SpaceCam1 News Release December 8 2003
SpaceCam1 News Release December 8 2003
ISS Amateur Radio Status: December 8, 2003
SpaceCam Status:
Packet and voice tips:
By Miles Mann WF1F,
MAREX-MG News www.marexmg.org
Manned Amateur Radio Experiment
SpaceCam Slow Scan TV Status:
The ARISS team put together a 6-man team of engineers that went to Moscow the week of November 10 – 20 (the ARISS team is made up of engineers from NASA, AMSAT and MAREXMG). The team met with officials from Energia for the purpose of flight certification testing of the Amateur radio equipment on ISS. One of the projects we tested was the SpaceCam slow Scan TV system.
The Fun Part:
The testing took place inside a giant building at Energia in the city of Korolev. The testing complex is called the KIS (pronounced Keys).
We had to change into overalls and booties before entering the main testing room. There we saw a full size test Service Module, FBG, Kaviant (from Mir), Buran Shuttle and several new rockets getting ready to fly. A new Progress (Cargo rockets) and two new Soyuz capsules (Soyuz are for manned flights) and a rocket called Sea Launch. We also saw the ISS Soyuz TM7 capsule which just came back from ISS about 3 week earlier. The Booster sections of the rockets are tested in a different complex. After a rocket is built, it is sent to this building for a full systems checkout. Then after everything is complete, the rocket is wrapped in plastic and shipped to the Balkanor launching facility.
We climbed up the scaffolding to gain access to the Serving module. Since the service module is small, only 4 of us at a time were allowed inside at one time (technician, photographer, and two ARISS engineers). There was a technician inside to show us where our hardware was going to be installed. We posed for many pictures and were allowed to examine all 4 of the ham radio antenna positions. The photographs taken by the Energia photographer need to go through a special release process, I will post the pictures when they become available.
James Bond flash back (You only live twice):
Try to think back to the James Bond movie, "You only Live twice" (one of my all time favorites). The plot of this movie was the Chinese had built a Single-Stage-to-Orbit rocket that was hijacking American and Russian manned space capsules while they were in Orbit. The Chinese launching facility was hidden inside a volcano on a Japanese island. James Bond infiltrated the complex and was eventually caught while pretending to be a cosmonaut. During this movie you see this huge space complex with a rocket sitting on a launch pad and you hear the PA system blaring out instructions in English and Chinese. The movie sound track gave off and Erie echo. While I was walking around the huge KIS building, looking at all of these Russian made rockets, the PA system began to blast out information in Russian. Not only did it sound like the movie, but it also looked the part with all of the Russian rockets. The big difference between this and the movie was this was all real. It was like I as standing in a real James Bond movie.
Back to reality:
During the first day of testing, Lou McFadin W5DID, performed all of the radio and antenna testing. Everything went very good and we finished work ahead of schedule. The next day we tested the SSTV with all three (3) radio configurations. Everything worked great on the new computer. All images to and from the Service Module looked great. We tested SpaceCam on three different radios, Ericsson 2-meter, Ericsson 440 and the Kenwood D700 on 2/440 bands. As near as we can tell, we had completed all of the required tests and still had a little time left.
When Will SpaceCam fly:
I do not know. I am going to wait until all of the paper work is completed before I make any announcements on when the SpaceCam software will be delivered to ISS. Most of the hardware for SpaceCam is already on board the ISS. The only part left that need to be flown are the VOX adapter module and the Software. These components will need to be placed on a rocket, sometime in 2004.
Special thanks:
I would like to give special thanks for everyone that helps make this meeting and testing successful.
Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, Mark Steiner, K3MS, Lou McFadin, W5DID, Carolynn Conley, KD5JSO, Dave Taylor, W8AAS, Sergej Samburov, RV3DR and all of the supporting teams from ARISS, AMSAT and Energia
Current ISS Crew:
Expedition 8 crew:
Commander Michael Foale
Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri
Arrived on ISS October 20, 2003 and will stay on ISS until April 2004.
Packet and Voice tips:
I have posted information on how to access the ISS station, for both Voice and Packet operations. The ISS packet system was heard on December 6 for 1 hour. Astronaut Mike Foale, said he will try to fix the problem, however he can not make the repairs until he gets permission and has the project "Time-Lined" into his schedule. Please be patient.
http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/howtouseiss.html
Marexmg Web page
http://www.marexmg.org
Information on the crew's activities aboard the Space Station, future launch dates, as well as Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, is available on the Internet at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
73 Miles WF1F MAREX-MG
Until we meet again
DOSVIDANIYA Miles WF1F
You are visitor #
since December 2003