ARISS International Team Teleconference

Tuesday, February 21, 2012, 12:15 UTC (7:15 am ET)

Participants:

Gaston Bertels

Mark Steiner

Rosalie White

Larry Agabekov

Masanobu Tsuji

Keigo Komuro

Ken Nichols

Lou McFadin

Keith Pugh

Francesco De Paolis

Carlos Neta

Carol Jackson

Kenneth Ransom

David Jordan

Dave Taylor

Not Present:

Sergey Samburov

Trinesha Dixon

Gould Smith

Bill Boston

Carlos Eavis

Daniel Lamoureux

Maurice André Vigneault

Darin Cowan

Barry Baines

Steve Ponder

Tadeu Fernandes

Fabio Azzarello

Graham Shirville

ARISS I Agenda:

Administrative Session

1. New business (administrative only)

The World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12) took place in Geneva, Switzerland, 23 January-17 February 2012. Gaston received a message from Attila Matas, ITU Radiocommunications Bureau. Attila sent an abstract from the final acts of this WRC-12 to Gaston; the abstract is about nano- and pico-satellites. The abstract invites stakeholders to consider whether modifications to the regulatory procedures for notifying satellite networks are needed to facilitate the deployment and operation of nano- and picosatellites. The abstract is appended to the minutes.

General Session

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

Kenneth reported that the 33-S launch is being targeted as a good one for the ARISS Team to send up a replacement for the VHF Ericsson. Currently, the 33-S launch is scheduled for December 5, 2012. If an earlier launch opens up as an opportunity for our team, we would work toward completing all of the work necessary to take advantage of that launch.

Currently, our other ARISS onboard radio systems are operating as expected.

Work with Kayser Italia is progressing with the HamTV project. People from AMSAT-Italia and Kayser-Italia took part in some initial tests of the camera. The results show that the camera has the capability needed for use as a beacon, just as the ARISS Team had hoped.

Kenneth asked if discussions have been held regarding approval to transmit views to Earth from inside the Columbus module. In past years, the US team had asked about transmitting live views from space to Earth, and the Astronaut Office required that all transmissions had to be reviewed first. Gaston said this is a discussion needed to be initiated at and with ESA. Rosalie asked if there was an astronaut office in ESA. Gaston will check which service is in charge at ESA. Kenneth said maybe the camera has store-and-forward functions that allow the checking of views prior to them being transmitted. Gaston said the HamTV group can begin thinking about this.

3. New business

Emanuele D’Andria is preparing an update regarding his ITU filing. Gaston will circulate this for review.

Our next monthly meeting will be March 20. The US switches to Daylight Savings Time on 11 March (Europe switches on 25 March), so the March telecon will be held at 11:15 UTC.

Respectfully submitted,

Rosalie White

ARISS-International Secretary-Treasurer

RESOLUTION COM6/10 (WRC-12)

Regulatory aspects for nano- and picosatellites

The World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 2012),

considering

a) that nano- and picosatellites, commonly described as ranging in mass from 0.1 to 10 kgand measuring less than 0.5 m in any linear dimension, have physical characteristics that differ from those of larger satellites;

b) that nano- and picosatellites are satellites which typically have a short (1-2 years) development time and are low cost, often using off-the-shelf components;

c) that the operational lifetime of these satellites ranges from several weeks up to a few (< 5) years depending on their mission;

d) that nano- and picosatellites are being used for a wide variety of missions and applications, including remote sensing, space weather research, upper atmosphere research, astronomy, communications, technology demonstration and education, as well as commercial applications, and therefore may operate under various radiocommunication services;

e) that these satellites are typically launched as secondary payloads;

f) that some missions performed with these satellites require the simultaneous launch and operation of several such satellites;

g) that, currently, many nano- and picosatellites use spectrum allocated to the amateur satellite service and the MetSat service in the frequency range 30-3 000 MHz although their missions are potentially inconsistent with these services;

h) that nano- and picosatellites may have limited orbit control capabilities and therefore have unique orbital characteristics;

i) that the standing Agenda item 7 of WRCs has up to now not led to consideration of regulatory procedures for notifying nano- and picosatellites,

further considering

a) that successful and timely development and operation of pico- and nanosatellites may require regulatory procedures which take account of the short development cycle, the short lifetimes and the typical missions of such satellites;

b) that the existing provisions of the Radio Regulations for coordination and notification of satellites under Articles 9 and 11 may need to be adapted to take account of the nature of these satellites,

resolves to invite WRC-18

to consider whether modifications to the regulatory procedures for notifying satellite networks are needed to facilitate the deployment and operation of nano- and picosatellites, and to take the appropriate actions,

invites ITU-R

to examine the procedures for notifying space networks and consider possible modifications to enable the deployment and operation of nano- and picosatellites, taking into account the short development time, short mission time and unique orbital characteristics,

instructs the Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau

to report to WRC-15 on the results of these studies,

invites administrations and Sector Members

to participate actively in the studies by submitting contributions to ITU-R.