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NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 23, 2005--The launch of the novel "SuitSat" satellite has been delayed. SuitSat will not be deployed from the International Space Station until sometime in January or February.
"I have received information that the Russian EVA [space walk] that will deploy SuitSat, originally planned for December 8, has been delayed to late January/early February," Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, announced this week.
SuitSat consists of a surplus Russian Orlan space suit converted into a transmit-only satellite with an FM downlink frequency of 145.99 MHz using the call sign RS0RS. It will contain equipment to transmit voice messages, telemetry and an SSTV image on a nine-minute cycle as it orbits Earth. The batteries powering the satellite are expected to last about a week after deployment, and SuitSat's free-floating, decaying orbit is expected to cause it to re-enter Earth's atmosphere after some six weeks in space.
The SuitSat signal should be strong enough to hear using a VHF transceiver or scanner and a simple antenna--thus making it an ideal project for students to monitor and track. SuitSat's payload also will also include a CD with hundreds of school pictures, artwork, poems, and student signatures.
The ARISS-Russia team headed by Sergei Samburov, RV3DR, first came up with the idea for SuitSat, and the concept came in for extensive discussion during the October 2004 joint AMSAT Symposium/ARISS International Team meeting. Called Radioskaf or Radio Sputnik, the project was led by Project Manager A. P. Alexandrov and Deputy Project Manager A. Poleshuk from RSC Energia.
On the US side, AMSAT Board member Lou McFadin, W5DID, oversaw hardware development for SuitSat. The electronics were built and tested in Phoenix, Arizona, by a team lead by Steve Bible, N7HPR. A Progress rocket supply flight transported the SuitSat hardware to the ISS in September for installation by the space station crew.
For more information, see article "This is SuitSat-1 RS0RS!" by Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, on the AMSAT Web site. ARISS is an international educational outreach with US participation from ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.
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