ARISS International Teleconference
Tuesday August 21, 2007 11:15 UTC (7:15 am ET)
Participants:
Frank Bauer
Rosalie White
Mark Steiner
Larry Agabekov
Robin Haighton
Dave Larsen
Daniel Lamoureux
Ken Nichols
Gaston Bertels
Lou McFadin
Keith Pugh
Carlos Eavis
Graham Shirville
Miles Mann
Ken Pulfer
Carol Jackson
Kenneth Ransom
Mark Severance
Interpreter, Angelique Brice
Not present:
Sergey Samburov
Keigo Komuro
Masanobu Tsuji
Tadeu Fernandes
Bill Boston
ARISS I Agenda:
Administrative Session
NOTE: Frank Bauer is moving into his new position at NASA-HQ as the Chief Engineer for the Constellation Project in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. This should involve less travel and allow him to start being more available for ARISS activities. He is looking forward to spending more time with the ARISS team.
Already Frank was able to vote for including power for education and outreach activities on the new US crew exploration vehicle.
1. Malaysian Space Participant, Presenter: K. Ransom
The Malaysian government has not named who is primary vs. back-up, but both people are licensed and we anticipate ham operations during their mission this October. As usual, the Russian team will be coordinating their activities.
2. Manitoba Telebridge Station, Presenter: F. Bauer
The addition of this new station in Manitoba will provide significant new opportunities for contacts for bridge stations, due to its great location. Robin Haighton is comfortable that the station is well-equipped for this operation, and has high regard for the station operator, even anticipating extensive ARISS participation.
3. SuitSat-1 Certificates, Presenter: F. Bauer
Frank has been too busy to accomplish this, but hopes to work on it next week.
4. New Business (administrative only)
Ken Pulfer has requested that the Radio Amateurs of Canada allow him to resign and be replaced by Daniel Lamoureux. This should be made official by next month’s telecon. The team expressed regret at his leaving and great appreciation for all he has done. We are pleased, though, if Daniel will be the replacement.
General Session
5. Crew Debrief, Sunita Williams, Presenter: F. Bauer
Sunita expressed her enjoyment of and enthusiasm for ham radio school contacts, and will continue to work on our behalf now that she’s back on the ground. She mentioned ham radio in many of her other debrief sessions as well. She was sorry that she did not leave the radio on after her EVA’s.
6. Kenwood D700 status, Presenter: M. Mann
Status from Kenneth: The radio has been partially reconfigured to support school contacts, emergency contacts, and packet operations, but the crew has not been keeping the radio powered on.
Miles feels that the difficulties of using the Kenwood have resulted from the way it was configured. He has sent an email to ARISS-I describing his concerns and suggested fixes, should flying a replacement D700 be in the plans. He also has ideas for replacing the Kenwood with a more capable system. Frank noted that the problems arose from the reprogramming of the radio in the summer of 2006. In the future, simplicity of operation from the crew perspective will be a primary design driver. We need to learn the lessons from the use of the D700 and its programming issues.
7. SuitSat-2 Status, Presenter: L. McFadin
Team at Microchip is working very hard and making great progress on design and prototypes of the hardware, and the software is coming along nicely. The boxes are ready for painting. Experiment interface simulators are in development. Frank noted that the team has felt that this design would be a good candidate for the next upgrade for the ISS system.
Lou will move forward on the frequency application.
Education (R. White): The US ARISS team is working on how best to publicize this opportunity and get the best educational use of this event. Any ARISS delegate may ask their IARU or AMSAT organization about posting lesson plans and then work with Rosalie on this.
8. Columbus Module Status, Presenter: G. Bertels
The fabrication of 3 flight units of series 4 of the ARISS antenna is underway, with thermal and RF performance simulation indicating good performance in these areas. This was made possible by quick procurement action on behalf the ARISS-European partner organizations. Atomic oxygen mitigation will be accomplished by the use of special paint to cover the entire antenna assemblies. Formal acceptance and performance testing will be accomplished on these flight units. Installation of the antennas is anticipated in October at Kennedy Space Center. ESA accepted the suggestion of identifying the antennas by placing labels on the debris panel next to them. [The Columbus August 21 report has been appended to these minutes.]
9. New business
None.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Steiner, K3MS, for the ARISS Team
ARISS 4x antennas for Columbus
Update 21AUG07
1. ESA did not accept amended ARISS 3x antennas but asked for 3 new antennas : ARISS 41, 42, 43.
2. These antennas are presently being manufactured.
3. Delivery is planned first week of September 2007.
4. ARISS 4x antennas take into account modifications suggested by ESA: same laminate for both faces of the sandwich, new glue (low temperature curing).
5. Mechanical simulations done at ESTEC are satisfying.
6. RF performance simulations done in Wroclaw show very good results.
7. There will be no time for SiO2 coating at Goddard. Another atomic oxygen protection will be applied at Wroclaw.
8. Antennas will be tested at ESTEC. Qualification tests for one antenna and lower tests for the two flight antennas. Cost of the tests is covered by ESA.
9. The development of ARISS 4x antennas needed an urgent financial solution. Last limit for formal orders to subcontractors is this week. Pawel Kabacik was not in a position to sign these orders without a mandate. Therefore, the existing contract for the development of ARISS 3x antennas was extended to ARISS 4x antennas. This is a contract between the UBA (the Belgian IARU society) and Wroclaw University. An additional 18,000 Euro (24,000 US$) is due. 1,000 Euro is already paid. The remaining 17.000 Euro to be paid at the end of the year 2007. The University has submitted a request for a substantial subsidy to the Polish Science Foundation for the ARISS antennas project. If this is granted, the amount of 17,000 Euro could be downscaled.
10. The donations campaign continues to cover the amount advanced by the UBA.
11. Installation on Columbus is planned in October.
12. ARISS antennas EVA labelling is a problem. ESA accepted ARISS labelling on the MDP close to the antennas.