SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-205.01 ISS Status Report 7/18/05 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 205.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 18, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-205.01 ARISS Status July 18, 2005 1. Upcoming School Contacts The shuttle STS-114 Return to Flight mission has been delayed. School contacts have been submitted for approval, and will resume as soon as the ISS schedule allows. 2. NES Teacher Workshop A NASA Explorer School (NES) Satellite Communication Class will be held at Goddard Space Flight Center this week. Two one hour sessions have been scheduled for the teachers with ARISS team members. An introduction to Amateur Radio and ARISS will be given during the first hour, and orbital elements, prediction programs, and how to track the ISS and shuttle will be addressed during the second session. There is the possibility of an ARISS contact being scheduled for the teachers during the week (depending on when the shuttle launches) which will give them an idea of how to incorporate the ARISS program in their own curricula. 3. SuitSat Status The ARISS-Russia team continues to work on the SuitSat hardware integration and testing. The team is compiling documentation necessary for flight certification of the SuitSat hardware. 4. ARRL Article on Return to Flight Mission ARRL ran an article on the STS-114 Return to Flight mission which includes the PCSAT2 status. The story, “Amateur Licensees among Shuttle Discovery Crew; PCSat2 Installation Set,” may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/07/12/3/?nc=1 5. PCSAT2/MISSE5 to Fly on STS-114 PCSAT2 will fly on the Return to Flight STS-114 mission, which may launch this week. It will be deployed via an EVA as an external payload on the ISS. This project is described in detail on Bruninga’s website, “PCSAT2 - External ISS Experiment in the Amateur Satellite Service.” See: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/pcsat2.html 6. ARISS International Meeting, Guildford, U.K. Preparations continue for the ARISS International Face-to-Face Meeting which will be held at the University of Surrey in Guildford, U.K. The agenda for the August 1 – 2 conference has been released. Information on the AMSAT-UK Colloquium and the ARISS International Meeting may be found on the following website: http://www.uk.amsat.org/Colloquium/default.php [ANS thanks Carol Jackson, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-205.02 SSETI Express readied for August 25 Launch AMSAT News Service Bulletin 205.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 24, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-205.02 ESA's latest update on the SSETI Express satellite due for launch August 25th can be seen at: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/jul2005/sseti_express_update.htm There will be a presentation on SSETI Express at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium, July 29 - 31st. All Radio Amateurs and SWL's are welcome to attend. Web: http://www.uk.amsat.org/Colloquium/ Note: The Uppercase "C" in Colloquium is needed. There is also a nice mention of Graham's, G3VZV, involvement with SSETI at Spacedaily.com ... - SSETI Express Sets Off http://www.spacedaily.com/news/microsat-05i.html [ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA, and Spacedaily.com for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-205.03 Shuttle Launch earliest possibility is next week AMSAT News Service Bulletin 205.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 19, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-205.03 NASA'S SHUTTLE LAUNCH AT LEAST ONE WEEK AWAY NASA is targeting Tuesday, July 26 as the earliest possible date to launch the Space Shuttle Discovery on the Return to Flight mission (STS-114). The determination was made during Monday's meeting of the Mission Management Team (MMT) at Kennedy. The MMT reviewed efforts by teams of engineers. The engineers are working through a troubleshooting plan to address an issue with a liquid hydrogen low-level fuel sensor circuit. The sensor circuit failed a routine pre-launch check during the countdown July 13, delaying Discovery's first launch attempt. NASA is still working to launch Discovery by the end of the July window that extends to the 31st. A dozen teams, with hundreds of engineers across the country, are expected to complete their battery of tests by Wednesday. While they have not isolated a cause of the sensor circuit failure, they have eliminated a number of possibilities. If the remaining tests are inconclusive, NASA could reload the External Tank with super-cooled propellants to see how the sensor circuit behaves. The tanking could be done as a test or as part of an actual launch countdown. Commander Eileen Collins and her six Discovery crew mates come out of quarantine today for one day off. They resume quarantine and training later this week. For the latest information about STS-114 on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight [ANS thanks Arthur, N1ORC for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-205.04 AMSAT Symposium AMSAT News Service Bulletin 205.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 24, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-205.04 Space! Ham radio goes there and you can join in the fun! Come to the AMSAT Technical Symposium and Annual Meeting this fall in lovely Lafayette, Louisiana. Education and technical sessions begin on Friday, the 7th of October. Technical, field ops, and the IARU forum follow through Sunday the 9th of October. Enjoy the best of Acadian Louisiana with Friday's "Shrimp Boil," Saturday's Banquet with great prizes, and Sunday's "Swamp Tour." Register on line! For more, see: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/. [ANS thanks JoAnne, WB9JEJ, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-205.05 Ballots in the mail AMSAT News Service Bulletin 205.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 24, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-205.05 ----- AMSAT-NA BOARD OF DIRECTORS BALLOTS IN THE MAIL Martha at AMSAT HQ reports that the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors ballots have been mailed. The ballot must be returned by the close of business, September 15, 2005. The application forms for the Symposium are also included in this mailing. Get yours in early and join the fun. [ANS thanks Martha at AMSAT HQ for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-205.06 Crossband Repeater on ISS AMSAT News Service Bulletin 205.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 24, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-205.06 ----- ISS CROSSBAND REPEATER IS ON The ISS cross-band or U/V repeater is ON. Downlink is 145.800 Uplink is 437.800 ± 10 KHz doppler Please keep in mind that the crew may be listening and may pick up their microphone. Complete instructions on the Doppler correction for the ISS crossband repeater are posted at http://www.rac.ca/ariss/. The ISS repeater does not use any PL to access the machine. Just remember to do the Doppler correction for the 70cm band especially. Charlie, AJ9N, one of the ARISS mentors wrote, "The better the antenna the better you will be able to access the repeater and enjoy longer time per pass. Yes, you can get in with a simple vertical, but it may be only for 3 or 4 minutes of a 10 minute pass". Cor, PD0RKC, has put together a lot of useful info for ISS and how to work ISS's repeater on his webpage: http://pd0rkc.mine.nu/issdoppler.html [ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, and Scott, WA6LIE, for the above information] /EX