIA

For other countries, please use the US or Canadian address above.

(Updated Jan 30)

73,

Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
ARISS International Chairman
AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs

William McArthur Talks With Brazilian School

January 2, 2006

Monday 2 January 2006 at 15:54 UTC, i.e. 13:54 local time, the STS ESCOLA DE AVIAÇÃO CIVIL in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil established a radio contact with US astronaut William McArthur, KC5ACR, on board the International Space Station.

STS is a Civil Aviation School, located in Jacarepaguá Airport, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has over 15 years of experience in basic and advanced airplane/helicopter pilot instruction as well as refreshment trainings in flight simulators B767, B737, B747 and Mi171A for pilots, mechanics and flight engineers of domestic and international airline companies. The age of the private and commercial pilot students ranges from 18 to 25 years and for the refreshment courses the age varies from 25 to 45 years. The flight programs include physics, mathematics, low and high speed aerodynamics performance, electrical systems, navigation systems and aeronautical radio communication. These are the basic subjects required by DAC (Departamento de Aviação Civil – Civil Aviation Department).

Tadeu Fernandes, PY1KCF, the radio contact coordinator for this ISS contact and his team did a very good job! They used a 5 elements Yagi antenna with circular polarization.

The audience in the shack was about 60 listeners.

At exactly 15:54 UTC, right on schedule, contact with NA1SS was established. Astronaut William McArthur answered 17 questions on various topics. The sound was generally clear and the signal was most part of the contact good.

A technical magazine of Rio de Janeiro covered the event. Unfortunately, all the TV- and radio-stations were engaged in new-year-events.

The contact was a success!

73, Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ, ARISS mentor

Hawthorne Brook Middle School Successfully Contacts NA1SS

On November 29, 2005 at 18:24 UTC students at Hawthorne Brook Middle School had the opportunity to speak directly with ISS Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur via NA1SS in yet another successful ARISS contact. Coordinating teacher Marilyn Richardson used her own amateur radio call sign N1CSH to establish contact with Space Station as soon as it rose above the horizon.

During the 9 minute pass 17 students from grades 6, 7, and 8 asked questions and received answers from NA1SS on a wide variety of topics. Wearing blue t-shirts with an image of the ISS they stood in que waiting to take their place at the microphone. Meanwhile the ground track of Space Station during this direct contact was projected on a large screen at the front of the room.

Looking on from the audience were 104 of their classmates, 12 staff, members of the media (4 newspapers), and invited guests. The North Middlesex Regional School District was represented by the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of Schools, as well as the Director of Professional Development.

The ground station was assembled by members of the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club ( www.n1nc.org ). Their assistance was critical in meeting some of the challenges associated with the location of the school. In order to clear surrounding tree tops a 100 foot mobile tower (extended to 70 feet) was setup on the schools basketball court! This degree of support resulted in a very successful contact for the students. Congratulations and thanks to Stan KD1LE, Bob W1XP, Larry KB1ESR, Joel W1JMM, Les N1SV, Gary K1YTS and Richard KB1MBR.

The coordinating teacher Marliyn, N1CSH, did an excellent job of preparing the students for the contact and the students did a fine job of presenting their questions. Both deserve further congratulations in making this 208th ARISS contact a success.

Hawthorne Brooke Middle School is located in the north/central portion of the State of Massachusetts, USA and has been serving the communities of Townsend and Ashby, in Middlesex County since 1978.

73,
Wayne Harasimovitch, VE1WPH
ARISS Mentor

Students at “Science on Stage” Festival Talk with ISS

“Science on Stage” is a programme for European Science Teachers. This year, the Festival goes on 21-25 November at CERN (European Nuclear Research Center) in Geneva. 300 Science Teachers from 25 countries present experiments and teaching methods.

ESA, the European Space Agency, has invited students from 6 different countries for a 3 days visit at CERN during the Festival. ESA has asked ARISS to set up an ARISS School Contact during this visit.

Tuesday 22 November 2005, 17 students had the opportunity to participate to the Space Talk. The students were from Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Norway and Portugal.

They had prepared these questions:

1. When you are up in space, looking down at the Earth, can you see the air pollution or do you need a special device? OVER
2. When I sleep I turn around in my bed to be comfortable. Do you turn around when you sleep in space? OVER
3. What can the astronauts eat in the Space Station? Are there any restrictions in their diet? OVER
4. If you put your thumb over the Sun, from the ISS, can you see the solar corona? Can you see the stars in the background? OVER
5. Are you able to watch extreme weather on the earth from the ISS? OVER
6. What was the biggest difficulty that you have experienced in space so far? OVER
7. The calcium in the bones of astronauts is being broken down as fast as on Earth but bone tissue is very slowly produced. Why is this? OVER
8. When did you become interested in spaceflight? OVER
9. In what way can manned spaceflight contribute to the study of environmental and ecological problems, such as the ozone hole or greenhouse effect? OVER
10. When you look outside of the ISS what is similar to looking outside of an airplane and what is totally different (besides floating)? OVER
11. Is it possible to see damages on the earth, like earthquakes, oil spills or reduction of rain forests? OVER
12. Do you now feel the same person you were before going into space? OVER
13. What protects a shuttle against the dangerous radiation of sun flares? When they are powerful can’t they get through the protection shields? OVER
14. Do you feel safe in space or are you afraid of accidents? OVER
15. What are the qualifications that somebody needs in order to become an astronaut? OVER
16. How long is your stay in orbit? Do you have some privacy? How many are you together and what space do you have in total? OVER
17. Can you describe what it’s like to walk outside the ISS, to repair something for instance? OVER
18. How is the supply of Oxygen regulated in the Space Station? OVER

ESA’s planning wanted the space contact to take place on Tuesday 22 November 2005 in the afternoon. There was a pass of the ISS over ARISS ground station NN1SS at Goddard Space Flight Center at 15:18 UTC. Therefore the solution was to set up a “telebridge”.

The contact was a success. Bill McArthur answered 17 questions during the 9 minutes long contact. See audio recording hereto appended.

The radio at NN1SS was operated by Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, Will Marchant, KC6ROL acted as moderator and Gaston Bertels, ON4WF presented ARISS to the audience and conducted operations at CERN.

Besides the 30 students invited by ESA, many science teachers attended the event in CERN’s main auditorium.

CERN’s technical team did an excellent job setting up the telebridge which, as usually, was offered courtesy of MCI.

Members of CERN’s amateur radio club also assisted : Claudia Wulz, F5NYQ, Jaakko Koivuniemi, OH7BF and Betty Magnin, F8IOC.

The space talk was relayed realtime to several continents. Dieter Schliemann, KX4Y provided the feed into Echolink and Wayne Harasimovitch, VE1WPH set up the feed to IRLP.

Congratulations and many thanks for a job well done.
73
Gaston Bertels, ON4WF
ARISS-Europe chairman

CERN audio (mp3)

Furtherwick Park School, Essex, UK Talks to ISS

On Wednesday 9 November 2005 at 17:47 UTC, students from Furtherwick Park School, Canvey Island, Essex were able to chat with astronaut Bill McArthur orbiting the earth aboard the International Space Station.

The pupils used amateur radio equipment to ask the astronauts questions as they passed 250 miles above the earth travelling at 17500mph. 18 students asked the questions.

Furtherwick Park School had received a special request from Mustapha Landoulsi, DL1BDF to accept a question from Tunisia. The Tunisian Scouts had prepared the question that was read out by a Furtherwick Park pupil. The World summit on the Information Society will take place in Tunis 16-18 November 2005 and the recording of the Furtherwick ARISS School Contact will be presented to the public visiting the Exhibition set up in Tunis to accompany the Summit.

This ARISS School Contact has been prepared by John Lewis Houghton, Head of Science Department and implemented by South Essex Amateur Radio Society (S.E.A.R.S). Carlos Eavis, G0AKI of the R.S.G.B and Howard Long, G6LVB of AMSAT UK offered their assistance.

Dave Speechley, G4UVJ Chairman of S.E.A.R.S, who operated the station GB2FPS, said the students of Furtherwick Park School really enjoyed it. The School hall was packed and was covered by all the local Media and BBC Essex Radio. A great day was had by all, for it’s not everyday you get a chance to speak to someone orbiting the earth.

There was a bit of a fright between Question 11 and 12 when Bill McArthur jumped frequency, but it turned out ok and in the end a great contact.

The School intends to keep the concept of Space on there science education lessons.

The Radio Society of Great Britain's GB4FUN communications and demonstration vehicle also attended the event, providing a full backup station.

An audio file of the Spacetalk is available here : Furtherwick.mp3

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

ARISS-Europe chairman

William McArthur Talks With Italian School

Wednesday 9 November 2005 at 10:30 UTC, i.e. 11:30 local time, the Istituto Comprensivo Francesco Negri in Casale Monferrato, Italy, established a telebridge contact with US astronaut William McArthur, KC5ACR, on board the International Space Station, via the ARISS Ground Station in Hawaii operated by Nancy Rocheleau, WH6PN. Will Marchant was the moderator of the contact.

The school center “Istituto Comprensivo Francesco Negri” in Casale Monferrato consists of a kindergarten, an elementary school, a middle school (totaly 735 pupils) and a center of education and formation of adult people (900 adult students) and is located in the north-western part of Italy, alongshore the biggest italian river “Po”, exactly between the two cities Milano and Torino, the city of the next Winter Olympic Games in 2006.

Casale Monferrato was build by the Romans; it was located along the salt-route between ancient Rome and the center of Europe. Today, agriculture is very important in the economy of the area, above all the production of the famous italian long grain rice.

Claudio Ariotti, IK1SLD, the radio contact coordinator for this ISS contact did a very good job!

He implemented an audio link to the assembly hall where all the students of the school could follow the contact.

The audience in the assembly hall was big: the students of the school, teachers, parents, representatives of the Board of Directors and of the national and regional amateur radio associations, high representatives of the Ministry of Education, of the civilian and military authorities of the Province of Alessandria and of the Region Piemonte.

At exactly 10:30 UTC, right on schedule, contact with NA1SS was established by WH5PN. Astronaut William McArthur answered 20 questions on various topics. The astronaut replied for example that the temperature is about 20 to 22 degrees Celsius inside the module and about minus 150 degrees Celsius outside the module in the shadow. The signal was almost all the time absolutely clear and loud. During the answer of the 20th question the signal of the ISS went down. The coordinator Claudio Ariotti let the astronaut listen to the applause of the audience.

The national newspapers La Stampa, Il Giornale, Il Secolo XIX, the local newspapers Il Monferrato, La Vita Casalese, Il Piccolo, La Sesia and the radio channel Radio Deejay covered the event.

Because of a strike of the mass media a report of the contact will be broadcast in a few days by the TV channels RAI3 Piemonte, TG Leonardo RAI and Canale Satellitare di Roma.

73, Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ, ARISS mentor

Negri.mp3

The NES Educator Contact on the 20th went very well. All 14 questions were answered and we were able to ask a 15th---for John to describe the Soyuz undock and re-dock that occurred on Tuesday. The educators derived a lot of benefit from this activity which they will bring into the NASA Explorer School program. Approximately 35 educators attending the NES workshop at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center participated.

The contact was performed simultaneously in two very close locations. The start and finish of the contact was performed at the NN1SS ground station located inside Building 11 of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In the middle of the contact, as the ISS positioned itself closer to Goddard, a second station was utilized. This station was located a few hundred feet, outside building 11 where half the educators were positioned to communicate with the ISS. This portable system, using an HT and an arrow antenna, was successfully used to ask 6 of the 15 questions during this ARISS event. The 2 station event was closely choreographed using 70 cm radios while the two stations could simultaneously hear the full set of questions being asked and the answers from Astronaut John Phillips. The educators, several with tears in the eyes, said this was one of the best events they have experienced.

12 students of Hosokawa junior high school prepared 24 questions for ISS astronaut John Phillips. They asked him 22 of those questions, which he answered before the Space Station dropped below the horizon. Audience: Students: 300 Others (including parents) : 100 TV Station: 1 (Local cable TV) Newspapers: 2

Russian callsigns for voice	RS0ISS, RZ3DZR
USA callsign for voice	NA1SS
European callsign for voice	DP0ISS, OR4ISS
Kenwood Packet station BBS/PMS callsign	RS0ISS-11
Kenwood Packet/APRS unproto alias	ARISS

Other Sources of information