Minutes of the ARISS International Team Teleconference
Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 12:15 UTC (7:15 am ET)
Participants:
Gaston Bertels
Rosalie White
Larry Agabekov
Masanobu Tsuji
Keigo Komuro
Lou McFadin
Keith Pugh
Carlos Eavis
Graham Shirville
Tadeu Fernandes
Francesco De Paolis
Carol Jackson
Kenneth Ransom
Daniel Lamoureux
Maurice André Vigneault
Gould Smith
Barry Baines
Mark Steiner
Dave Taylor
Not available were:
Sergey Samburov
Ken Nichols
Fabio Azzarello
Carlos Neta
Mark Severance
David Jordan
Steve Ponder
Darin Cowan
Bill Boston
The interpreter was released since Sergej wasn’t able to attend.
Administrative Session
1. ARISS-I Face to Face Meeting, Presenter: D. Taylor
The US ARISS team has been asked if it would be possible to delay our ARISS Annual Meeting to late October. With the transition of the ISS becoming the ISS National Lab, a number of things will most likely change for ARISS worldwide. US team members feel it may be very beneficial to postpone the Annual Meeting until more parts of the transition are defined, and then an excellent discussion could take place about this among all of the delegates.
Delegates were asked for their opinions as to whether October 26-29 would be a good time for them to travel to Houston. Or should we stay with May? None of the delegates responded. Delegates were asked to look at their calendars and write to Gaston, Dave, and/or Rosalie if October 26-29 is not a suitable timeframe for them. Please respond by February 22.
2. New business (administrative only)
None
General Session
3. Columbus module status, Presenters: G. Bertels, K. Ransom
Kenneth reported there are no new developments on the VHF/UHF installation in Columbus.
We are awaiting the shuttle launch with the delivery of the two components (cable, etc) for the Columbus module.
4. HamTV - PS&U status, Presenters: M. Steiner, L. McFadin
ESA has not given Gaston an update recently on the HamTV project.
After emails were sent to the PSU committee, here is the list of committee members who will continue to be active:
- Lou McFadin, W5DID (US)
- Japanese representative –TBD (email coming from Masanobu) in the next week or two.
- Sergey Samburov, RV3DR (Russia)
- Christophe Mercier (Europe)
- Darin Cowan, VE3OIJ (Canada)
-Mark Steiner, K3MS (Chair)
Christophe Mercier summed up the committee's position in regard to the HamTV project in his email of January 30:
Dear Mark,
I continue to approve the ham TV proposal from the ARCOL Working Group, but we now need more details about the project. The meeting report gives us an idea of the technical solution and how a part of the project is funded. But, for the PSU committee, I suggest now to request more detail about the:
- Operational concepts and usage for educational purposes. As an ARCOL WG member, I know there are some requests from ESA on the operational usage plans.
- Operational concepts and constraints for the ham radio community.
Christophe
Once this requested additional information is received, the PSU Committee will continue its evaluation of HAM-TV on the Columbus Module. And then the committee members will recommend why they feel it is important for the delegates to vote yes or no on the final proposal.
5. ARISSat-1 status, Presenter: M. Severance (Lou McFadin and Mark Steiner reported in Mark Severance’s absence)
ARISSat was turned on and tested for about 12 hours. The team recorded some of the transmissions they heard. A good summary of the situation was included in the AMSAT News Service announcement over the past weekend (see http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2011/000486.html). There has not been the highest level of inclusion of the NASA and AMSAT team members by RSC-Energia, recently, in planning for the satellite. Without this, it has been difficult to get information to share with the team. The NASA side of the ARISS team will be working to get more information on stowage configuration, pictures, and future plans. Delegates may wish to monitor AMSAT News for further updates as they are learned.
The good news is that the satellite is on the ISS for eventual deployment, and there is more time to prepare software and educational content.
6. New business
ADS-B
Gaston reported that ESA is planning a project that is similar to the AIS (Automated Identification of Ships) system except that the new system is for aircraft. The system is called ADS-B, and is a broadcast system for assisting with the safety and situational awareness of aircraft.
One of the two ARISS L/S-band antennas would be used for a two-year experiment of the project. The developer of the ADS-B project has already performed initial tests on a duplicate ARISS L/S-band antenna to check its performance on the ADS-B frequency (1.1 GHz). The experiment consists of receiving only.
Gaston has provided the ADS-B project leaders a detailed history of the ARISS L/S-band antennas. He has called one of the project leaders responsible at ESA. ADS-B operations would possibly be suspended during HamTV transmissions, ARISS operations having priority.
There will be a teleconference set up at a later date to further discuss the ADS-B project. There is no plan for any action at this time, and further action would be considered after studying test results.
Other New Business
Our next meeting will be Tuesday, March 15, 11:15 UTC (the US will be back on Daylight Savings Time)
Respectfully submitted,
Rosalie K1STO
ARISS-I Secretary-Treasurer