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 Previous: New England Amateur Radio Volunteers Wrap Up after Flooding | ![Next (later) Story](/images/sty-up.gif "How a Small Group of Volunteers Became "The Little Club that Could""){kind=small} Next: How a Small Group of Volunteers Became "The Little Club that Could" |
 Gaze into your crystal ball, put on your thinking cap or get out your slide rule and enter your best prediction of when SuitSat-1 will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. [AMSAT graphic] |
NEWINGTON, CT, May 24, 2006--The sky is falling! Well, not really, Chicken Little, but the now-silent SuitSat-1--the Russian Orlan spacesuit cum Amateur Radio satellite--is likely to fall into Earth's atmosphere and burn up in a few weeks. Launched February 3 from the International Space Station, SuitSat-1 was a project of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. Identifying as RS0RS and transmitting voice greetings and an SSTV picture, SuitSat-1 remained operational for more than two weeks, easily outlasting initial predictions that it would transmit for about one week. The only rub was that its signal was far less robust than its sponsors had expected.
"The orbit life is dependent on the atmospheric drag that the satellite experiences," ARISS International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said when SuitSat-1 was launched. An analysis done prior to its deployment predicted a 70 to 120-day orbital life for SuitSat-1. That suggests the end should come by sometime in early June at the latest.
The mission continues to capture imaginations around the world as well as attention in the popular press. The Reader's Digest "America's 100 Best: The 2006 List" judged SuitSat-1 "Best Empty Suit." In its June issue Popular Science ran an article about SuitSat-1, with photos, called "Tossed in Space. The scouting magazine Boys Life also plans an article.
 SuitSat-1 in space: "Oh my goodness!" said Chicken Little. "The sky is falling! I must go and tell the king!" [NASA Photo] |
 ISS Expedition 13 flight engineer Valery Tokarev puts the finishing touches on SuitSat-1 prior to launch. [NASA Photo] |
To keep the momentum going a bit longer ARISS and AMSAT are sponsoring a "Chicken Little Contest," in which participants pick the date on which they believe SuitSat-1 will drop out of orbit. Some radio amateurs already have begun posting their own Chicken Little dates on the AMSAT Bulletin Board.
The winner will be the individual who picks the date closest to SuitSat-1's actual re-entry. Enter by filling out the online entry form on the AMSAT Web site.
The SuitSat-1 "Chicken Little Contest" has three entry categories: Kindergarten through grade 8; high school (grades 9-12), and adult. The contest rules permit only one entry per person. Certificates will go to winners of each group. Winners also earn bragging rights, as well as the fame and notoriety associated with successful re-entry prognostication.
SuitSat-1 has been in orbit for more than 110 days. As of May 24, it was at an altitude of 325 km (approximately 202 miles). In time, the novel satellite will pick up more drag from Earth's upper atmosphere, and the heat from friction will cause it to burn up and vaporize.
Bauer credits ARISS-Russia's Sergei Samburov, RV3DR, and
his colleagues with coming up with the SuitSat concept, called Radioskaf
or Radio Sputnik in Russian. ARISS has left the door open to launching a
SuitSat-2 in the future.
| Previous: New England Amateur Radio Volunteers Wrap Up after Flooding | Next: How a Small Group of Volunteers Became "The Little Club that Could" |
