ARISS International Monthly Meeting Teleconference
May 19, 2020 – 1100 UTC  
 
Participants:
Oliver Amend
Frank Bauer                                                                                          
Gaston Bertels
Armand Budzianowski
Jean-Pierre Courjaud
Darin Cowan
Emanuele D’Andria
Francesco De Paolis  
Stefan Dombrowski 
Shizuo Endo
Gianpietro Ferrario
Bertus Husken
Tony Hutchison
John Kludt
Keigo Komuro
Lou McFadin
Ciaran Morgan
Martha Muir
Jan Poppeliers
Kenneth Ransom
Sergey Samburov
Graham Shirville
Dave Taylor
Satoshi Yasuda
Interpreter: Olga Moncuquet 
Unable to attend:
Fabio Azzarello
Kerry Banke
Bruce Hunter
David Jordan
Chet Latawiec
Glenn MacDonell
Ken Nichols
Gordon Scannell
Mark Steiner
Rosalie White
 
Meeting Agenda
 
Roll Call—Martha Muir, W4MSA
   
Welcome—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
 
Frank Bauer relayed that Martha Muir would be calling the roll and taking minutes. He welcomed everyone to this meeting and stated that the past month has been one of challenging times.  He said this will be a year of fantastic anniversaries, including marking 20 years of continuous ARISS operations.  There will be a substantial amount of changes this year and perhaps for years to come due to the COVID-19 virus and hardware and operational changes on the horizon.  School contacts will continue but there will be other events that will allow students to engage in STEM in more ways than just an ARISS contact.
 

1. Call for Acceptance of Minutes—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO

      [Decisional] 
 
Summary:  The Minutes from the ARISS-International Monthly Meeting on April 21, 2020 were finalized by Rosalie White on April 24, 2020. The Minutes were reviewed on May 14 and distributed to ARISS Delegates. 
 
Discussion:  No comments about the April Minutes were received by Rosalie White. Darin Cowan made a motion to approve the Minutes.  Bertus Husken seconded that motion.  There was unanimous acceptance of the motion. The Minutes will be posted by Carol Jackson.
 
Frank Bauer sent his thanks to Rosalie White for her work with the Minutes.
 
 
2.     ARISS Operations during the Pandemic—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO & John Kludt, K4SQC     
      [Informational]
 
Summary:  John Kludt said that there have been two successes of the Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio to date, the most recent one in Canada.  There have been significant improvements with each of these contacts and there are hopes these improvements will continue.  The next contact will be Marcelo Teruel’s in Spain.  The first two groups doing a Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio were held in North America with English as the language being used.  Frank asked how the language used for the next contact will impact the number of livestreamed views and YouTube views. English remains the primary language used when speaking with the astronaut. Given that the students are no longer in a central location with this type of contact, the livestreamed production becomes a much bigger piece of the project. The Live Stream video does afford the opportunity to more effectively use subtitles on videos or to display the questions both in English and the language of the country in which the students are located. The impact of all of this on YouTube views will need to be monitored as more experience is gained.
 
Oliver Amend asked about the use of Verizon as the phone service for the first two multipoint ARISS contacts.  Frank Bauer said that a telephone connection with Verizon is the solution with which the team has the most experience. It is known to be stable and we have experience in managing difficulties should they occur. An internet connection is not always available in all locations with bandwidth sufficient enough to support a solid ARISS contact.  
 
 
3.    Update on the Face-to-face Meeting--Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, Oliver Amend, DG6BCE  
     [Informational]
 
Summary: The 2020 ARISS-International Face-to-face Meeting will now be held as an ear-to-ear meeting via GoToMeeting on Monday through Friday of the last week in June. Oliver Amend reported the current plans for the meeting are as follows. The first day will be a group welcome and an opening session. A review will cover ARISS’s very successful past years and ideas will be shared for the next 10 years of operations. The team was asked to email Frank Bauer, Oliver Amend, and Rosalie White on what people would like to see for ARISS in 5 to 10 years. Day 2 will be on operations, including ARISS activities during the COVID era, and ARISS Mentors can share experiences. Day 3 will cover new educational initiatives, such as ARISS Pi and SSTV options; team members are asked to submit ideas for this discussion. Day 4 will be on the Lunar Gateway activities, planning aspects and team members’ ideas.
 
Discussion:  The ear-to-ear meetings will begin at 1100 UTC and last for 2 to 3 hours each day.  Region and committee reports need to be submitted to Frank Bauer, Rosalie White, and Oliver Amend no later than June 12, 2020.
 
Lou McFadin asked to confirm that this meeting will be held via GoToMeeting, which would be a first.  Frank Bauer said yes, and that ARISS International monthly telecon meetings may switch to that format, too.  The fifth day of ear-to-ear meetings, Friday, is currently left available for any discussions of previous days’ events that need to extend to another day. 
 
Frank Bauer asked that items to be added to the agenda be submitted to Carol Jackson, Frank Bauer, Oliver Amend, and Rosalie White by next Tuesday, May 26.
 
Ad hoc:
Frank Bauer stated that the InterOperable Radio System is on the ISS but is waiting for the crew to install it. There are only three folks aboard the ISS now but two more should be arriving via the Commercial Crew Program by early June. 
 
Chris Cassidy is the only one licensed and trained to use the radio at this time.  One of the two Commercial Crew team members is licensed but he has not been trained to use the radio.  Sergey Samburov suggested that a crew member could be trained to use the radio in a manner similar to what was done with Drew Morgan.  Frank Bauer shared that the length of time the Commercial Crew will be on the ISS is uncertain right now so there may or may not be time for this training, depending on the crew stay and the crew member’s interest in supporting ARISS. 
 
There are some unknowns about how space tourists, flying and living on the ISS, as part of the commercial crew program, can support and interact with the ARISS program.  Frank Bauer asked that ARISS team members think about how these on-board ISS guests could impact ARISS hardware and operations in the next 5 to 10 years.
 
Frank Bauer extended his thanks to Olga Moncuquet for her role as interpreter for this meeting. He said thank you to Martha Muir for her work in recording the words from the telecon meeting discussions.
 
Next Meeting   
The next meeting will be June 16, 2020 at 1100 UTC.
 
Respectfully submitted,
 
Martha Muir, W4MSA
May 19, 2020

ARISS International Monthly Meeting Teleconference
April 21, 2020 - 1100 UTC 
 
Participants:
Oliver Amend
Fabio Azzarello
Frank Bauer                                                                                          
Armand Budzianowski
Emanuele D’Andria
Stefan Dombrowski 
Shizuo Endo
Gianpietro Ferrario
Bruce Hunter
Bertus Husken
Tony Hutchison
David Jordan
John Kludt
Peter Kofler
Keigo Komuro
Chet Latawiec
Glenn MacDonell
Lou McFadin
Ciaran Morgan
Ken Nichols
Jan Poppeliers
Kenneth Ransom
Sergey Samburov
Gordon Scannell
Graham Shirville
Dave Taylor
Rosalie White
Satoshi Yasuda
Interpreter: Olga Moncuquet   
Unable to attend:
Kerry Banke
Gaston Bertels
Jean-Pierre Courjaud
Darin Cowan
Francesco De Paolis  
Mark Steiner
 
Meeting Agenda
 
 
Roll Call—Rosalie White, K1STO
   
Welcome—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
 
Frank Bauer welcomed everyone to the meeting and commented that many people in the world are leading an isolated life, somewhat like our astronauts on the space station.  He thanked all team members who are working on ARISS activities that will provide STEM opportunities to students. 
 
 
1.     Call for Acceptance of Minutes—Rosalie White, K1STO
      [Decisional] 
 
Summary:  The minutes from the ARISS-International Monthly Meeting on March 17, 2020 were finalized by Rosalie White on March 18, 2020. A review of the minutes was completed on March 21 and the file was distributed on March 31 to ARISS Delegates. 
 
Discussion: Rosalie White reported that she received no comments regarding the file distributed March 31, 2020. Stefan Dombrowski made a motion to adopt these minutes. Tony Hutchison seconded the motion. There were no further comments; the team accepted the minutes. Carol Jackson will post them on the ARISS web site.
 
2.      Changes to ARISS due to COVID-19: Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO & John Kludt, K4SQC      
      [Informational] 
 
Summary:  A discussion will take place on options for continuing to support ARISS school radio contacts.  These will be modified ARISS telebridge radio contacts—a Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio—with students individually joining in the contact from home using virtual means.  
 
Discussion: Frank Bauer said the ARISS-US team discussed many options for modifying ARISS contacts to include youth being part of the contact virtually from their own homes.  The team concluded that the Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio was the best option. Frank Bauer had emailed a chart pack to ARISS-I that explained aspects of a Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio. The chart pack is also on the ARISS web site under “Submit a Proposal.”  Chart 10 shows the system arrangement.
 
The ARISS-US team had shared the chart pack with teachers whose ARISS contacts were postponed so they could understand how a Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio would work. John Kludt said a platform and methodology a school has in place to reach students at home will be utilized along with Verizon. ARISS has used Verizon for years. Fewer students will be engaged in ARISS contacts, but they will be safe at their homes asking the questions.
 
John Kludt commented that an ARISS contact is always an experiment and this is particularly true, now. The ARISS-US team has a practice session for testing the equipment set-up and a practice session with the first school group, which is in northern Virginia.  The most difficult part of a Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio, according to John Kludt, is not having an ARISS volunteer near the students to ensure their questions are asked in the correct order and ensuring that happens can take extra time during the pass. Students not asking the question must mute their line while listening to the program.
 
Many ARISS telebridge stations are at facilities that are closed right now. So two new telebridge stations are being added: AB1OC in New Hampshire and ZS6JON in South Africa. 
 
The team is setting up an ARISS YouTube channel and John Kludt reported that it has an archive of ARISS contacts. The channel can be used for livestreaming contacts for the ARISS audience. The link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxm5Ca2y0HD_NxXlZWXv11A
 
Gianpietro Ferrario shared his experience from an event he was involved in, not related to ARISS, with student participants. Several students had been chosen to ask all of the students’ questions while others watched the YouTube livestream. 
 
Frank Bauer thanked John Kludt and the team for their work. From lessons learned from this first Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio, necessary changes will be made. He said the team has made improvements to telebridge methods for ARISS through 30 years of operation. If people have additional ideas, please share them via ARISS Ops or John Kludt. From one school to another, there will be differences on what works best. The important thing is that ARISS is moving forward with a focus on keeping students and the public safe, and the world team will work together, as always.
 
The www.ariss.org web page has a new tab titled “Educational Resources” and Frank Bauer said it is under construction. It will become a good resource for teachers and students to use while staying at home. If team members have education resources that people around the world can use, please email him. One of the first few items posted on this web page is about ARISS teacher Joanne Michael, KM6BWB who is sponsoring a mid-altitude balloon race. A news release will be distributed soon, but a few details follow. A balloon will be launched from Los Angeles and one will launch from San Francisco; the first reaching the East Coast US time zone will win the race. Balloons use APRS to downlink the telemetry, which will be available to students. Joanne Michael developed materials that enable students to track the balloon and to learn about working with telemetry.
 
 
3.      Update, InterOperable Radio System (IORS)--Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, Lou McFadin, W5DID & Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO       
     [Informational] 
 
Summary:  A discussion will take place on plans for moving toward operations of the InterOperable Radio System (IORS) in the Columbus module and plans for the second system to go to the Russian segment.
 
Discussion: Lou McFadin said all of the answers that the ARISS team provided to questions NASA had asked about the IORS were okayed by NASA and all items are cleared to begin integration on the ISS. A team at Marshall Space Flight Center is reviewing step-by-step procedures for the crew to remove the old Ericsson system and install the new IORS. The next sets of power supplies and cables are being built, starting with the other three flight systems: one for installation in the Russian Service Module and two backup systems. After these are fabricated, power supplies will be produced to train the astronauts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX and the cosmonauts in Star City, Russia. Lou McFadin said the team is also working on a new voice repeater capability that will transmit uplinks on the 1.2 gigahertz amateur radio band.
 
Kenneth Ransom estimates that installation of the IORS by the crew may take place at the end of May or sometime in June. Crew time is limited while there are only three crew members on board the ISS.
 
Frank Bauer thanked the entire time on the 5-year effort to make the IORS happen.
 
 
4.      New Update on the Face-to-face Meeting--Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, Oliver Amend, DG6BCE & Rosalie White, K1STO       
     [Informational] 
 
Summary: Oliver Amend suggested to the ARISS-International Officers that we hold a virtual version in June of the 2020 ARISS-International Face-to-face Meeting that was originally to be in Germany. Frank Bauer and Rosalie White agreed; Frank suggested breaking up the topics in order to hold parts of the meeting on different days and in short sessions.  Rosalie White said such a plan may allow more team members to join meetings than with a typical face-to-face meeting. She said a call for agenda items should be made again. The officers will share more on this plan.
 
Discussion: Oliver Amend said the intention is to switch from a face-to-face meeting to ear-to-ear meetings.  The same week of June will be scheduled for teleconference meetings on Monday through Thursday with 2 to 3 hours maximum per day, always starting at 11:00 UTC. Each day will be dedicated to a specific topic. Day #1 will begin with a group welcome and an opening session. A review will be done of the very successful past years of ARISS and ideas will be shared for the next 10 years of operation. The team should email input to Frank Bauer, Oliver Amend, and Rosalie White on what individuals would like to see for ARISS in 5 to 10 years. Day #2 will be dedicated to ARISS activities during the COVID-19 era, with time reserved for ARISS Mentors to share school experiences during the stay-home days.  Day #3 will be for discussing new educational opportunities, such as ARISS Pi, different SSTV activities; team members should provide ideas for other new opportunities. Day #4 will be dedicated to the Lunar Gateway activities—the planning aspects and team members’ ideas. Oliver Amend will distribute a simple schedule on major topics to be discussed each day.
 
Shizuo Endo asked about meeting times that will be reasonable for the whole world team.  Oliver Amend said this will be discussed with Japan and Australia teammates in mind, but it could be something similar to the monthly meeting start time. Region and committee reports will be requested in advance. During meetings, presenters will have 30 minutes to discuss very important points rather than a lot of detail, and listeners can ask questions.
 
Frank Bauer stated that the start time for meetings will be the same time every day and GoToMeeting will be used.
 
Rosalie White said that some people could not travel to past face-to-face meetings, and this year’s plan should allow many more individuals to take part.
 
Glenn MacDonell asked that presentations be made available ahead of time. Frank Bauer said that is the plan and expectation. Time will be reserved the next day after a presentation so that listeners have a chance to absorb what was presented the previous day and to develop any questions.
 
Bertus Husken asked if he could invite a friend who is interested in ARISS. Frank Bauer reported that past face-to-face meetings have welcomed interested people and that will be true this year, as well. Regions should talk to their Delegates about ensuring the visitor will receive credentials to join the meeting.
 
 
Ad hoc
ARISS SSTV – Gianpietro Ferrario asked if there may be any ARISS SSTV sessions during the COVID-19 era. Frank Bauer commented that the team discussed this but with space agencies closed, it is difficult to do the required work. Sergey Samburov said realistically the first session that may be possible would be July, and he welcomes ideas for the SSTV sessions. He has agreed to have the Kenwood VC-H1 moved to the Columbus module as part of the IORS and Kenneth Ransom is working to make this happen. SSTV sessions from there would not be as robust as what Sergey Samburov has had done in the Russian Service Module. But ISS astronauts could take photographs and allow autonomous downlink of the photos.  As Kenneth Ransom had mentioned, use of the IORS in the Columbus module may be in June, and then the first tests of SSTV could be done.    
 
Frank Bauer thanked Olga Moncuquet for her excellent interpreting and he asked the team to continue with all the good work always being done for ARISS.
 
 
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be May 19, 2020 at 1100 UTC.
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
Rosalie White, K1STO
ARISS-International Secretary-Treasurer
April 24, 2020   

ARISS International Monthly Meeting Teleconference
March 17, 2020 - 1200 UTC 
 
Participants:
Oliver Amend
Fabio Azzarello
Frank Bauer                                                                                          
Gaston Bertels
Armand Budzianowski
Emanuele D’Andria
Francesco De Paolis  
Stefan Dombrowski 
Shizuo Endo
Gianpietro Ferrario
Bruce Hunter
Bertus Husken
Tony Hutchison
David Jordan
John Kludt
Peter Kofler
Keigo Komuro
Chet Latawiec
Glenn MacDonell
Lou McFadin
Ciaran Morgan
Jan Poppeliers
Kenneth Ransom
Sergey Samburov
Graham Shirville
Dave Taylor
Rosalie White
Satoshi Yasuda
Interpreter: Olga Moncuquet   
Unable to attend:
Kerry Banke
Jean-Pierre Courjaud
Darin Cowan
Ken Nichols
Mark Steiner
 
Meeting Agenda
 
 
Roll Call—Rosalie White, K1STO
   
Welcome—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
 
Frank Bauer commented that the world is struggling with COVID-19 and the team will discuss this. He asked that we all do what we can to stay healthy. He talked about the successful SpaceX-20 launch of ARISS equipment on March 6, 2020 and he will share more details.
 
 
1.     Call for Acceptance of Minutes—Rosalie White, K1STO
      [Decisional] 
 
Summary:  The minutes from the ARISS-International Monthly Meeting on February 18, 2019 were finalized by Rosalie White on February 27, 2020. A review of the minutes was completed March 16 and the file was distributed to ARISS Delegates. 
 
Discussion: Rosalie White reported that she received no comments regarding the March 16th file that was distributed. Gaston Bertels made a motion to adopt these minutes. Glenn MacDonell seconded the motion. There were no further comments; the team accepted the minutes. Frank Bauer asked Rosalie White to have Carol Jackson post them on the ARISS web site.
 
 
2.      COVID-19 & ARISS—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO & Oliver Amend, DG6BCE      
      [Informational] 
 
Summary:  A report will be given by ARISS Regions on how their ARISS teams are addressing the situation. Also, a discussion will be held on change options for the June ARISS Face-to-face meeting in Munich.
 
Discussion: Frank Bauer stated that the world is dealing with the COVID-19 virus. ARISS teams are holding discussions with mentors on safe practices; guidelines for schools are being devised. Guidance will change as the virus changes. Each ARISS Region’s guidelines will be different because the territory of each region is large and there are many variations in the virus’s effects.  The most important guidance is to do what will protect the students and staff, ARISS personnel and ham operators who assist, and the audience. Shizuo Endo, Satoshi Yasuda, and Glenn MacDonell shared some comments on their ARISS Regions.
 
Ideas are circulating among the team on how ARISS activities could be handled, such as in virtual ways in place of people congregating together. Gaston Bertels suggested some ideas for telebridge stations and virtual meeting platforms. Lou McFadin said more ARISS SSTV activities might be offered if possible, by ARISS-Russia. Sergey Samburov asked for new images to be used tentatively in April. He said one idea is for images of old ARISS equipment versus new ARISS equipment. Glenn MacDonell added that a variety of ARISS activities can help people dealing with isolation. 
 
Oliver Amend said the ARISS-International meetings that were to be in Munich in June 2020 have been canceled. The host for the meetings, the German Space Agency, is closing its building to all visitors. The meeting topics are very important and will be discussed by teleconference. ARISS needs everyone to participate; please plan on that.  Rosalie White said Oliver Amend’s announcement about the cancellation of Munich meetings will be distributed via email to ARISS-I, ARISS-Ops, and others outside of the team who considered attending.
 
 
3.      Gateway Status & Request for Who Can Support—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO      
      [Informational] 


Summary:  An update will be shared on the Gateway project, understanding where we are with the space agencies, and the very critical need to find leaders for the major roles and responsibilities.
 
Discussion: Frank Bauer had asked team members in the past to define what roles and responsibilities they would accept to move the Gateway project forward. All five ARISS Regions’ teams were invited to attend the AREx meetings. Responses have been low. Frank Bauer will send an email on where the project stands. The email will list roles and responsibilities and show what ones have no people named as committing to do those tasks. Graham Shirville asked for a clarification, and Frank Bauer gave an example: in the United Kingdom, Chris Bridges and Ciaran Morgan have been participating in meetings, but a commitment is needed now for how AMSAT-UK and RSGB can support the Gateway effort. 
 
The Gateway team is working with a two-phased development plan, Mark 1 and Mark 2. Mark 1 is a very rudimentary system with multiple simple antennas that do not point. Mark 1 would allow ARISS to get involved early in Gateway. Mark 2 would have a pointing antenna and equipment inside the spacecraft cabin.
 
Frank Bauer and others have attended frequent multiple-hour meetings with NASA Gateway team members, who are encouraging ARISS to be involved. They should be sharing new announcements about Gateway in the next few weeks.
 
Frank Bauer said AREx needs commitments to Gateway roles and responsibilities from organizations and individuals by no later than June 2020.  Otherwise, AREx cannot move forward with Gateway.  Also, he will not be the project manager due to his many other ARISS responsibilities—another individual needs to take the AREx project manager role.
 
 
4.     Update, InterOperable Radio System (IORS)--Lou McFadin, W5DID & Frank Bauer, KA3HDO       
     [Informational] 
 
Summary:  A follow-up will be presented on the launch, finalization of paperwork, what is next, and the InterOperable Radio System (IORS) unit that will be launched for ARISS-Russia.
 
Discussion: Lou McFadin reported on the successful SpaceX-20 launch on March 6, 2020 of the InterOperable Radio System—the Kenwood radio, multi-voltage power supply, and associated cabling. He said there are three NASA verifications to be resolved prior to IORS installation and on-orbit operations—the ARISS team is waiting for approval from NASA on a requirement waiver to complete the engineering verifications and begin set-up and operations.
 
Frank Bauer said the week before the launch, ARISS received approval from the NASA safety team for IORS operations, but there are NASA engineering requirements to be closed for the IORS. We would expect that in a month or two, installation and operation should be completed. Currently, the ARISS team is completing the writing of the procedures for installation and operation by the crew.
 
The Multi-Voltage Power Supply for the Russian Service Module is being built.  Frank Bauer asked Sergey Samburov for any details on Russian IORS certification beyond what has already been accomplished and presented to the Russian certification team.  Sergey Samburov asked to have photographs sent to him of the IORS that was launched, as those would be helpful to him.
 
Armand Budzianowski thanked Frank Bauer and everyone on the team for all of their successful work on the IORS project.
 
 
Ad hoc

• HamTV Firmware Ready, Electrical Tests Done, some Technical Issues in Discussion—Oliver Amend, DG6BCE

Oliver Amend explained that after firmware changes were made to HamTV, the module is in final evaluation stage by Kayser-Italia staff, and discussions are taking place with them and ESA. 
 

• Non-profit US Group– Frank Bauer, KA3HDO

ARISS will celebrate 20 years of operation as of November 2020, and the team will celebrate. ARISS has grown. ARISS-US is considering becoming a non-profit legal entity so as to better handle donations to ARISS. This type of change would not impact any ARISS relationships. Other ARISS Regions’ team members commented on considering this for the international group.
 

• Proposal on Using ARISS Pi Development – Frank Bauer, KA3HDO

The team has talked for some time on the use of Raspberry Pi on the ISS. ARISS-US is working with the ISS National Lab on a proposal for developing a Raspberry Pi prototype that students can interact with as an ISS experiment.  Frank Bauer needs emails by March 24, 2020 from volunteers who want to be involved in the development of this project. 
 
 
Armand Budzianowski thanked Oliver Amend and Gaston Bertels for their work on the congratulations letter from ARISS to the Polish IARU society, Polski Związek Krótkofalowców, on its 90th anniversary.  
 
Frank Bauer thanked Olga Moncuquet for her excellent interpretation support.  He thanked the team for working well together on an international scale.
 
 
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be April 21, 2020 at 1100 UTC.
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
Rosalie White, K1STO
ARISS-International Secretary-Treasurer
March 20, 2020   

ARISS International Monthly Meeting Teleconference
February 18, 2020 - 1200 UTC 
 
Participants:
Oliver Amend
Fabio Azzarello
Frank Bauer                                                                                          
Gaston Bertels
Armand Budzianowski
Emanuele D’Andria
Shizuo Endo
Gianpietro Ferrario
Bruce Hunter
Bertus Husken
David Jordan
John Kludt
Keigo Komuro
Glenn MacDonell
Lou McFadin
Jan Poppeliers
Kenneth Ransom
Sergey Samburov 
Dave Taylor
Rosalie White
Satoshi Yasuda
Interpreter: Olga Moncuquet   
Unable to attend:
Kerry Banke
Jean-Pierre Courjaud
Darin Cowan
Francesco De Paolis  
Stefan Dombrowski 
Tony Hutchison
Chet Latawiec
Ciaran Morgan
Ken Nichols
Graham Shirville
Mark Steiner
 
Meeting Agenda
 
Roll Call—Rosalie White, K1STO     
   
Welcome—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
 
Frank Bauer welcomed everyone to the meeting. He thanked team members working across the broad spectrum of ARISS activities around the world for all the things the team accomplishes. He said ARISS had a successful week with an outstanding Phase 3 Safety Review that he would provide more details on, later in the telecon. 
 
             
1.     Call for Acceptance of Minutes—Rosalie White, K1STO
       [Decisional] 
 
Summary: The minutes from the ARISS-International Monthly Meeting on January 21, 2019 were finalized by Rosalie White on January 26, 2019. A review was completed on February 6, 2020; the file was distributed to ARISS Delegates on February 7, 2020. Also, December meeting minutes were sent to Delegates to approve via email. 
 
Discussion:  Final review of the December meeting minutes did not take place until shortly before the January meeting and delegates did not have time to read the December minutes in order to vote at the telecon. So Frank Bauer asked ARISS Delegates to give approval later, by email.  Rosalie White canvassed delegates by email right after the meeting. She received enough replies of approval for acceptance and asked Carol Jackson to post these December meeting minutes.
 
The January meeting minutes were completed February 6, 2020, and were reviewed by Frank Bauer and Oliver Amend on February 7, 2020. Rosalie White distributed those minutes that day to delegates.  Gaston Bertels moved to accept the January minutes and Glenn MacDonell seconded the motion.  There were no comments and the team accepted the January meeting minutes. They will be posted by Carol Jackson.
 
 
2.     Status on Scheduled ARISS Operations -Frank Bauer, KA3HDO; Sergey Samburov, RV3DR; Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO 
      [Informational] 
 
Summary:  The ARISS team has worked since December 2019 to resolve a certification issue for Drew Morgan who isn’t authorized to use the Russian segment’s amateur radio. An on-orbit certification activity is in the works; once it is completed it would allow him to use the Russian segment radio. The Columbus radio is intermittent, unusable for school events, so until the certification activity is completed, school events planned for Morgan to support are being deferred. 
 
Discussion:  The team received notification that Drew Morgan had not gotten training or certification in Russia to operate the Russian Segment radio station. At the face-to-face meeting in College Park, MD, the team had discussed that crew members planning to operate the radio in the Russian Segment would receive Sergey Samburov’s training in Russia before launching to the ISS. Due to Morgan’s flight schedule being accelerated, there was not enough time for him to receive training. In late 2019, Sergey Samburov began an effort to train Morgan onboard the ISS. Sergey Samburov led a training session with the assistance of Oleg Skripochka onboard the ISS.  With training complete, Morgan has certification to use the Russian Segment radio station. Sergey Samburov will send the Russian certificate to Frank Bauer as confirmation.  
 
Frank Bauer thanked Sergey Samburov for his hard work and diligence so that Drew Morgan can now host ARISS contacts.
 
 
3.      Follow-up, SSTV Award Planning - Sergey Samburov, RV3DR & Oliver Amend, DG6BCE
       [Informational] 
 
Summary:  A follow-up will be presented on SSTV awards, including award planning for ARISS events and MAI events. 
 
Discussion: Sergey Samburov reiterated that people had been issuing awards for ARISS activities without coordinating with ARISS.  He believes awards should be coordinated, especially because the diplomas have the ARISS logo on them. He thanked ARISS team member Armand Budzianowski for his enthusiasm and hard work, and for the work of all of Slawek Szymanowski’s team. Sergey Samburov said these awards are beautiful and everyone likes them.
 
Oliver Amend asked if Dmitry Pashkov was submitting awards only for MAI SSTV sessions, since ARISS-Russia SSTV award activity is handled by Armand Budzianowski and Slawek Szymanowski’s team. Sergey Samburov confirmed that this is correct and that Dmitry Pashkov will coordinate with ARISS-Russia.
 
Oliver Amend reported that he is talking with the people who distribute the Argentinian ARISS-related award. This award has somewhat different requirements from the MAI-related award and the Polish team’s diploma.
 
Armand Budzianowski asked what type of information and statistics would be good feedback for his team to collect for ARISS. Frank Bauer said ARISS will discuss what feedback would be useful to gather.
 
Ad hoc
 

• Update, InterOperable Radio Systems (IORS) – Lou McFadin, W5DID & Frank Bauer, KA3HDO

Lou McFadin reminded the team that the IORS was delivered to Johnson Space Center late last year and the second MultiVoltage Power Supply is being assembled for ARISS-Russia. He said that last week the Phase 3 Safety Review, the final safety review for flight operations, was completed successfully. Frank Bauer reported that during the safety review, all hazard verifications relative to the design and testing were approved. Primary questions and discussions dealt with operations and operational procedures. Once these are resolved, ARISS expects the Safety board to approve the safety package for flight operations.
 
Lou McFadin said the next activity will be answering engineering questions from NASA and receiving approval for flight operations.   
 
 

• 2020 ARISS-International Annual Face-to-face Meeting – Oliver Amend, DG6BCE  [These plans may very well change.]

Oliver Amend explained the current plan for the ARISS Annual Face-to-face Meeting in June in Germany. The first day, Monday, will be dedicated to AREx, topics related to Gateway activity. A face-to-face discussion on AREx is needed because the team has a tight schedule for delivering hardware, the end of 2020.  Tuesday through Thursday’s meetings will have the usual morning and afternoon sessions for all other ARISS-International topics.  A half day will be dedicated to discussing ARISS hardware. A half day will be on ARISS 2020 activities, roles and responsibilities, and also the expected extended life of the space station. The remaining time will be spent on reports and discussion topics.  Please send your agenda ideas to Frank Bauer, Oliver Amend, and Rosalie White. Friday to Sunday will be set aside for the Friedrichshafen Ham Radio convention. ARISS-Europe team members are planning activities for Friedrichshafen, an ARISS exhibit table to set up and staff and ARISS presentations to be given.
 
Oliver Amend prepared two files showing the timetable for June 22-28; Rosalie White distributed these to the team on February 17.  He will send an overview and a booklet of information regarding all logistics for the face-to-face meeting.  Glenn MacDonell asked when hotel information will be sent to the team; the answer was in the next few days. For people who wish to arrive a little early, the hotel will offer the ARISS special rate on Saturday June 20 through Friday June 26.  
 

• Ham-TV – Oliver Amend, DG6BCE

Bertus Husken asked about progress on Ham-TV repairs.  Oliver Amend reported that he has had meetings with the team regarding firmware and with the repair and testing plan.  Changes will be made to the module and it will be tested and then shipped to Houston.  Jean-Pierre Courjaud, Claudio Ariotti, and Piero Tognolatti have all been deeply involved in this process.
 
 
Frank Bauer thanked Olga Moncuquet for her excellent interpretation support.
 
 
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be March 17, 2020 at 1100 UTC (the time change in the US is on March 8).
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
Rosalie White, K1STO
ARISS-International Secretary-Treasurer
February 21, 2020   

ARISS International Monthly Meeting Teleconference
January 21, 2020, 1200 UTC
 
Participants:    
Oliver Amend
Frank Bauer  
Gaston Bertels
Armand Budzianowski
Francesco De Paolis
Gianpietro Ferrario 
Bruce Hunter
Bertus Hüsken
David Jordan   
Keigo Komuro
John Kludt
Chet Latawiec
Glenn MacDonell
Lou McFadin
Ciaran Morgan 
Ken Nichols
Jan Poppeliers 
Kenneth Ransom
Sergey Samburov 
Graham Shirville 
Dave Taylor    
Rosalie White
Interpeter:  Olga Moncuquet
 
Unable to attend:
Fabio Azzarello
Kerry Banke
Jean-Pierre Courjaud
Darin Cowan
Emanuele D’Andria  
Shizuo Endo
Tony Hutchison              
Satoshi Yasuda
 
 
Meeting Agenda
 
Roll Call—Rosalie White, K1STO     
   
Welcome—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
 
Frank Bauer thanked everyone for attending the meeting. He said 2020 is an important year for ARISS as the team looks forward to the installation of the InterOperable Radio System and then HamTV, and the team will plan Lunar activities. He asked everyone to study their current ARISS roles and responsibilities with the aim of finding ways to be more efficient. This would be a good topic to discuss at the 2020 face-to-face international meeting in order to identify what volunteers ARISS needs and ways to improve  efficiency. ARISS activities have expanded and more volunteers are required, but first, the team should learn what type of help is most needed.
 
 
1.     Call for Acceptance of Minutes—Rosalie White, K1STO
 [Decisional] 
 
Summary: The minutes from the ARISS-International Monthly Meeting on December 17, 2019 were finalized by Rosalie White on December 18, 2019.
 
Discussion: Frank Bauer said his review of the December 2019 minutes was completed shortly before today’s telecon began, not leaving enough time for people to do a careful reading. Rosalie White was asked to email the reviewed minutes after the telecon, and ask for replies via email for approval or otherwise. She said she would do this.
 
 
2.     Update, InterOperable Radio System (IORS)—Lou McFadin, W5DID & Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
[Informational] 
 
Summary:  During the December monthly meeting, Lou McFadin was in Houston and had the IORS running just prior to taking it to Johnson Space Center. He and Kenneth Ransom had been handling final items and were ready to take care of labeling. Frank Bauer had completed paperwork that NASA had approved, allowing the IORS to be stowed on SpaceX-20 and then launched to the ISS. Frank Bauer and his team will finish operations paperwork, the Phase III Safety Review, and the verifications for final US, European, and Russian space agencies’ requirements. An update on activities of the past 30 days will be given.  
 
Discussion: Lou McFadin confirmed that the IORS was turned over to NASA for launch on SpaceX-20, and the ARISS team is now closing out the list of remaining open items in the documentation. He said Frank Bauer has been working on this, with the team working in two groups forwarding information and data needed for earning final flight certification. The team is also purchasing parts to continue working on the next two flight units. 
 
Frank Bauer said the IORS was certified in late December for launch and stowage on-board ISS from a flight-safety perspective. The team continues to work on documentation for operational procedures and for close-out of engineering requirements. Safety review documents for IORS install and flight operations were finalized and NASA engineers will be reviewing and providing comments soon. The final (Phase III) Safety Review for install and flight operations is set for February 12. Operational procedures documentation was submitted yesterday and the NASA Safety Review Panel will review those. The engineering team has the engineering requirements documentation about 15% complete.
 
For equipment launches of earlier years, all of this work was done by an external group that was hired at a cost of about $100,000-$150,000. Now, the ARISS team is doing the work itself. This saves ARISS a huge amount of money but requires a great deal of ARISS volunteer resources, time and effort.
 
 
3.      Review of December SSTV Event—Sergey Samburov, RV3DR
      [Informational] 
 
Summary:  Sergey Samburov will discuss the successes of the December 2019 session of SSTV downlinked images. This session was very popular with 11,756 downloads, and included, among other things, images of space heroes. ARISS award manager Slawek Szymanowski rewarded 2,754 individuals with ARISS SSTV Award diplomas.
   
Discussion:  Sergey Samburov reported that he had requested a four-day SSTV event and sent a message to the ISS crew to ensure that the best modulation settings would be used.  He reported that the cosmonauts will be checking out a computer that had stopped working on January 6, 2020. If the crew is successful in recovering the computer’s operations, the next MAI SSTV event will be on January 30 –31 and downlinks will be done only over Russia. Also, this schedule may be affected by the NG-12 undocking on January 31, 2020.
 
Frank Bauer said the December SSTV event was very well received around the world.
 
Armand Budzianowski noted an increase in the number of people participating in the December SSTV session and the increase in the number of applicants requesting the ARISS SSTV Award.
 

4.  Other SSTV Awards—Frank Bauer, KA3HDO & Oliver Amend, KA3HDO
[Informational] 
 
Summary:  There are SSTV awards available now other than ARISS-International diplomas, and a discussion will be held on this.  
 
Discussion: Sergey Samburov and Oliver Amend reported on the two SSTV awards that are not sponsored by ARISS-International. Sergey Samburov said these need to be regulated and should be okayed by ARISS before they are made available, especially since these diplomas feature the ARISS logo.
 
Oliver stated that the two awards are as follows:
 
      1) R4UAB Russia ISS SSTV Diploma -- Dmitry Pashkov, R4UAB, supports a website for this award and distributes a "Diplom Russia ISS SSTV."  He said he is in contact with Sergey Samburov and supports ARISS-Russia with the R4UAB web publication and SSTV diploma.


Sergey Samburov agreed that Dmitry Pashkov had contacted him about ideas regarding the diploma and said they would discuss things further. Sergey Samburov will call him and then report back to the ARISS team. Both the Energia and ARISS logos were on the diploma.

      2) AMSAT-Argentina "ARISS SSTV Diploma" – This diploma, provided by AMSAT-Argentina, requires the reception of at least 15 good quality images (>50% noise free) with a time stamp and mode, in original resolution. There have been 46 awards since June 2019. This is an award for "Specialists" and real enthusiasts as part of AMSAT-Argentina educational activities. ARISS telebridge operator Luis Funes, LU8YY and president of CETRA (Science, Education and Technology through Amateur Radio) is involved. CETRA Argentina is interested in spreading ARISS school contact capabilities to Spanish-speaking countries in South America, but is also interested in Spanish-language ARISS QSOs. Oliver Amend said ARISS is happy to see additional regional support. These alternate awards help spread the ARISS spirit in these regions and increase interest by making use of speakers’ capabilities.
 
Oliver Amend, Frank Bauer, Armand Budzianowski, and Lou McFadin agreed the awards should be coordinated through ARISS and that it would be very good to add these regions’ energy to ARISS’s energy. It is hoped the offering of these diplomas can be complimentary activities. Lou McFadin said ARISS can use participants’ data to see how the ARISS radio systems are working.
 
Sergey Samburov believed that SSTV awards should be similar, harmonized, and guided by ARISS
 
Armand Budzianowski said when he tried to apply for the AMSAT-Argentina award, the web site listed a non-working link and no application form. This may have been because he was at the web site after the application period ended.
 
 
5.     Update, Bartolomeo Status—Oliver Amend, DG6BCE  
      [Informational] 
 
Summary:  Oliver Amend will tell the team the latest news and activity regarding the Bartolomeo platform and the effect on ARISS.
 
Discussion: The external Columbus antenna adapter cable HMU-601 was successfully tested at Airbus Bremen in December 2019. The launch of the Bartolomeo platform is planned for SpaceX-20 in March 2020. The spacewalk for the installation work of Bartolomeo is planned for the Easter time period, April 11-14, 2020. Following the spacewalk, a commissioning test using ARISS Columbus equipment in packet-radio mode is planned.

Gaston Bertels reported that the HamTV Technical Team (HTT) raised the idea of combining this commissioning with a special award for packet-radio signal reception, with the award period being about one week around the installation work. Award ideas and conditions will be discussed by the HTT.
 
Kenneth Ransom voiced a concern about an award based around the installation date, which can change after the dates are announced.
 
Lou McFadin said that offering such an award would assist the hardware team in verifying that the cable had been successfully installed.
 
 
Ad Hoc    
 
2020 ARISS Annual Meeting
Oliver Amend will report more details in about two weeks as he continues work on the June 2020 ARISS International Face-to-Face meeting at the DLR Oberpfaffenhofen site near Munich.  Delegates should send ideas for meeting topics to Frank Bauer, Oliver Amend, and Rosalie White.
 
Frank Bauer thanked Olga Moncuquet for her excellent work.
 
 
Next Meeting
 
The next meeting will be February 18, 2020 at 1200 UTC.  
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
Rosalie White, K1STO
ARISS-International Secretary-Treasurer
January 26, 2020   
 

For earlier meetings, see Archives.