ARISS International Teleconference
Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 11:15 UTC (7:15 am ET)
Participants:
Frank Bauer
Sergey Samburov
Rosalie White
Mark Steiner
Larry Agabekov
Keigo Komuro
Masanobu Tsuji
Gaston Bertels
Lou McFadin
Keith Pugh
Carlos Eavis
Graham Shirville
Miles Mann
Ken Pulfer
Carol Jackson
Stefan Wagener
Dave Taylor
Daniel Lamoureux
Kenneth Ransom
Mark Severance
Will Marchant
Interpreter, Angelique Brice
Not present:
Robin Haighton
Ken Nichols
Dave Larsen
Tadeu Fernandes
Ed Pritchard
Bill Boston
ARISS I Agenda:
Administrative Session
1. New ARISS Logo, Presenter: F. Bauer
The ARISS logo that has been used in the past five years or so is a bit-map, and it does not scale up well nor is it usable in some graphics applications. The US team asked a NASA graphics designer to convert it to be vector-based. The only difference between the old and the new is the cloud pattern on the Earth, as it was not feasible to match exactly the new vector-based Earth with the bit-map Earth graphic.
Frank asked the delegates to approve the use of the new logo. All gave approval, with a tentative yes from Sergey Samburov, pending final review later today.
The final approved logo will be made available in various graphic formats.
2. ARISS-I Face to Face Meeting, Moscow, status, Presenter: S. Samburov
The ARISS-I meeting is scheduled for July 17 – 18, preceded by a delegates-only meeting on July 16. The trip to Kaluga will occur on Saturday and Sunday, July 19 – 20.
Sergey told the ARISS-I team that the people in Kaluga are anxious for the visit from the ARISS team. There will be cultural programs and tours of museums, schools, and other sites of interest. Sergey needs a head count as soon as possible to ensure adequate transportation and arrangements. The cost will not exceed US $500, and includes transportation, food, lodging, and all activities.
Tentative agenda:
Saturday –
Take 0700 high-speed train from Moscow to Kaluga, arrive around 1030 hrs
Museum of Astronautics
Souvenir shopping
Lunch
Museum in home where Tsiolkovski lived and worked
Tour museum at school where Tsiolkovski taught
Dinner
Spend the night at the Kaluga hotel
Sunday -
School of young cosmonauts
Kaluga historical and arts museums
Take 1530 hrs high-speed train back to Moscow, arrive around 1900 hrs
Regarding access to Energia, Sergey will need the names, country, and company they represent.
Mark Severance and Sergey discussed some details:
- Sergey will make arrangements for an interpreter in Kaluga, Mark Severance will arrange TTI interpretation in Moscow
-Larry will also be available to help with interpretation
- Mark asked what detailed information will be needed by Sergey to arrange access for all participants, so it can be collected by Carol with enough time for proper preparation
- Mark is working to get everyone into the Volga in Moscow at the government rate
Mark is working to get permission for TTI to obtain Russian visas for all US travelers, both NASA and non-NASA. All non-Russian personnel will need to be listed on the Letter of Invitation (LOI) in order to obtain visas. Official NASA partners personnel can be handled by the official NASA – Energia LOI. Most likely the invitation for people not covered under that LOI will come from the Union of Radio Amateurs of Russia, as Energia cannot issue the invitation. It is imperative that the list of attendees be finalized today so visas can be obtained in time, one way or another.
An email will go out in the next few days with the info for all travelers regarding visa information.
3. Telebridge Station Request - status, Presenter: D. Taylor
Dave originally received 29 replies interested in this item, including 11 from the US, 3 from S. America, 1 from Serbia, and 1 from the People’s Republic of China. In mid-March Dave sent out a request for detailed information from these folks. Also, a station in Portugal is interested in this opportunity. After this information is received it will be reviewed by the US team. Final selection will depend on international team concurrence, location of station, and third-party agreements. The desire is to not have too many stations in the same footprint so they do not get disappointed due to the fact that they will therefore not get as many contact opportunities.
Currently there are 7 telebridge stations.
4. New Business (administrative only)
Gaston is seeking inputs for the agenda for the Moscow meeting.
General Session
5. SuitSat-2 status, Presenter: L. McFadin
Last week Lou’s RF team had a productive meeting that resolved many issues, so the path appears clear for production of a unit for flight. Progress is being made on the rest of the system as well.
Information can be found on Lou’s webpage, http://homepage.mac.com/w5did. Look in the Suitsat folder.
Sergey had some questions regarding the operations concept and strategy. Frank noted the need to have detailed discussions on this, and suggested an international partners telecon dedicated to this topic.
6. New business
None.
The next international partners meeting will be May 20.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Steiner, K3MS, for the ARISS Team