ARISS International Teleconference

Tuesday April 18, 2006 11:30 UTC (7:30 am ET)

Participants:

Frank Bauer

Rosalie White

Larry Agabekov

Sergey Samburov

Masanobu Tsuji

Robin Haighton

Keigo Komuro

Mark Steiner

Dave Larsen

Daniel Lamoureux

Ken Nichols

Gaston Bertels

Lou McFadin

Keith Pugh

Carlos Eavis

Graham Shirville

Miles Mann

Carol Jackson

Kenneth Ransom

Interpreter: Olga Frumkin

Not present:

Ken Pulfer

Tadeu Fernandes

Bill Boston

Jonathan Neubauer

Bob Bruninga

ARISS I Agenda:

Administrative Session

1. Funding, Presenter: F. Bauer

Frank reported that a lot of progress has been made since our last month's meeting on funding. There have been many meetings at Johnson Space Center and NASA-HQ. Frank's understanding is that some of the funding (which covers the safety work done on the US side, plus Carol Jackson's hard work, and some of the hardware development efforts) should be available soon to keep ARISS activities on track through October 2006, the end of the 2006 fiscal year.

As part of this, NASA will change our point of contact for education from the leader at NASA-HQ to the education office at Johnson Space Center, They will ensure that we have the needed metrics necessary to give to the US Congress and others so that we can continue to receive funding for a program that deserves support. Frank met with Ed Pritchart and Cindy McArthur at Johnson Space Center's education office. Satellites will be part of the education program, as SuitSat was. Scheduling of ARISS QSO’s will still be handled by the biomedical engineering staff (crew psychological support). It was noted that having all support at Johnson Space Center should help us.

2. New Business (administrative only) – none.

General Session

3. 143.625 transmitter, Presenter: M. Mann

NOTE: Frank distributed to the ARISS-I team an email with an explanation of this issue.

Miles asked Sergey the name of the link, and it is called the Telephone and Telegraph System (TTS). It is only used in case of emergencies, but it is occasionally tested to ensure its operation. Recently it was left keyed up for several orbits, potentially causing interference to typical 2m amateur radios onboard. This does not appear to be a problem for the Ericsson, although it does appear to desense and effectively block the Kenwood on 2m. Miles is concerned that a scheduling conflict may occur and interfere with a school contact being attempted on the Kenwood radio, and would like the Russian schedulers to take this into account.

Miles will bring up a proposed hardware solution to the Project Selection and Use Committee, and the date and time of this discussion will be emailed to the ARISS-I team. Sergey suggested that Bob Bruninga be involved as well.

4. SSTV teleconference, Presenter: M. Mann

An operations plan is in the process of being developed to handle the addition of SSTV to the operational capabilities onboard. A telecon will be held on Tuesday April 25 at 14:00 UTC (10 am EDT).

Miles asked to discuss a frequency plan, since an issue is a problem with the Kenwood's internal TNC. He has already talked to Bob Bruninga about this.

One issue holding up the installation of the SSTV system is the designation of a dedicated computer, and at this point it appears that the US side will have to provide the computer. Frank will begin working this issue, and hopefully we will make progress on this in the next month or so.

Miles asked for technical specifications on the USB camera that Sergey plans to use. Sergey noted that it has been tested for compatibility with SpaceCam software.

5. SuitSat Certificate, Presenter: F. Bauer

Frank noted that a visual sighting of SuitSat was reported this morning, although of course the radio system is not functioning.

The US team has received about 85 and the Japanese team about 35 requests for certificates. Frank would appreciate an estimate from the other ARISS members so that he can plan to have enough made up.

Sergey request that Frank continue to send him the NORAD two-line orbital elements to aid in tracking SuitSat.

6. New business

Frank asked Gaston for a list of ESA-coordinated school contacts since December 2004, to provide to an upcoming meeting of the international education program managers at NASA-HQ.

Gaston informed the team that IARU Region 1 has approved the founding documents to form an official working group for Amateur Radio Space Exploration. Gaston will be heading that group.

Respectfully submitted,

Rosalie White, K1STO and Mark Steiner, K3MS, for the ARISS Team