Ham Radio on the Space Station

We may hear ham radio signals from the International Space Station (ISS) later this year. The first ISS crew and its backup team are training in Russia with the gear referred to as "Amateur Radio on the International Space Station" (ARISS).



Crew:
The first ISS crew includes U.S. astronaut-ham Bill Shepherd, KD5GSL, and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, and Yuri Gaidzenko who also passed a license exam.

As of July 4, 2000, NASA plans an October 30 blastoff for a three-man crew aboard a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. By the way, KD5GSL will be the second American to fly to space atop a Russian rocket. The first was Norman Thagard who flew to Mir space station in 1995. Thagard used the Mir callsign R0MIR. Just as Thagard did, Shepherd will return to Earth in a U.S. space shuttle after his four-month stay at the ISS.

Training:
Pre-flight training on the American-supplied ham rig is taking place at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre following a schedule devised by Matt Bordelon, KC5BTL, of NASA.

The astronauts with radio amateur licenses learn to use various kinds of ham gear with voice operating modes and packet radio, the principles of amateur radio operation in space, radio theory and communications software. They have a hardware mockup that simulates a real ham shack.

Flights:
The October 30 launch depends on the flight this month of Russia's Zvezda service module to the ISS from Baikonur. Zvezda weighs 42,000-lbs. and is 43 feet long with a solar array spanning 97.5 feet. The service module is to be the living quarters for astronauts and cosmonauts so it has life-support, electrical power distribution, data processing, flight control, and propulsion.

The first ham shack won't be in Zvezda, however. It will be located in the Zarya Functional Cargo Block module already in space. The first ham shack will use antennas on Zarya.

Ham radio operations from ISS also depend on U.S. shuttle Atlantis flight STS-106, which will ferry the initial amateur station hardware to the ISS. It is scheduled to lift off September 8.

Gear:
The first ISS amateur radio station will be used for FM voice and packet on 2 meters. VHF and UHF handheld transceivers will be transferred to the Zvezda service module next year and 70 cm operations could begin then using Ericsson handheld transceivers. Modes added after that could include slow-scan and fast-scan TV and experimental communications projects.

Callsigns:
A Russian station license and callsign, RZ3DZR, have been granted for the ISS ham shack. The German callsign DL0ISS has been issued. Application has been made for a US callsign. Eventually one international callsign will be used. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is requesting a multinational ISS callsign block from the ITU.

Other astronauts and cosmonauts to fly on ISS will be tested for U.S. amateur radio licenses from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Education:
Ham radio in space already has a long history aboard U.S. space shuttles in the SAREX program. Like SAREX operators in the past, ARISS hams will schedule contacts with schools so students can interview the astronauts and cosmonauts for classroom projects.

--de K3RXK www.spacetoday.org

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