ARISS International Teleconference

Tuesday November 23, 2004 12:30 UTC (7:30 am ET)

Participants:

Frank Bauer

Rosalie White 

Sergey Samburov

Larry Agabekov

Keigo Komuro

Masanobu Tsuji

Gaston Bertels

Ken Pulfer

Lou McFadin

Mark Steiner

Dave Larsen

Mark Spencer

Robin Haighton

Scott Anderson

Tadeu Fernandes

Miles Mann

Carol Jackson

Keith Pugh

Scott Stevens

Kenneth Ransom

Interpreter, Michael Malyshev

Not present:

Daniel Lamoureux

Ken Nichols

Bill Boston

ARISS I Agenda:

Administrative Session

 1) Moon – Mars Initiative Frank Bauer recently attended an international workshop with about 22 countries in attendance. This included China and some major space corporations (Frank will distribute list later). NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe made introductory remarks, and the event was hosted by Ret. Adm. Craig Steidle, the head of the Exploration Mission Directorate at NASA-HQ. Each participating country made a presentation. There was quite an emphasis on robotic exploration as well as Education and Outreach, which bodes well for ARISS-type activities.

2) Columbus Module Gaston Bertels provided articles to IARU and AMSAT Europe to publish that cover the antennas to be added to Columbus module as well as funding considerations. The hope is to raise donations. He has received extensive donations already from various organizations, but still needs €32K.

 A patch antenna being developed for another satellite is being considered for S-band operations. Design considerations are almost complete, with agreements for signature being prepared.

3) ARISS Meeting Photos Please send any pictures from the October meeting in Arlington, VA to Mark Steiner for compilation into the DVD being generated from the combined AMSAT/ARISS meeting. The DVD will include pictures, presentations, and technical papers.

Send all pictures to Mark Steiner by Dec. 10. If there are too many to email, please send a CD along with a note to Mark that a CD is on the way.

4) Action Items from the Meeting Please look over the minutes and work on the actions assigned at the October meeting. We will start checking their status at the next ARISS-I meeting.

5) New business (administrative only)

Next ARISS-I telecon will be on Dec. 21.

General Session

6) SuitSat

Lou McFadin has distributed a top-level block diagram and some detailed block diagrams.

Russians to provide batteries and transmitter, along with launch and assembly.

US Team to provide a PIC-based controller, SSTV module (Robot 36 mode), packet module (KPC 3+), an Earth sensor to know when the SuitSat is facing the Earth for good pictures, and a power converter.

The group that did the Mir system will be providing a similar SSTV system.

The telemetry will be sent down via packet.

One important consideration will be the requirements on the design to meet human spaceflight safety concerns.

The capability for APRS will be included.

Lifetime is only 2 to 3 months, but the pressurized system lifetime is only a month or so. As many batteries as possible will be installed. Transmitter on time will be minimized to extend lifetime.

Primary function is to transmit voice greetings to the Moscow University celebrating its anniversary. The deployment EVA is tentatively set for late September 2005, and the commemoration for November 2005.

Technical details are still being worked out.

7) New business

 QSL cards still being worked.

Brazil offered to pipe ARISS-I telecon into NetMeeting. Some concerns were raised about having sometimes sensitive discussions in a public forum, so the offer was declined.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Steiner, K3MS for the ARISS Team