5 August, 2005

ARISS-EUROPE NEWS BULLETIN

 

1. ARISS INTERNATIONAL MEETING IN SURREY

An ARISS international meeting took place at the University of Surrey, UK Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 August 2005, following the AMSAT UK 20th Colloquium.

Much time was devoted to the Columbus project. The development of the L/S-band antennas was reviewed as well as possible uses.

There were presentations of DATV (digital amateur television), one of the possible modes to be installed on Columbus.

It was decided to set up two working groups:

- a Columbus Project working group

- a Space Exploration working group (Moon, Mars and beyond).

These working groups will develop proposals to be submitted to the ARISS Selection and Uses Committee.

The next ARISS international meeting will be convened in the Autumn of 2006 at San Francisco, USA following the AMSAT NA Convention.

The detailed report of the Surrey meeting will be posted on the ARISS international website.

 

2. COLUMBUS ANTENNAS

Wroclaw University actively continues the development of the ARISS L/S-band antennas.

Frequent teleconferences are set up by Columbus engineers of EADS, Bremen with engineers of ESA and Alenia Spazio, as well as Wroclaw University and ARISS-Europe.

19 July 2005 a face to face meeting took place at ESTEC, Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The ICD (Interface Control Document) was reviewed, important mechanical issues were examined and a schedule for the work to be done was established:

- ICD release                                                                        15-8-05

- Subset of requirements applicable to the antenna                     30-9-05

- Design modification on Columbus side of the interface                15-11-05

- Definition of harness routing                                                  15-11-05

- Antenna delivery to Bremen after qualification/acceptance         30-11-05

- Hardware modification on the Columbus side of the interface       13-1-06

- Manufacturing and installation of antenna hardware                  13-1-06

- Antenna qual./acceptance data package delivery                     13-1-06

- Antenna installation on MDPS panels                                       27-1-06

- MDPS panels reinstallation on Columbus                                   3-2-06

- Antenna connection to harness & testing                                15-2-06

- Updating of system documentation                                         28-2-06

Up till now, there is no sufficient funding to pay for the UHF antennas.

A view of the nadir of Columbus with placement of the ARISS antennas is hereto appended. See Nadir.

 

3. COLUMBUS PROJECT WORKING GROUP

The Columbus module will be delivered to NASA in 2006 and the launch by a Shuttle Mission is foreseen end of 2006 or 2007.

Equipment can be installed inside the module in 2006.

The Columbus Project working group will study the feasibility of proposals. Presently this working group comprises:

- Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

- Graham Shirville, G3VZV

- Paolo Pitacco, IW3QBN

- Florio DALLA VEDOVA, IW2NMB

- Christophe Mercier

 

73

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

ARISS-Europe chairman