AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-282
************************************************************** *The AMSAT Satellite Symposium for 2011 is being held November 4 though * *November 6 in San Jose California. This includes daily exciting forums on all * *Aspects of satellite activity. BOD members will be there to introduce newly * *Elected officers. They will be available to you, the members, to answer * *Questions and give you an insight to our unique group. A delicious banquet * * dinner will be held on Saturday evening with our guest speaker * * Lance Ginner, K6GSJ and Banquet prizes will be given out to some of our lucky * * attendees. All information can be found on the AMSAT website under the * * Symposium informational heading. * *************************************************************** ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-edi...@amsat.org In this edition: * ARISsat-1 Chicken Little Contest * Get Ready for Scouting's JOTA on October 15-16 * ARISSAT-1/KEDR Team Announces CW Contest * Satellite Shorts * AMSAT-UK Telemetry App to Fly on STRaND-1 SmartPhone Satellite * India CubeSats For Launch on October 12 * ARISS Status - 3 October 2011 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-282.01 ARISsat-1 Chicken Little Contest AMSAT News Service Bulletin 282.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-282.01 ARISSat-1 has many more days to go, but the Chicken Little Contest to predict its reentry date is coming to an end. Submissions will close on Friday, October 15th, 2011 at 23:59 UTC. You can find the details of the contest at www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ARISSat/ARISSatContest We are looking for all submissions, but especially from students, or student clubs or organizations. The closest estimates in each category will be recognized. If you know any technically inclined students, please draw their attention to this opportunity. And don't forget to enter your own prediction! Alan WA4SCA [ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-282.02 Get Ready for Scouting's JOTA on October 15-16 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 282.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-282.02 Get Ready for Scouting's JOTA on October 15-16 Scouting's Jamboree on the Air event is coming up on October 15-16. During this annual event Scouts and Guides all over the world speak to each other over amateur radio contacts. Scouting experiences are exchanged and ideas are shared, via the radio waves. The event starts at 00.00 hours local time on the Saturday and con- cludes 48 hours later at 24.00 hours local time on the Sunday. Each station can choose its own operating hours within this period. Each year during JOTA about half-a-million Scouts and Guides "get together" over the airwaves. Modern communication technology offers Scouts the exciting opportunity to make friends in other countries. Most Scouts take advantage of the local volunteer efforts of amateur radio operators in their area. This is where you can volunteer your station for scouting participation. You may also help by answering calls on the air from scouts. AMSAT encourages our members to take advantage of JOTA to provide amateur satellite demonstrations. The World Scouting Organization in Switzerland posted JOTA information on their web: http://tinyurl.com/3rfp2cn (www.scout.org) Also, visit the World Scouting Radio Library at: http://tinyurl.com/5sz7tf5 (www.scout.org) The Boy Scouts of America has several resources on-line for amateur radio stations participating in JOTA: http://tinyurl.com/6d93qb7 (Boy Scouts of America www.scouting.org) ARISS says Mike Fossum KF5AQG is planning to participate in JOTA from the International Space Station during the weekend of Octo- ber 15-16 using the call sign NA1SS. His schedule is somewhat flexible on the weekends but will not be available for every pass. The typical crew work periods are 0800- 1930 UTC but they are sometimes available a bit later. When available, Mike will be listening on the ITU Region 1 (Europe, Russia and Africa) uplink of 145.200 MHz FM and ITU regions 2 & 3 (everywhere else) will use the uplink of 144.49 MHz. He will be using the call sign NA1SS. Worldwide downlink for NA1SS is 145.800 MHz FM. [ANS thanks the Scouting Movement for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-282.03 ARISSAT-1/KEDR Team Announces CW Contest AMSAT News Service Bulletin 282.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-282.03 On August 3, 2011, the Amateur Radio satellite, ARISSat-1 began its education-based mission after deployment from the Interna- tional Space Station. Students, teachers and amateur radio oper- ators are invited to learn more about the satellite as a tool for education and its other features at http://www.arissat1.org. The ARISSat-1 mission is to provide a variety of information through its many broadcast modes promoting STEM based education initiatives in the classroom. One of its modes is CW transmission. CW stands for "continuous wave" and is transmitted in Morse code. To entice student interest in receiving Morse code, a CW contest has been created and all listeners are invited to participate. Throughout recent history, a number of amateur radio operators, also known as hams, have made significant strides in developing space communications via ham radio. These are hams such as Owen Garriot, W5LFL making the first amateur radio contact from space and Jim White, WD0E, a technical contributor to the amateur sat- ellite program. To celebrate their accomplishments, the call signs of over 200 of these hams have been digitally stored on board ARISSat-1 and are being transmitted in rotation using Morse code at 145.92 MHz. The call signs can be heard between the RS01S CW identification and the CW telemetry in the repeated code trans- mission sequence. To be a participant in the CW contest, all you have to do is copy and submit any 6 of the 200+ call signs you hear during multiple satellite passes, then submit the following information to: cwrep...@arissat1.org. + Your name or group's name + Your ham call sign if applicable + Time in UTC and date of reception of each call sign + Your City, State, Country + Your email address + Your list of 6 call signs you have received A major goal for this contest is to promote student interest in learning Morse code which continues to play an important role in emergency communications and is a fun way of sending messages us- ing ham radio. In that spirit, we ask that participants copy the code by hand and refrain from using artificial means, e.g., elec- tronic decoders, to decode the call signs. Due to the possibility of interference or excessive ambient noise that might be present during the pass, recording the code for playback and deciphering after the pass is permissible. A copy of this information on the contest can also be found by going to http://www.arissat1.org and choosing the subtitle marked CW CONTEST under the Education menu. For more detailed information on how to receive and decipher the CW transmissions, visit www.arissat1.org and choose the menu labeled FAQ and subtitle Receiving ARISSat-1. We invite everyone to participate and be an important part of the ARISSat-1 mission experience. Questions concerning the contest should be directed to: kc0...@yahoo.com. A Very Important Note: ---------------------- All ARISSat-1 listeners should refrain from publically disclosing any received call signs from their list. The call signs should only be posted to the CWreport email address mentioned above. Posting the contest call signs on the internet, amsat-bb, other bulletin boards or any areas for public viewing will result in the listener or group being disqualified from the contest along with the disclosed call signs. More information on the transmission schedule and overall mission of ARISSat-1/KEDR can be found at: ARISSat-1 Web site: http://www.arissat1.org AMSAT Web site: http://www.amsat.org ARISS Web site: http://www.ariss.org ARISS Facebook Page: Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) ARISS Twitter site: @ARISS_status The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) is a non-profit, volunteer organization which designs, builds and operates experi- mental amateur radio satellites and promotes space education. We work in partnership with government, industry, educational insti- tutions and fellow amateur radio societies. We encourage technical and scientific innovation, and promote the training and development of skilled satellite and ground system designers and operators. Our vision is to deploy satellite systems with the goal of providing wide area and continuous coverage for amateur radio operators world- wide. AMSAT is also an active participant in human space missions and supports satellites developed in cooperation with the educa- tional community and other amateur satellite groups. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a volunteer program which inspires students, worldwide, to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math through ama- teur radio communications opportunities with the International Space Station on-orbit crew. Students learn about life on board the ISS and explore Earth from space through science and math activities. ARISS provides opportunities for the school community (students, teachers, families and local residents) to become more aware of the substantial benefits of human space flight and the exploration and discovery that occur on space flight journeys along with learning about technology and amateur radio. [ANS thanks the ARISSat-1/KEDR Team for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-282.04 Satellite Shorts AMSAT News Service Bulletin 282.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-282.04 AMSAT's Lou McFadin, W5DID Featured in Interview at DXCoffee.com Tune your web broswer over to: http://www.dxcoffee.com/eng/2011/10/03/amateur-radio-nasa/ There you will find an interview which traces Lou's 30 years in space with projects at NASA and AMSAT. Lou worked for NASA from 1967 to 1995 on projects ranging from Apollo moon landings to Lunar Orbit Experiments, the Apollo Soyuz program, the Shuttle, and the ISS. On the amateur radio in space front Lou was the engineer behind getting the ham radio gear on the Shuttle flights and then aboard the ISS. Enjoy the well-written, in-depth interview with Lou, W5DID! Best wishes to Lou and thanks to DXCoffee.com. [ANS thanks DXCoffee.com for the above information] __________________________________________ People -* In one month*, AMSAT will hold the 2011 Space Symposium and Annual Meeting. The venue is the Wyndham hotel in San Jose, CA. Please do not hesitate to make your hotel reservations. Information can be found on the AMSAT website along with the registration form for the meeting and banquet. -- 73- Martha ___________________________________________ ***************************** AMSAT Symposium 'Sunday Tour' Arrangements have been made for 2011 AMSAT Symposium Attendees to tour the well-known Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, CA on Sunday. See: http://www.thetech.org/ This museum is located in downtown San Jose, three blocks from the Paseo de San Antonio Station on the VTA Light Rail System. See: http://www.vta.org/ The current plan is for those interested in visiting the museum to gather in the Wyndham Hotel Lobby (site of the AMSAT Symposium) at 0945 AM Sunday morning, 6 NOV 11 and travel as a group on the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail system to downtown (each person purchases their own fare at the VTA Gish Station from a ticket vending machine), walk three blocks to the museum and have each person purchase their admission ticket at a group discount. AMSAT Symposium Attendees traveling together to the museum will save $4.00 on the price of admission ($8.00 versus the normal $12.00, not including IMAX) as well as savings on IMAX. Note: Since we're visiting the museum during the first weekend in November, individuals with Bank of America ATM credit or check card and valid ID are entitled to free admission to the regular galleries (not IMAX) under the Bank's "Museums on Us" program. Details may be found here: http://www.thetech.org/plan_visit/info/#prices While at the museum individuals may take a self-guided tour. Individuals may return to the hotel on their own using VTA. The VTA light rail line also goes to the San Jose International Airport, so those wishing to visit the museum prior to catching a flight from SJC may do so and take the VTA Mountain View to Winchester Line to the Metro/Airport station stop (one stop beyond Gish Station for the Wyndham Hotel) and then take the free "VTA/SJC Airport Flyer" to the airport itself. The Flyer operates every 15 minutes. Questions about these arrangements should be directed to Symposium Chairman Alan Bowker, WA6DNR (wa6dnr at amsat.org). ***************************************************** Silent Key: Al Lee, WA4EWV It is with sadness that AMSAT notes the passing of Al Lee, WA4EWV on September 30, 2011. Al was at a hospital in Tallahassee Florida, following a brief illness. Al was very interested in satellite work and EME communications. He loved chasing new countries. Those who knew Al will remember his quick smile, kind nature, and truly wonderful sense of humour. Al was a captain for Delta airlines, flying a 767-ER from Atlanta to Frankfurt and back every week. VE1KG wrote, "Al was a great friend & a devoted husband to Bettie and an equally devoted Father to his three children. He was taken far too soon, and too suddenly. I will miss you, we will miss you. Rest in Peace my dear friend." [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-282.05 AMSAT-UK Telemetry App to Fly on STRaND-1 SmartPhone Satellite AMSAT News Service Bulletin 282.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-282.05 AMSAT-UK Telemetry App to Fly on STRaND-1 SmartPhone Satellite STRaND-1, the World's first SmartPhone Nanosatellite, under develop- ment by researchers at the University of Surrey and United Kingdom's SSTL is being built in engineer's free time and using advanced com- mercial off-the-shelf components is planned for launch into orbit around the Earth in early 2012. The team plans to fly an Android-based smartphone using its installed accelerometers and GPS receivers as the heart of its guidance system. They will also use the phone's camera, speaker, mic and touchscreen display to run some interesting orbital apps. The apps that have been selected to run on the SmartPhone were ann- ounced this week. They include: + Scream In Space, from a UK student ensemble, called Cambridge Uni- versity Spaceflight, will run videos of people screaming on the phone's display, and these will be recorded by a minicam pointing at the phone. They will then check if the vibration from the phone's loudspeaker is picked up through its chassis by the mic - effectively making the scream in space audible, despite the vacuum in the unpressurised spacecraft. + 'Postcards from Space' and '360' will both take pictures of the earth using the phone's camera to work out exactly where the satellite is. Hopefully, says SSTL, schoolchildren will be able to order a satellite picture of the Earth that the Nexus One's 5-mega- pixel camera will shoot for them. + iTesa is an app that will use the satellite's onboard magnetometer to measure variations of the Earth's magnetic field. + Telemetry data on the satellite's progress through space will be visible on the phone's screen thanks to an app called Strand Data, developed by the people behind the educational Funcube satellite. Details of the STRaND-1 satellite can be found on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/3nbhw76 (sstl.co.uk) The New Scientist web site article about the orbital apps can be found on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/6hub9o6 (newscientist.com) [ANS thanks SSTL and NewScientist.com for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-282.06 India CubeSats For Launch on October 12 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 282.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-282.06 India CubeSats For Launch on October 12 Two university cubesats JUGNU and SRMSAT are ready for launch from ISRO's spaceport, Sriharikota, India on October 12. JUGNU was developed by a team of students and faculty at IIT Kanpur and ISRO scientists to launch India's first Nano Satellite. The satellite's mission includes: 1. Micro Imaging System 2. GPS receiver for locating the position of satellite in the orbit 3. MEMS based IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) Jugnu Frequencies: CW Beacon - 437.275 (17dbm) Pay load - 437.505 At press time no further information was available for SRMSAT other than its payload down link and CW Beacon will transmit on 437.425 MHz (10dbm) [ANS thanks Dinesh Cyanam, KC2YQJ; Sanjay Srikanth Nekkanti, AB3OE and Mani, VU2WMY for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-282.07 ARISS Status - 3 October 2011 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 282.07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-282.07 1. School Contacts S. K. Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Monday, October 3 at 14:46 UTC. Was successful. The school has been invited by the National Space Agency Satellite Ground Station (call sign 9M2RPN) to participate in the Prime Ministers National Space Challenge Trophy 2011, which has been an annual event since 2007, when Malaysian space participant, Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, flew to the ISS. The National Space Challenge involves a large number of students and encourages them to learn about space. The event receives extensive media coverage from newspapers, radio and television. George Observatory, Needville, Texas scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, October 8 at 16:50 UTC via telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii has been completed. Astronomy Day is put on each year by all the Astronomy clubs in the greater Houston area in conjunction with the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The event is held at the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park and draws 4000 attendees each year. The ARRL (American Radio Relay League) education and technology program will be used to prepare youth for the contact. A NASA booth will be set up and amateur astronomers and amateur radio operators will be available to discuss the ISS, space travel and forms of communication. 2. Lompoc High School Students Experience ARISS Contact On Thursday, September 29, students attending Lompoc High School in Lompoc, California connected with on-orbit astronaut Mike Fossum, KF5AQG via an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. Fossum fielded over ten questions before the ISS went over the horizon. Students who participated in the contact are involved in Lompoc's STaRS (Space, Technology and Robotics Systems) Academy. The event highlighted students studies covering space flight, the space environment, orbital motion, ground tracking, life support systems and rockets. The Santa Maria Times posted an article about the experience: http://santamariatimes.com/news/local/education/talking-to-an- astronaut-in-space/article_b85f7212-eb40-11e0-a23f-001cc4c002e0.html 3. NASA Shares Kiroli Contact Audio Kiroli Elementary School students from West Monroe, Louisiana took part in an ARISS contact with Satoshi Furukawa, KE5DAW on the International Space Station on September 22. This was the first ARISS contact for Louisianans. On Wednesday, September 28, NASA tweeted a link to the contact audio and also provided a link to audio on its Web site. http:// ia700705.us.archive.org/33/items/Expedition29/09-22-11_EXP29_HAM- Radio-Pass.mp3 4. Premier of Nunavut, Canada Promotes ARISS Eva Aariak, the Premier of the Territory of Nunavut, Canada, and Minister of Education, gave a talk about the importance of education, especially in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and how the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program makes learning interesting. See: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=0jSroPPcXtM 5. Astronaut Training Status ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has been assigned callsign IZ0UDF. Cristoforetti was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009. 6. ARRL QST on ARISS The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) October QST had several items related to ARISS, as follows: The "In Brief" column made mention of the deployment of ARISSat-1 from the ISS on August 3. Then the "Happenings" column carried a 3/4-page article covering the deployment in depth -- the article was titled, "Cosmonauts Deploy ARISSat-1 from ISS". The "Media Hits" column featured the many hits that the ARISSat team g ot, including national-level PR such as the UPI, International Business Times, EETimes, NASA.gov, and Space. The same column also made mention of an article in the Press & Sun-Bulletin of Vestal, NY that highlighted Kopernik Observatory's summer science Pegasus program for kids. (Kopernik sponsored the Windsor Central District schools' ARISS contact.) The article talked about Kopernik hams who helped kids make contact with ham satellites using the observatory's ham station. 7. ARRL Articles on ARISSat The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) posted two articles on ARISSat in its September 29 issue of the ARRL Letter. The first piece covers the survey about ARISSat operations. The second item is about the Chicken Little Contest which is being held to guess when ARISSat-1 will re-enter Earths atmosphere. Those who wish to participate may enter one of three categories: students in grades K-8, students in grades 9-12 and adults. Submissions will be accepted until October 15, 2011 at 23:59:00 (UTC). See: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2011-09-29 8. AMSAT Italia Presents Plaques to Expedition 26/27 Crew Members During the post-flight tour of the MagISStra mission, AMSAT Italia presented plaques to ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman. The inscriptions read: "in appreciation for the dedication so generously given by Catherine G. Coleman, KC5ZTH to scientific education and science dissemination" ESRIN - Frascati, 22 September 2011 "in apprezzamento dell'impegno profuso dal Socio d'Onore Paolo Nespoli, IZØJPA a sostegno dell'educazione e della divulgazione scientifica" ESRIN - Frascati, 22 Settembre 2011 For photos, see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63976489@N07/sets/72157627756635934/ 9. EE Times - ARISSat Blog New entries have been made to the EE (Electronic Engineering) Times Chips in Space blog about amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1. The second part of Lessons Learned may be found at this link: http://www.eetimes.com/ electronics-blogs/chips-in-space/4228027/Chips-in-Space--Lessons- learned--Part-2- Current results from the survey held about ARISSat-1 operations may be viewed here (the survey remains open): http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-blogs/other/4228654/Chips-in-Space-- Survey-Says- 10. Amateur Radio Newsline on ARISS The Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1781, posted on September 30, included a story on Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) 2011 which will be held over the October 15 16 weekend. The item mentions that ISS Astronaut Mike Fossum, KF5AQG is a scoutmaster and may be on the air over the weekend, if time allows. Ham Radio and Scouting: JOTA 2011 - October 15 16, may be viewed at: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Sign up for the Symposium and get your reservations in ASAP to take advantage Of the early discounts offered. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Dee Interdonato, NB2F Nb2f at amsat dot org
_______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb