ARISS International Teleconference

Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 12:15 UTC (7:15 am ET)

Participants:

Gaston Bertels

Sergey Samburov

Mark Steiner

Larry Agabekov

Keigo Komuro

Ken Nichols

Lou McFadin

Keith Pugh

Carlos Eavis

Francesco De Paolis

Carlos Neta

Carol Jackson

Kenneth Ransom

Mark Severance

Daniel Lamoureux

Barry Baines

Dave Taylor

Interpreter, Anna Pererva

Not Present:

Rosalie White

David Jordan

Masanobu Tsuji

Graham Shirville

Tadeu Fernandes

Fabio Azzarello

Maurice André Vigneault

Gould Smith

Steve Ponder

Bill Boston

Ed Pritchard

ARISS I Agenda:

Administrative Session

1. QSL card status, Presenter: G. Bertels

After an email discussion choice #1 was selected and 15,000 were ordered to be distributed as follows: 1000 – Japan, 200 – Canada, 1500 – Europe, 10000 – US, and 2300 to be used later as needed.

2. New business (administrative only)

Carlos Neta is replacing Fabiano Moser from AMRAD – Portugal and is excited to be on the telecon and in the group.

General Session

3. Columbus module status, Presenters: G. Bertels, K. Ransom

The necessary cable for connecting the Ericsson radios in the Columbus Module is awaiting launch on the Space Shuttle on STS-133.

Gaston reported on the status of the Ham-TV project being discussed with the ARCOL WG (Amateur Radio on the Columbus Module Working Group). Last Wednesday there was a meeting at Kayser-Italia (KI) with representatives from AMSAT-Italia and the ARCOL WG. Astrium in Bremen, Germany will be the main contractor, KI will be the subcontractor to Astrium, and AMSAT-Italia will be subcontractor to KI. Since ARISS is not a legal entity, AMSAT-Italia stepped up to represent amateur radio legally with KI, Astrium, and ESA. AMSAT-Italia will be the focal point of the Ham-TV development with Emanuele d’Andria.

The top-level technical specifications are included in the attached document: ESA Astrium KI meeting report for the ARISS-i telecon.doc. One interesting point is that the ARISS group stressed the need for a Ham-TV beacon.

Lou McFadin requested that the details be presented to the Project Selection and Use Committee for proper consideration of this proposal prior to providing recommendations to the ARISS-I group as a whole. The next meeting between ESA and Astrium is currently being planned for December, with a final decision to be made in January 2011. It is not clear at this time if all technical details need to be finalized by the January deadline. Anticipated time for development for the equipment is one year. Gaston asked that the PS&U Committee work on this quickly to meet the schedule.

It is noted that AMSAT-Italia will have to work closely with the rest of the ARISS technical team to ensure proper coordination of the technical details and ensure the best system overall.

4. ARISSat-1 status, Presenters: L. McFadin, M. Severance

There are a few technical details being worked out regarding the mounting in the Progress, and there are several items of documentation to be finished prior to the shipment of the flight and backup units from NASA-Johnson Space Center to Energia in Moscow.

5. New business

The next international partners meeting will be Tuesday, December 21, 2010.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Steiner, K3MS

Vice Chair