tracking suitsat-1
if you plan to hear suitsat, you need to know when it will be visible in your area. to do this, you need to obtain some orbit prediction software or see the iss orbital path from the internet. information on this can be found at the following:
http://www.amsat.org http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/ http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/jtrack/ please understand that when you use an orbital prediction program you need an accurate synchronization of time (to a few seconds).
downlink specifics
figure 6 - suitsat hardware (transmitter and digitalker/microcontroller box inside fabric container)
to fully understand the suitsat-1 downlinks, some background information is in order.
one of the reasons our russian colleagues were interested in developing suitsat was as an on-orbit commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the bauman moscow state technical university. this university is where many of the engineers in the russian space agency graduated. as a result, the russian-generated messages include congratulatory comments to the bauman moscow state technical university.
in addition to the messages from russia, there are voice messages from students in japan, europe (spanish and german), canada (french) and the usa (english). the usa message is from a student enrolled in the eastern middle school, silver spring, maryland. eastern middle school is a nasa explorer school. in addition, the suitsat-1 id was voiced by a korean-born young lady enrolled in paint branch high school, burtonsville, maryland, usa. as you can see, suitsat-1 truly has an international flavor!
special word
several of the student messages include a special word. one student project for suitsat will be to copy all the special words (in different languages) and submit them to the ariss team for special educational award recognition.
suit telemetry
the suit telemetry is sensed by the suitsat microcontroller and converted to a voice message. three telemetry data messages will be transmitted. these will be periodically repeated. specifically, the suit telemetry will be transmitted in the following order:
mission time
suit temperature
battery voltage, where 28 volts is the nominal voltage
the suitsat team is quite interested all three pieces of telemetry as it will be a predictor for suitsat mission life.
suitsat downlink picture
the downlink picture will be transmitted using a set of audio tones, similar to a computer modem, using a ham radio picture standard called slow-scan television (sstv). sstv, developed many years ago, provides cell phone quality pictures. a single picture was installed on in the suitsat microprocessor memory and will be downlinked. suitsat uses an sstv data transmission standard called robot 36. this standard sends the entire image in 36 seconds.
for more information on sstv, you may check out:
http://www.marexmg.org/spacecam/spacecam.html http://www.ultimatecharger.com/sstv.html suitsat-1 downlink sequence
now that you understand the specifics, what can you expect when suitsat is over your area? to save suitsat power and to maximize the time that suitsat is operational, 30 second pauses have been included between each of the voice messages. so the sequence will be as follows:
suitsat voice id (5 seconds)
international voice message, suit voice
telemetry, or sstv image (15-45 seconds)
30 second pause
...and repeat
the international message order will be as follows:
voice telemetry
russian message
europe student messages (spanish and german)
bauman institute message (russian)
canada student message (french)
mr. alexandrov message (english)
japan student message (japanese)
usa student message (english)
sstv picture
copying suitsat data
if you are planning on copying the suitsat-1 downlink, you are highly encouraged to record it so you can replay it later. tape recorders or digital voice recorders with at least 10-15 minutes of continuous recording are recommended. you can then use these to submit suit telemetry information, the special words and the sstv image to the ariss team and the space agencies.
"school spacewalk" cd
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 as part of the suitsat-1 spacewalk. the other is available for the crew to review. there are approximately 300 items on the cd including artwork, school and educational organization logos, student signatures and student and school pictures. a composite of several of the items installed on the cd are shown in figure xx. as you can see, 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.
suitsat postings of telemetry, special messages and the sstv image
this is still a work in progress. please return to the web site often to get details on this as the suitsat mission gets closer.
special certificates
those that hear suitsat will be eligible to receive a special certificate in commemoration of your achievement. also, if you receive the sstv image, copy the telemetry and/or copy the special words, special certificate endorsements will be provided. to receive a suitsat special certificate, please use the standard qsl card address in your area of the world. these are located at: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#qsl's
indicate the time and date you heard suitsat and any other information that will acknowledge your reception of the information (telemetry, sstv picture, etc) that will confirm that you should receive the proper endorsements on your certificate. please include a self addressed stamped envelope. and provide a big envelope and protective cardboard if you do not want your certificate folded or damaged during shipment.
current status
on may 10, 2005 nasa gave the ok to fly. four short weeks later, the usa built suitsat hardware was sent to russia for final testing, certification and integration with the russian-built hardware.
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 was the suitsat amateur radio hardware. the successful docking of progress to iss on september 10 culminated the successful design, development, certification and delivery of this exciting educational project. the iss expedition 11 crew has unpacked the suitsat equipment, making it available for installation, use and deployment by the expedition 12 crew. suitsat deployment is currently scheduled for february 2, 2006.
conclusions
the suitsat project was an extremely challenging endeavor for the ariss hardware team, primarily due to the very short development time. throughout the development effort, we have involved students. as suitsat nears deployment, we are looking forward to the continued involvement and participation of students worldwide.
for all the amateur radio operators in the world, this is your chance to get your local school involved. bring a radio, orbit tracking program, sstv equipment, an audio recorder and your enthusiasm into the school. suitsat promises to capture the imagination of the students and, if successful, will allow the students to learn more about space, amateur radio and satellite orbits. please volunteer and wish our robotic astronaut in the russian orlon suit a good and successful journey in space!!
additional information
ariss web site:
http://www.rac.ca/arissamsat web site:
http://www.amsat.orghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/orlan_space_suitshttp://www.issfanclub.comhttp://space.cweb.nl/article.html?id=407 photo of how cosmonauts get into the orlan suit
acknowledgements
on behalf of the ariss international team, the author would like to acknowledge and congratulate the suitsat hardware development team for their "can do" spirit and ability to deliver the suitsat hardware on such a very challenging schedule.
specifically, we would like to thank the following: alexander alexandrov, alexander poleshuk, sergey samburov, rv3dr, lou mcfadin, w5did, kenneth ransom, n5vho, frank bauer, ka3hdo, mark steiner, k3ms, steve bible, n7hpr, joe julicher, n9wxu, rawin rojvanit, farrell winder, w8zcf, jeffery winder, kb8vco, hiroto watarikawa, jj1lyu, stan wood, wa4nfy, herb sullivan, k6qxb, dave taylor, w8aas, deanna lutz, k7did, claire fredlund, carol jackson, kb3lki, kenwood and microchip technology inc.
the author would also like to acknowledge the tremendous support, teamwork and volunteer spirit of the ariss-international team as well as the technical, financial and administrative support of the ariss member organizations--the amsat organizations and iaru organizations (arrl in the usa). also special recognition is in order to the space agencies: nasa, energia, esa, jaxa & csa. together we are pioneering the new frontiers of amateur radio and educational outreach.
for more information on the ariss program, you are welcome to visit the ariss web page at:
http://www.rac.ca/ariss
