ARISSat-1 Finally Deployed from ISS

Space Bulletin 007 ARLS007
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington, CT August 4, 2011
To all radio amateurs

After a delay of almost four hours, cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, RU3DIS, and Alexander Samokutyaev, successfully deployed Amateur Radio's newest satellite: ARISSat-1/KEDR. The deployment -- originally scheduled to occur at 1457 UTC on Wednesday, August 3 --
was delayed due to antenna concerns.

According to US Mission Control in Houston, ARISSat-1 was supposed to have two antennas -- one 70 cm antenna and one 2 meter antenna -- but Volkov and Samokutyaev expressed concern when they saw only one antenna. After discussions between the cosmonauts, the payload manager and the ground teams in Houston and Moscow, it was decided to delay the deployment. At the time, it was uncertain if the satellite would even be deployed during this spacewalk. If ARISSat-1 was not deployed during today's spacewalk, the next opportunity for its deployment would be February 2012. "Instead of taking chances on the satellite not working properly once deployed, it has been decided to secure it for the time being," US Mission Control reported when the decision to delay was made.

After much consultation, Mission Control in Moscow told the cosmonauts that they were going to go ahead and deploy the satellite. At 1843 UTC, Volkov jettisoned ARISSat-1 from his position on the Pirs docking compartment on the ISS.

The loss of the UHF antenna means that the 435 MHz/145 MHz linear transponder may not be operational. According to US Mission Control, it can also mean that there may be loss in the data that can be downloaded from ARISSat-1, as well as a loss of control capability from the ground. Even so, radio amateurs will be able to copy voice, BPSK and SSTV messages.

According to ARISSat-1/KEDR Project Manager Gould Smith, WA4SXM, ARISSat-1 will be in high power mode (continuous transmission) when in the Sun. It will go into low power (intermittent) mode when in eclipse.

ARISSat-1 will be active on the following frequencies and modes:

* 145.950 MHz FM Downlink: FM transmissions will cycle between a voice ID as RS01S, select telemetry values, 24 international greeting messages in 15 languages, as well as SSTV images. If you successfully receive the SSTV transmissions, you are invited to upload your picture to the ARISS SSTV Gallery at, http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV/.

* 435 MHz - 145 MHz Linear Transponder: The linear transponder will operate in Mode U/V (70 cm up, 2 meters down). It is a 16 kHz wide inverting passband and the convention will be to transmit LSB on the 435 MHz uplink and receive USB on the 145 MHz downlink.

* 145.919 MHz/145.939 MHz CW Beacons: The CW transmissions will be call sign ID RS01S, select telemetry and call signs of people actively involved with the ARISS program.

* 145.920 MHz SSB BPSK-1000 Telemetry: The BPSK transmissions will feature a new 1kBPSK protocol developed by Phil Karn, KA9Q. When the CW2 beacon on 145.919 MHz is active, this indicates that the BPSK-1000 format is being transmitted. If the CW1 beacon on 145.939 MHz is active, the backup of BPSK-400 format is being transmitted.

AMSAT needs your telemetry from ARISSat-1/KEDR after deployment from the International Space Station. Since there are no "Whole Orbit Data" storage mechanisms onboard ARISSat-1/KEDR, listener submissions are the only way for AMSAT to collect the spacecraft telemetry and KURSK experiment results. Here's how you can help:

* Recorded ARISSat-1/KEDR and Kursk telemetry CSV files (in the ARISSatTLM folder) can be sent as via e-mail as an attachment to, telemetry@arissattlm.org.

* If you are running ARISSatTLM and receiving the signal "live" from ARISSat-1/KEDR, please enable the telemetry forwarding option.

* The latest telemetry can be seen live on your computer or cell phone at, http://www.arissattlm.org/mobile.

AMSAT has also posted an ARISSat-1/KEDR "How To" page on their
website with pointers concerning digital aspects, such as BPSK
telemetry reception, SSTV reception and more. The web site is,
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ARISSat/ARISSatHowTo.php.

On this spacewalk, Volkov and Samokutyaev also installed laser
communications equipment and replaced experiments on the Zvezda
service module and retrieved a rendezvous antenna. They were unable
to perform the major job of the spacewalk -- relocating a boom
structure to aid future spacewalks -- due to time constraints. This
spacewalk was the third for Volkov, who performed two spacewalks as
Expedition 17 commander in 2008. This was the first spacewalk for
Samokutyaev.

Sad News on the ARISSat-1 Deployment - It is a No-Go until July

According to post from Kevin Fetter on SEESAT-L minutes ago, the release the ARISSat-1 sat during today's spacewalk, is no go. It now won't be released until July, according to info at http://www.arissat1.org/v3/.

According to the arissat-1 website:

"AMSAT learned on Friday morning, 11 FEB 11 that the deployment of the ARISSat-1 satellite had been removed from the RSA EVA 28 timeline by RSC-Energia management. NASA was informed that the ARISSat-1 deployment would be deferred to a later RS EVA, due to changes in the tasks associated with the configuration of RS pay- loads to be performed during RS EVA 28. Subsequently, RSC-Energia informed NASA that deployment of ARISSat-1 will be added to RSC EVA 29 currently scheduled for July 2011."

Amateur Radio in Space: ARISSat-1 to Be Deployed from ISS Today; Watch Live on NASA TV

Expedition 26 Flight Engineers Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka, RN3FU, will step outside the International Space Station (ISS) today, February 16. While in space, they will install and retrieve experiments on the Russian segment of the complex and deploy ARISSat-1, a small ham radio satellite. NASA TV coverage began at 6:45 AM (CST), while the extra-vehicular activity -- commonly called a spacewalk -- will begin about 30 minutes later. The spacewalk will be the second for Kondratyev, who will wear the spacesuit marked with red stripes, and the third for Skripochka, who will wear the suit with blue stripes.

During the nearly six hour spacewalk, Kondratyev and Skripochka will deploy an experiment called ARISSat-1, a boxy 57-pound nanosatellite that houses congratulatory messages commemorating the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's launch to become the first human in space. The ham radio transmitter will enable communications with Amateur Radio operators around the world for three to six months. It is the first of a series of educational satellites being developed in a partnership with the Radio Amateur Satellite Corp, the NASA Office of Education International Space Station National Lab Project, the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program and RSC-Energia.

The two cosmonauts will also install two experiments: One will collect information useful in seismic forecasts and earthquake predictions, and the second will look at gamma splashes and optical radiation during terrestrial lightning and thunderstorms. The spacewalkers also will retrieve a pair of panels exposed to space as part of an experiment to identify the best materials for building long-duration spacecraft.

You can watch live online on the NASA TV Public and Media channels, or on your television set. Contact your local provider for the NASA TV channel in your area. -- Thanks to NASA and the ARRL for the information.

ARISSat-1 Arrives at the International Space Station

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-030.01
ARISSat-1 Arrives at the International Space Station

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 030.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 30, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-030.01

On January 28 at 0132 UTC,a Soyuz rocket lifted off from Kazakhstan carrying the Russian Progress M-09M cargo vehicle to orbit headed for the International Space Station (ISS).

While the primary cargo of the Progress vehicle is fuel, oxygen, food and other supplies, the Progress also contains AMSAT's ARISSat-1 Amateur Radio satellite.

Progress docked with the space station just two days after launch, on January 30 at 0239 UTC.

Currently ARISSat-1 is planned to be manually deployed from the ISS by Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka during a spacewalk on February 16. ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf V will have simultaneous 2m FM, CW, BPSK and transponder transmissions. These multiple transmissions are created by a new software defined transponder (SDX) board. Features provided by the SDX include:

* The FM transmissions with cycle between a voice ID, select telemetry values, 24 international greeting messages in 15 languages and live SSTVimages.

* The CW transmissions will be callsign ID, select telemetry, and callsigns of people actively involved with the ARISS program.

* The BPSK transmissions will feature a new 1kBPSK protocol developed by Phil Karn, KA9Q to be readable in low signal level conditions. The BPSK data will alternate betwen telemetry and Kursk experiment data. Free ground station soundcard demodulator and display software will be available before deployment for multiple platforms.

* There also is a 16kHz wide amateur radio U/V transponder between the BPSK
and FM signals.

* The Kursk experiment will be sampling the amount of vacuum each day for 90 minutes and sending down data to map the vacuum change as the satellite slowly spirals into the atmosphere.

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM, for the above information]

RSC Energia has information and photographs about the satellite on their news site.
http://www.energia.ru/en/news/news-2010/news_12-31.html

Here is the frequency plan for the ARISSat-1 satellite.