The ARISS international face to face meeting 2024 took place at Kennedy Space Center. Participation in this F2F meeting is by invitation only of the ARISS-International Board. Stefan ON6TI (UBA) and Jan ON7UX (AMSAT Belgium) were represented for Belgium. In addition to the official F2F agenda on February 21 and 22, 2024, the 40th anniversary of ‘Positive Impact of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight’ will be celebrated on February 23 and 24, 2024.
A first agenda part of the ARISS-I F2F meeting concerns the educational aspect associated with ARISS contacts in schools. Various educational projects are exchanged and the regional educational activities of ARISS ambassadors are discussed.
An important topic during the ARISS-I F2F meeting is the operational status of the various operational modes and technical projects that are being developed and will become possible in the future. Chris Thompson VE2TCP – G0KLA – AC2CZ demonstrated the remote control of the IORS radio in the Columbus module using developed software on a Rasberry Pi and his FT-817.
With his demonstration, Chris was able to manage the ARISS ISS radio, such as mode switching, power reset and reset to factory configuration. He also demonstrated uploading of SSTV images and programmed transmission of those SSTV images.
During the subsequent part with the celebration of ‘Positive Impact of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight’, memories and experiences were extensively exchanged. In this way, everyone is a small link in worldly events between students, radio amateurs and astronauts. Sharing everyone’s experience was a highlight of the festivities.
Media Source:
FB: Astronaut Owen Garriott (W5LFL) gives us a look at the amateur radio gear he used on STS-9
