SuitSat Hardware On-Orbit/SSTV Equipment Aboard ISS

Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, who is the ARISS International Chairman, AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs, and NASA ARISS Program Manager, provided an update on the status of the SuitSat and the SSTV gear for the ISS this week

On Thursday September 8 at 13:08 UTC, Progress 19P lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Included in the 2.5 tons of fuel, food and supplies are two Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) systems - the Suitsat amateur radio hardware and the Slow Scan
Television (SSTV) hardware and software.

The successful docking of Progress to ISS on September 10 culminates the successful design, development, certification and delivery of these two ARISS Projects.
The ISS Expedition 11 crew will unpack this equipment, making it available for installation, use and deployment by the Expedition 12 crew.

The Suitsat amateur radio system, coupled with a school artwork project, is planned to be installed in an outdated Russian Orlon spacesuit. It will then be deployed from the ISS during an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA, or spacewalk). This is expected to occur in the December timeframe by the Expedition 12 crew.

The Suitsat amateur radio system will beam down special messages and an SSTV image from within the Orlon space suit as it floats in space. Suitsat radio system will allow hams and students to track the suit and decode special international messages, space suit telemetry, and a pre-programmed Slow Scan TV image through its specially built digital voice messaging system and amateur radio transmitter. As built, Suitsat will be a transmit-only capability that will run on the space suit's battery power.

As part of the Suitsat project, a CD with hundreds of school pictures, artwork, poems, and student signatures is included. Two identical CDs were flown, one will go in the suit and the other will be for the crew to review. Using the crew CD, we hope to downlink these images using the SSTV system that will be located inside the Service Module once it
is operational. There are approximately 300 items on the CD. These are from all over the world (Japan/Asia, Europe, Russia, Canada, US, South America and Africa). Several NASA Explorer Schools participated as well as numerous ESA and Russian Space Agency-sponsored schools.

The idea for Suitsat was first conceived by the ARISS-Russia team, led by Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, and was extensively discussed at the joint AMSAT Symposium/ARISS International Partner meeting in October 2004. The project, also called Radioskaf or Radio Sputnik in Russia, is being led by project manager A. P. Alexandrov and Deputy Project Manager A. Poleshuk from RSC Energia, located in Korolev (Moscow area) Russia. On the US side, the hardware project development was led by AMSAT member Lou McFadin,
W5DID.

Since October 2004 the Suitsat design concept matured and evolved due to the challenging development time constraints. In a very short timeframe, the ARISS international team designed built and tested a simple, yet fully featured system that we hope will inspire hams and students around the world.

The SSTV system will be installed inside the Service module as an integral part of the ARISS ham radio system. It will transmit and receive (JPG) still images from the International Space Station in a format called Slow Scan TV (SSTV). When fully operational, the SSTV system is capable of sending up to 480 images per day from ISS. It will also be able to receive images from amateur radio stations on Earth.

This system will utilize the already installed Kenwood D-700 radio and the ARISS antennas mounted on the Service Module. The SSTV equipment flown on Progress 19P
includes the SpaceCam software, a radio/computer interface module, and data cables. The dedicated laptop for SSTV operations will be launched on a subsequent Progress vehicle.

Over the course of the past several months, the Suitsat and SSTV system passed the stringent NASA and Energia safety certification process and were deemed ready for flight--clearing the way for the incorporation into the Progress 19P vehicle. More information on SSTV and Suitsat will be
provided as we get closer to installation and deployment .

On behalf of the ARISS International team, I want to congratulate the Suitsat hardware development team and the SSTV development team on a job well done. We look forward to future operation of these systems on ISS,
inspiring the next generation of space explorers.

ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the ISS space agency partners--NASA, RSA, ESA, JAXA, and CSA, with volunteers from the AMSAT and IARU (International Amateur Radio Union) organizations from
participating countries. ARISS offers an inspirational opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers on-board the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, mathematics, technology, and learning. Further information on the ARISS program is available on the website http://www.rac.ca/ariss

Frank, KA3HDO

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