Amateur Radio established an exciting “first” for the International Space Station (ISS) on July 30, August 12 and August 13, 2006. This event was the sending of still picture images from the ISS via amateur radio. Radio amateurs and shortwave listeners in many countries were able to see these images from the ISS, which is orbiting Earth approximately every 90 minutes at an altitude of around 225 miles. These pictures were sent by ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov, an amateur-radio Operator with call sign RV3BS.
The amateur radio software program used to send pictures is called SpaceCam1. This project is currently being operated intermittently during the crew’s free time. After testing is complete, the system will have the capability of sending several hundred images per day from the ISS Amateur Radio VHF link. With a direct onboard camera feed pointed out the window or in the cabin, each picture sent down could be of unique content.
SpaceCam1 was developed over a three-year span. The concept was initiated by the same group that developed the very successful amateur radio TV system flown on board the Russian space station Mir, 1998-2001. Those involved with this amateur radio development are Dr Don Miller (W9NTP), Hank Cantrell (W4HTB), Miles Mann (WF1F) and Farrell Winder (W8ZCF). While the Mir system was a hardware system, the ISS SpaceCam1 system is a software-based system which was developed primarily by Jim Barber (N7CXI) of Silicon Pixels, working with the above team.
Several international amateur radio teams supported the final success of this system under the auspices of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) international working group. In the United States, team members from AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), and NASA, under the direction of Frank Bauer (K3HDO) supported systems integration, safety verification and extensive ground-based testing. AMSAT member Lou McFadin (W5DID) was responsible for the integration hardware between the Kenwood D700 Radio Transmitter and the onboard computer, which comprise the SpaceCam1 system. In Russia, Sergey Samburov (RV3DR) chief of the Cosmonaut Amateur Radio Department, RSC Energia in Korolev, Russia, coordinated Russian cosmonaut training, onboard procedure development, hardware and software flight manifest on a Progress launch vehicle.
The final image downlink tests from ISS were coordinated by a team that included Miles Mann (WF1F), MarexMG CEO; Kenneth Ransom (N5VHO), NASA Amateur Radio Coordinator; and Frank Bauer (KA3HDO) in the United States; Sergey Samburov (RV3DR) in Russia; and Pavel Vinogradov (RV3BS) onboard the ISS.
The team expects many additional pictures to follow as soon as final tests are concluded. SpaceCam1 has picture-receive capability aboard the ISS from Earth, which will be tested at a later date. Anyone can receive picture signals from the ISS. See the MAREX-MG Web page, http://www.marexmg.org/ for details about receiving and tracking the ISS. See also the ARISS Web site, www.rac.ca/ariss. Being an amateur radio operator is not a requirement for receiving transmissions from the ISS.
Amateur radio contacts by the ISS crew with amateur operators on Earth give the crew a break from formal activity. One of the recent crew members, Bill McArthur (KC5ACR) says that it provides great pleasure and relaxation during off-duty time. It likewise gives amateur operators and schoolchildren on Earth a challenge and excitement of outer-space communications involving very interesting and educational pictures.
(Source: ARISS)
