An amateur radio station on Columbus

In November 2002, ARISS Europe extended a request to ESA Directorate for Manned Space Flight and Microgravity, asking for ham radio facilities on Columbus, the European ISS laboratory presently under construction. In 2003 ESA's Columbus division agreed on the principle.

The project is to install amateur radio antennas on the nadir of Columbus, i.e. underneath the module, facing the earth. The antennas will be installed before launch. Columbus will be transported in the bay of an American Shuttle. Therefore, since little room is left between the module and the Shuttle bay, the ARISS antennas will be patch antennas, flat planes a few millimetres thick. The patch antennas will be fixed to the Meteorite Debris Panels (MDP) protecting the hull of
Columbus. On the conical end of the module, where it attaches to the ISS main structure, feedthroughs have been installed for the ARISS antennas and coax cables are run from the feedthroughs to the nadir.

The development of the antennas is presently taken care of by the Institute of Telecommunications and Acoustics of the Wroclaw University of Technology. The proposed Columbus antennas will work on UHF, L-band and S-band. For VHF,
the surface available on the Meteorite Debris Panels is not sufficient.

BENEFITS OF ADDING ARISS ANTENNAS TO THE COLUMBUS MODULE

The existing ARISS antennas on the Service Module are shared through diplexers and will not be especially effective on the microwave bands. Using the dedicated antennas on Columbus will, for the first time, permit viable ARISS operations on these useful bands.

With the Columbus module being located at some considerable distance from the other two ARISS stations, this will permit parallel operations on the new bands at the same time as the existing operations. The availability of
these new frequencies will enable us to establish wideband and video operations for the first time. This facility will provide ATV facilities for School contacts and, additionally, continuous transponder operation. The Columbus module is designed to undertake experiments but may also be used as
temporary sleeping accommodation for the European astronauts. It is anticipated that most, if not all of them, will be licensed amateurs.

Different sleep patterns of the astronauts can restrict the existing operations so this "remote" facility would overcome this constraint. To summarise, the addition of these new antennas will provide greatly enhanced opportunities for amateur radio operations on the ISS and an additional
emergency communication facility for the astronauts.

FUNDING THE ARISS ANTENNAS ON COLUMBUS

The construction of Columbus has reached its final stage. The ARISS antennas shall be installed in the Autumn 2005. A most important aspect has to be solved: funding.

The installation cost of the ARISS antennas on Columbus exceeds 100.000 euro (coaxial feedthroughs, coax cables on the hull of the module, etc.) ESA initially offered to support 50.000 euro of this amount. Presently ESA HAS DECIDED TO COVER THE INSTALLATION COST COMPLETELY.

This is most welcome since the development and manufacturing of the antennas will cost 80.000 euro. Half of this sum has to paid by ARISS in June 2005. The other 40.000 euro can be paid by the end of the year.

Presently we have collected about 9.000 euro and 20.000 euro have been pledged. We still need TO COLLECT 11.000 EURO IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.

CALL FOR DONATIONS

Taking into account that time is very short, ARISS-Europe extends an urgent call for donations to the IARU and AMSAT societies as well as to their members individually. A financial account has been opened by AMSAT Belgium.
Donators within the European Union will not have to pay any additional banking costs (beyond the costs of a national money transfer) if they use the following international banking number (IBAN) and mention the international identification code (BIC):

AMSAT Belgium
001-2306592-08

IBAN BE63 0012 3065 9208
BIC GEBABEBB

Without any additional cost for international money transfer, even the smallest donation is useful and will be most appreciated. Please don't forget to reference the transfer as "Donation Columbus".

PAYPAL

If you have a PayPal account you can easily make a donation by using the "Donate" button in the left column of the ARISS-Europe Columbus website page: www.ariss-eu.org/columbus.htm

Even if you don't have a PayPal account you can use your credit card to make a PayPal donation for the Columbus project. Simply click the "Donate" button and follow instructions.

CREDITS

On the ARISS-Europe website a special Columbus page has been added. Donations are listed from societies as well as from individuals. Taking into account the regulations on privacy protection, donations are listed as anonymous, unless the donator states his identity as reference for the
transfer.

This list is permanently updated and distance from the target shown.

THANKS

On behalf of all the volunteering parties involved in the project, we extend thanks to all donators.

This is a great goal for amateur radio at its best.

18 May, 2005

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF
ARISS-Europe Chairman

Avenue Paul Hymans 117 B29
B-1200 Brussels, Belgium

E-mail : gaston.bertels@skynet.be
http://www.ariss-eu.org

ANS thanks Ian, G3ZHI for the above information

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