Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
ARISS Antennas Set to Launch on NASA Mission in December, ARRL
“Columbus, the laboratory built by the European Space Agency (ESA), is now packed inside space shuttle Atlantis’ payload bay. It is the culmination of years of design and engineering work aimed at creating Europe’s primary component for the International Space Station (ISS). At 23 feet long and 15 feet in diameter, the cylindrical segment is designed to host specialized experiments examining how humans react to microgravity and the effect of space on various fluids and objects such as crystals. Two Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) antennas have been installed on the nadir side of Columbus. NASA is currently planning on a launch date of Thursday, December 6 for Atlantis.”
Plan Today For Your School to Have an ARISS Contact, ARRL
“According to ARRL ARISS Program Manager Rosalie White, K1STO, a record number of Amateur Radio on the International Space Station school contacts have been made during 2007 — 74, to be exact. This is nearly twice the highest number of school contacts the astronauts and the ARISS Team handled in previous years. “Though the ARISS Team’s expectations are a little lower for being able to achieve this level of contact activity in 2008, this is a good time to file an application and begin making preparations for your school to have an ARISS contact,” White said.”
ARISS Antennas Installed on Columbus, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
“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.”
Ham Radio on the ISS, NASA
When astronauts, cosmonauts and mission specialists from many nations fly on the international space station, they will have amateur, or ham, radio as a constant companion.
Since its first flight in 1983, ham radio has flown on more than two-dozen space shuttle missions. Dozens of astronauts have used the Space Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment, or SAREX, to talk to thousands of kids in school and to their families on Earth while they were in orbit. They have pioneered space radio experimentation, including television and text messaging as well as voice communication. The Russians have had a similar program for the cosmonauts aboard the Russian Space Station Mir. When U.S. astronauts were aboard Mir in preparation for the long duration missions of the international space station, they used amateur radio for communication, including emergency messaging while Mir was in distress.
ARISS was created in 1996 to meet certain objectives and was the logical outgrowth of the very successful amateur radio activities on the Mir space station and the space shuttle.
As human space flight moves into a new uncharted era, an organization called ARISS, which stands for Amateur Radio on international space station, has been formed to design, build and operate equipment. In 1996, delegates from major national radio organizations and from AMSAT, which stands for the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, in eight nations involved with the international space station signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form ARISS.
NASA and the Russian space organization Energia have signed agreements that spell out the place of amateur radio on the station. A technical team, called ISS Ham, has been officially established to serve as the interface to support hardware development, crew training and on-orbit operations.
In the United States, the American Radio Relay League, which is also known as ARRL, and AMSAT provide leadership and consultation. They also donate and build hardware as well as making sure safety and qualification tests are successfully completed so the equipment can fly. The Russians have provided ports so that antennas can be mounted on the station’s Zvezda Service Module — the space station unit that provides living quarters for the astronauts and cosmonauts.
United States and Russian teams have trained the astronauts and cosmonauts to operate the equipment. The Italian team has designed and built antennas. The German team has built sophisticated repeater stations that will allow crews to make recorded reports on their daily activities and permit hams on Earth better contacts with men and women aboard the station.
This is a photo of the initial radio station amateur equipment while it was being tested. After testing, the equipment was stowed aboard space shuttle Atlantis for delivery to the international space station during STS-106. The initial space station operations will be mostly voice and packet, a text messaging device. The first initial radio station was flown onboard the space shuttle Atlantis on STS-106. The crew transferred the ham radio gear into the space station for future use by the Expedition One crew.
More than 40 missions over five years will be required to assemble the international space station in orbit. The astronauts and cosmonauts will work hard on these missions, but they plan to take some time off for educational outreach contacts with schools. NASA’s Division of Education is a major supporter of the amateur radio activity.
The sponsoring agencies have stated that they consider access to a ham radio system a requirement for psychological support of the crews, by providing family and general contacts for people who will be in space many weeks at a time. As the international space station takes its place in the heavens, the amateur radio community is prepared to do its part by helping to enrich the experience of those visiting and living on the station.
