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![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif "QRP Community: "Ham Radio New Year.""){kind=small} Previous: QRP Community: "Ham Radio New Year." |  Next: ARRL Education and Technology Program Expands Its Reach |
A cutaway view of the Columbus module, built by the European Space Agency and now awaiting launch at Kennedy Space Center. [ESA Graphic] |
Inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane carries the Columbus module toward a work stand. [NASA Photo by Jim Grossmann] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 20, 2007 -- More money is needed -- and soon -- to help expand Amateur Radio's presence in space. The International Space Station's Columbus module, set to launch later this year, will house an additional Amateur Radio station. Equipment will include the first digital Amateur Radio TV (DATV) station in space as well as a ham radio transponder. But funding to finish and install ham radio antennas on the European Space Agency (ESA)-built laboratory module remains incomplete. The total project cost is 80,000 Euros (approximately $106,500). Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Vice Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, says a payment of 9000 Euros (approximately $12,000) is due this month. ARISS-Europe remains 4000 Euros (approximately $5330) shy of that goal, however, and time is short to have it in place.
"The ARISS antennas for Columbus will be finally manufactured in March and delivered to Kennedy Space Center for integration into the Columbus module," Bertels said in a recent appeal to International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and AMSAT member-societies and radio amateurs around the globe. "It would be a pity to stop the process because of a lack of funding, now that we are so close to the goal." Another 9000 Euros will come due in October.
Donations already have come in from the ARRL Foundation, AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-UK, among other organizations, as well as from many individual donors. ARISS Europe contracted with the Institute of Telecommunications and Acoustics at Poland's Wroclaw University of Technology to fabricate the L and S-band antennas with financial support from AMSAT-Belgium and the Royal Belgium Amateur Radio Society (UBA), Belgium's IARU member-society.
ARISS International Secretary-Treasurer Rosalie White, K1STO, says European hams have devoted several years toward outfitting Columbus for Amateur Radio. "ESA has supported the project with quite a lot of money and people-time," she says. Installation of the microwave panel antennas on Columbus' meteorite debris panels would take place this May at Kennedy Space Center.
Expanded ARISS Capabilities
The yet-to-be-built Columbus amateur gear will facilitate operation on new frequencies that will make it possible for ARISS to establish wideband and video operations for the first time and allow continuous transponder operation. At the ARISS International conference last October in San Francisco, Graham Shirville, G3VZV, speaking on behalf of ARISS-Europe, outlined plans for a mode L/S ham radio transponder as well as a DATV downlink on S1 band (2.4 GHz).
"So, future ARISS contacts could have pictures as well as sound," Shirville told the delegates. ARISS-Europe is looking at a 10 W transmitter and a signal bandwidth of from 4 to 8 MHz. Since the Columbus module will be some distance from the other two ARISS stations, parallel operation will be possible.
Antennas were to have been installed before Columbus came to the US, but Shirville told last fall's ARISS gathering that ARISS-Europe had "some fairly major problems" developing the antennas due to extreme launch load requirements.
Bank Account Established
AMSAT-Belgium has set up a bank account to receive donations toward equipping the module with the necessary ham radio antennas. Bertels says donors within the European Union will not have to pay any additional banking costs -- beyond the cost of a national money transfer -- if they use the international banking number (IBAN) and mention the international identification code (BIC). Reference transfers as "Donation Columbus" to:
AMSAT-Belgium
001-2306592-08
IBAN -- BE63 0012 3065 9208
BIC -- GEBABEBB
"If you have a PayPal account you can easily make a donation by using the 'Donate' button in the left column," Bertels points out. "Even if you don't have a PayPal account you can use your credit card to make a Paypal donation for the Columbus project by clicking the 'Donate' button and follow instructions."
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