ARISS International Teleconference
Tuesday March 21, 2006 12:30 UTC (7:30 am ET)
Participants:
Frank Bauer
Rosalie White
Larry Agabekov
Sergey Samburov
Masanobu Tsuji
Robin Haighton
Daniel Lamoureux
Keigo Komuro
Mark Steiner
Dave Larsen
Gaston Bertels
Lou McFadin
Keith Pugh
Miles Mann
Tadeu Fernandes
Kenneth Ransom
Interpreter: Olga Frumkin
Not present:
Ken Pulfer
Carol Jackson
Ken Nichols
Carlos Eavis
Graham Shirville
Bill Boston
Jon Neubauer
Bob Bruninga
ARISS I Agenda:
NOTE: Frank’s effort on the lunar exploration study has kept him extremely busy (16 hours a day, mostly 7 days a week), and he apologizes for how this has kept him from communicating much on ARISS activities. He is in Houston this week to wrap up most of this effort and should be able to pay more attention to ARISS beginning next week.
Administrative Session
1. Funding, Presenter: F. Bauer
NASA is going through a major change in its funding as it transitions into the new exploration initiative and as the shuttle return to flight continues for longer than anticipated. The budgets for science and education have been significantly reduced, and the Agency is trying to re-focus efforts on the new initiative.
NASA funding for ARISS in FY06 (not including Kenneth Ransom’s funding at JSC) was pulled back in February, and we are still operating only because we have some left over FY05 funding. We have reduced operations to the minimum necessary to continue school contacts and support SuitSat so we can continue to operate as long as possible. However, at some point we probably will have to reduce school contacts to avoid shutting down the program entirely, which, among other effects, would put the volunteer organization at risk of disintegrating due to lack of coordination.
Frank is actively working to restore funding and to establish other funding possibilities to finish out FY06, as NASA-HQ feels it can fund us in FY07. We have a new contact at NASA-HQ who we hope will be more responsive to our needs, and Frank is working with other organizations to explore other possibilities.
One idea under consideration is to ask the member space agencies (CSA, JAXA, and ESA) to provide $40k in funding each year to help support ARISS operations. Russia and NASA are contributing operations and hardware development support in addition to whatever funding they might be providing for ARISS operations.
Frank has met with the ISS Program Office and astronaut representatives, and they are still very much in support of the ARISS program. They would like to have us keep the school contact program running as much as possible. John Nickel would be able to continue school contact scheduling, for example.
Funding is key to keep the great support we have been getting from Carol Jackson with respect to coordination, reports, and last minute items we have needed to have pulled together.
Sergey reported that Russia has fewer funding concerns, and is continuing with the extensive operations planned for the near future, with Marcos Pontes, the Brazilian cosmonaut, on the next taxi flight and upcoming school contacts in Europe. Sergey will be installing a new radio station in Eastern Russia, getting SSTV up and running, and preparing for the 150th anniversary of the birthday of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the 50th anniversary of the first Sputnik. He would welcome contributions from other member agencies to support these activities.
Frank believes that there is a strong future for ARISS, and that the US is just going through a short-term problem period. We are confident that we will be able to keep the radios and the school contact program operating and continue the great benefits of amateur radio on the ISS.
Brazil wants to help keep the ARISS organization running however it is able to contribute. Frank appreciates their support, and is working to keep the international cooperation going even through these difficult times. Anything the international partners can do to express their support for and the importance of ARISS to their sponsoring agencies would be helpful.
Sergey suggested that we generate a joint report of all that ARISS has accomplished to submit to the member agencies. Frank will ensure that the last reports, and upcoming ones, are shared with the members of ARISS. He would appreciate any inputs as to corrections or omissions.
Miles requested that Sergey send an email to the ARISS-I distribution list with his plans for Cosmonautics Day, April 12.
2. New Business (administrative only)
General Session
3. Marcos Pontes, Presenters: T. Fernandes & S. Samburov
Marcos has asked for radiograms for two things: 1) specifics on his school contact; and 2) a listing of the countries and times of overflight. He has his own callsign, as well as permission to use both the Russian and US callsigns. Gaston needs the times planned by the Russian timeline planners for the three school QSOs, for Marcos’ sake as well as for the schools to plan. Once Gaston gets the details, he will send them to Tadeu.
Tadeu had some concerns with the scheduling of Marcos’ time and some limitations imposed by Brazil, and coordinated some more scheduling with Sergey.
4. Columbus Update, Presenter: G. Bertels
Gaston reported that the antennas have been delivered, but the ARISS Europe Team is facing issues because the specifications are tighter than the team had been told, previously. The team hopes to get the antennas certified and then affixed to the module in the next few weeks before the module is flown to the US. The ARISS Europe team is holding teleconferences on what equipment should be onboard, and are finalizing a document on the topic for the Project Selection & Use Committee Minutes, schematics and other information from the meeting are on the ARISS Europe Web site.
5. SpaceCam, Presenter: M. Mann
Miles asked Sergey if he had updates to provide. Sergey reported that the software, cables, a video camera with computer that can connect to a USB port and works with the software, are already on board. Sergey will send an email to Lou with details about the camera.
Miles asked for input from the team to the memo he sent on how the SSTV system might work, and how packet may be affected. Miles suggested ARISS might want a hardware operations team to discuss how multiple projects interact with one other, for such things as how to avoid interference and scheduling issues. He proposed using SSTV for a year on the same 2 meter frequency as packet. Miles thought packet might be moved to 70 cm monoband or it could be turned off. He tried to contact Bob Bruninga for ideas, but hasn’t been able to talk to him yet. Miles prefers to not have SSTV on one month and packet on another month.
Sergey said packet will have a computer to support it, eventually. As soon as the crew can exchange letters on packet, they will have interest in using packet much more often, so we’ll want to discuss sharing of the schedule.
Lou is concerned about negative comments without having packet available. He asked that a special teleconference be held for the international team to discuss SSTV so that time doesn’t slip by us; Robin agreed that this is important. Rosalie said the request will be part of the minutes for the ARISS Officers to consider. She suggested that the Project Selection and Use Committee may want to make a recommendation, also. Please share your comments on this discussion.
6. New business
Kenneth asked Sergey what stowage area the SSTV hardware is in. Sergey will find out, and is planning to ask the crew to place the equipment in the plastic bag on the ISS ham table.
Lou reported that the US group is thinking about SuitSat ideas, and would like a rough timeline with deadline about when we need to deliver hardware. Sergey will send details in an email. Sergey has set up meetings to discuss Russian ideas for the second SuitSat.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Steiner, K3MS, and Rosalie White, K1STO for the ARISS Team