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 Previous: The K7VVV Solar Update |  Next: Surfin': Singing the Praises of Pinging |
 US astronaut Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD, at work in the ISS Destiny Lab. [NASA Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 9, 2002--US Astronaut Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD, was the guest of honor via ham radio August 7 of more than 100 youngsters attending space camp in Belgium. The direct contact between NA1SS aboard the ISS and ON4ESC at the Euro Space Center, which is hosting the camp, was arranged and coordinated via the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. "In the auditorium on a big screen, the children saw the ISS approaching Europe from over the Atlantic Ocean," said ARISS Vice Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF. "They had been introduced to ham radio on the ISS, and now--a half an hour before the contact--they were putting dozens of questions to the ARISS representative and eagerly gathering answers."
Because the youngsters spoke either Dutch or French, a computer program was used by those translating the astronaut's English into Dutch and French to display the translations on the screen, Bertels said. Campers ranged in age from 8 to 15.
Among other things, Whitson talked about what got her interested in becoming an astronaut. "When I was nine, I watched Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon," she told the youngsters, "and I thought that it would be a very special job to be able to be an astronaut."
 The new ARISS antennas: The WA1 through WA3 antennas will support VHF and UHF with the flexible tapes. The WA4 antenna includes the 2.5-meter flexible tape for HF. The flat spiral L/S-band microwave antenna is within the Delrin radome cover. The systems include a diplexer and interconnecting RF cables as well as mounting hardware. One VHF-UHF antenna and the HF antenna already have been installed on the ISS. |
Bertels said two TV stations with national coverage as well as major newspapers covered the event.
The space camp contact marked Whitson's third such QSO for ARISS. On August 2, Whitson answered questions from 15 students via 8N3ISS at the Kansai Ham Festival 2002 in Hirakata, Japan. On July 3, Whitson had a successful direct contact with DN1SZA at the Progymnasium Rosenfeld in Germany. In the coming weeks, other ARISS school and educational contacts are tentatively set with The Netherlands, Russia, Israel, Belgium, Australia, Canada and the US.
ARISS Antennas Set for Installation August 23
"WA1 will be located at the 8 o'clock position, and WA2 will be located at the 4 o'clock position," said ARISS International Board Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. For reference, he notes that 6 o'clock is pointing toward Earth. Expedition 5 Crew Commander Valery Korzun, RZ3FK and cosmonaut Sergei Treschev, RZ3FU, will carry out the extra-vehicular activity--or EVA, as NASA calls space walks.
 The ARISS WA3 antenna, installed in January, is visible on the ISS Service Module at about the 10 o'clock position. [NASA Photo] |
In other ARISS news, NASA has announced that it will deploy the last two ISS Amateur Radio antennas during the second of two space walks set for August. The two VHF-UHF flexible tape antennas--designated WA1 and WA2--will be installed August 23 along the perimeter of the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module--the crew's living quarters--closest to the Soyuz docking port.
Both the August 16 and August 23 space walks will be covered live on NASA Television, which is available via cable in many areas. NASA Television also is available via the Web. The August 16 space walk will begin at 0700 UTC; the August 23 space walk will begin at 0400 UTC. The live NASA Television coverage will include commentary on the space walks, each of which is expected to last about six hours.
 Increment 5 crew commander Valery Korzun, RZ3FK (left), and crewmate Sergei Treschev, RZ3FU--shown here during training for their current mission--will conduct the August 23 space walk to install the ARISS antennas. [NASA Photo] |
The specially designed flexible-tape antennas will support ARISS VHF and UHF operation and are similar to an antenna installed last January 14 by the Expedition 4 crew. Bauer says that once the antennas are installed and tests planned for September are completed in Russia, additional ISS ham radio equipment will be installed in the Service Module.
Click here to hear the contact between NA1SS and ON4ESC on August 7. Audio compliments of Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, and the European Space Center. [9:38] |
Installation of the new antenna on the Zvezda Service Module makes possible two separate ham stations aboard Space Station Alpha. The ARISS initial ham station gear--a single-band Ericsson MP-X 5-W hand-held transceiver for 2 meters--is installed in the Zarya Functional Cargo Block (FGB). It uses antennas initially installed to aid docking operations and EVAs. Due to be installed in the Service Module is an Ericsson 5-W 70-cm transceiver already aboard the ISS. Plans call for installing HF gear at NA1SS, as well as higher power VHF and UHF equipment.
ARISS is an
international project sponsored jointly by ARRL, NASA and AMSAT. A
paper entitled "2001: an Amateur Radio Space Odyssey on the International Space
Station," which details the development of ARISS and discusses the four new
ARISS antennas, is available via the ARISS Web site.--Information
for this report was provided by Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, and by NASA
| Previous: The K7VVV Solar Update | Next: Surfin': Singing the Praises of Pinging |
