The ARISSat-1 satellite (also known as KEDR) has spent several months aboard the International Space Station waiting for deployment by crew. According to the AMSAT News Service, that day is arriving soon.

AMSAT's Gould Smith, WA4SXM, stated, “As of July 22 we are looking at an August 3, 2011 date for EVA 29 and the ARISSat-1/KEDR deployment, subject to change due to ISS schedules. The preliminary Russian EVA-29 timeline shows the ARISSat/KEDR deployment is the first task of the EVA, so it will occur fairly soon after the EVA begins."

The ARISSat-1/KEDR battery is scheduled to be charged 24 hours beginning 24 July at 09:45 UTC. A test of the satellite inside the ISS is scheduled to run from 1900 UTC on Saturday, July 30 and turned off at 14:30 UTC on July 31.

During the test and upon deployment, ARISSat-1 will be active on the following frequencies and modes:

145.950 MHz FM Downlink: FM transmissions will cycle between a voice ID as RS01S, select telemetry values, 24 international greeting messages in 15 languages, and SSTV images.

435 MHz - 145 MHz Linear Transponder: The linear transponder will operate in Mode U/V (70 cm Up, 2m Down). It is a 16 kHz wide inverting passband and the convention will be to transmit LSB on the 435 MHz uplink and receive USB on the 145 MHz downlink.

145.919 MHz/145.939 MHz CW Beacons: The CW transmissions will be call sign ID RS01S, select telemetry, and call signs of people actively involved with the ARISS program.

145.920 MHz SSB BPSK-1000 Telemetry: The BPSK transmissions will feature a new 1kBPSK protocol developed by Phil Karn, KA9Q. When the CW2 beacon on 145.919 MHz is active this indicates that the BPSK-1000 format is being transmitted. If the CW1 beacon on 145.939 MHz is active this the backup of BPSK-400 format is being transmitted.

More information and links to software downloads are available on the AMSAT website.

--AMSAT News Service