ARISS International Teleconference

Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 11:15 UTC (7:15 am ET)

Participants:

Gaston Bertels

Mark Steiner

Rosalie White

Larry Agabekov

Masanobu Tsuji

Keigo Komuro

Ken Nichols

Keith Pugh

Lou McFadin

Carlos Eavis

Francesco De Paoli

Carlos Neta

Carol Jackson

Mark Severance

Daniel Lamoureux

Maurice André Vigneault

Kenneth Ransom

David Jordan

Barry Baines

Dave Taylor

Interpreter, Elena Schmidt

Not Present:

Tadeu Fernandes

Graham Shirville

Fabio Azzarello

Sergey Samburov

Gould Smith

Steve Ponder

Darin Cowan

Bill Boston

ARISS I Agenda:

Administrative Session

1. ISS National Lab, Presenter: M. Severance

The purpose of the ISS National Lab is to have NASA find partners in the operation and utilization of the ISS. Mark Severance will provide to the ARISS-I mailing list the URL for more information regarding ISS National Lab.

Mark Severance has held up ARISS as a fine example of the international cooperation possible for ISS National Lab endeavors. One aspect of the ISS National Lab is that there are companies that handle payload testing and preparation for flight, including payload safety packages. This could provide an easier path to get ARISS hardware onboard the ISS, and Mark Severance is considering how, for example, a Kenwood D700 could be prepared and certified for use in the Columbus Module.

Regarding the Ham TV project under consideration by the ARCOL working group, ESA, and Kayser-Italia, the potential to develop a multi-function power supply would enable operation of more types of systems in the Columbus Module, part of the US Operating Segment.

Keigo noted that there might be other radios that could go up to the Columbus Module. Any proposal to send any new equipment must go through the ARISS Project Selection and Use Committee with primary considerations being functions of the hardware, training changes for the crew, and interoperability with other onboard ham systems.

2. Contact Allocations, Presenter: R. White

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the terms of reference regarding the fair allocation of contacts to all the regions of ARISS. NASA is concerned with its fair share of contacts after seeing that the percentage of US schools has dropped over the last year or so. There are many factors for this, including orbital mechanics unfavorable to US schools and higher interest in ARISS from other countries. ARISS must keep NASA and all space agencies happy to ensure they will support ARISS. The US team will watch school scheduling more closely, putting attention on equal allocation.

As part of the consideration for contact allocations, it is important to note that the terms of reference relate to the number of contacts as opposed to the number of events or schools during a single pass. An event is defined as a school or education institution that asks questions of the crew via amateur radio. One contact can have multiple events or multiple schools during one pass, and this is counted as one contact. With NASA being concerned about its fair share of contacts, that distinction for numbering is being clarified in the ARISS Ops database and web pages.

To get the best education outcomes from ARISS, NASA is moving to a proposal-based process for US schools; it emphasizes the education quality of the event. The announcement of this new proposal process is about to go to over 18,000 US schools and educational institutions, greatly increasing the knowledge of ARISS in the educator community. The ARISS US team is also working with the ARRL and AMSAT, emphasizing their role in providing amateur radio lesson support and radio support to the educators.

3. New business (administrative only)

None.

General Session

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

The Ericsson 2m radio has been installed in the Columbus Module and was being used for school contacts after initial check out. Unfortunately, on many school contacts the downlink level has been poor, with severe fading and dropouts. School contacts have been moved back to the Service Module until the situation can be assessed. Kenneth is leading the team investigating why the downlink is so poor, considering whether it is just the 6dB difference between the Ericsson and the Kenwood or if something else is going on.

In the mean time, plans are being made to keep the Columbus Module station active on packet.

5. ARISSat-1 status, Presenters: S. Samburov, L. McFadin

There have been no communications from Sergey on this, so we are assuming the satellite is still stowed until its deployment during EVA in July.

6. New business

None.

The next international partners meeting will be Tuesday, June 21, 2011.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Steiner, K3MS, for the ARISS Team