Monthly Archives: May 2014

In Space Infrastructure, Space Radio, Space Systems

“Ham TV” becomes operational on the ISS

The ESA reports on TV transmission using the amateur radio station on the ISS:

Ham video premiers on Space Station

5 May 2014: Astronauts on the International Space Station can now talk with people on Earth with video using simple transmitters. ‘Ham TV’ has been set up in ESA’s Columbus laboratory and already used for talking with ground control.


Commissioning of the  ISS Ham TV

Amateur radio enthusiasts have been able to poll astronauts circling our planet using standard radio equipment since the Station was inaugurated in 2000. Radio signals easily reach the orbital outpost flying 350 km above us on sets readily available to radio enthusiasts.

The new Ham TV adds a visual dimension, allowing an audience on the ground to see and hear the astronauts.

Ham TV equipment

The hardware, developed by Kayser Italia, was sent to the Station on Japan’s space freighter in August last year and connected to an existing S-band antenna on Columbus.

Ham video in action

NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins had the honour of being the first to commission the unit and broadcast over Ham TV. He had a video chat with three ground stations in Italy: Livorno, Casale Monferrato and Matera. The crew finished commissioning the set-up on 12 April for general use.

Just like standard television, the video signal is one way. The astronauts cannot see their audience but they will still be able to hear them over the traditional amateur radio on the Station.

Ham TV ground station

Contacts are brief – the connection requires direct line of sight and the Station’s 28 800 km/h means it quickly passes through the field of view of amateur stations.

ESA has provided five ground antennas and equipment to the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station organisation to receive video from the Station. These stations can be transported easily and positioned to follow the laboratory as it flies overhead. Linked together in this way, the stations can supply up to 20 minutes of contact at a time.

Ham TV will add to ham radio for space educational purposes, offering schoolchildren the chance to talk and see astronauts in space with simple equipment.

Anybody can still hail the Station via radio and, if an astronaut floats by the always-on receiver, they might just pick up and answer the call.

For more information on how to get involved and organise an educational event, contact the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station organisation.

Living in Space, Mars, Space participation

Mars One round one selection leaves 705 Mars settler candidates

An announcement from Mars One:

705 potential Mars settlers remain in Mars One’s
astronaut selection process

Amersfoort, 5th of May 2014 – Mars One announced that 353 hopefuls from around the world have been eliminated from the selection program to become the first human Mars colonists. The number of people remaining in this once in many lifetimes opportunity is now just 705.

The remaining candidates will be interviewed by the Mars One selection committee. Mars One Chief Medical Officer Norbert Kraft, MD says, “we’re incredibly excited to start the next phase of Round 2, where we begin to better understand our candidates who aspire to take such a daring trip. They will have to show their knowledge, intelligence, adaptability and personality.” Mars One is in negotiations with media companies to report on those interviews. Once the television deal is finalized and the interviews begin, the stories of the 705 aspiring Martians will be shared with the world.

In December 2013, Mars One announced the selection of 1058 candidates from the original pool of over 200,000 applicants. Mars One asked them to complete two tasks by March 2014: to provide a medical statement of health from their physician and open their online Mars One applicant profile to the public. The 418 men and 287 women who successfully completed both tasks will be invited for a personal interview. 313 candidates originally come from the Americas, 187 from Europe, 136 from Asia, 41 from Africa, and 28 from Oceania.

The group of candidates that will not continue to the interview round dropped out due to personal reasons and medical reasons. The withdrawals due to personal reasons were mostly in the age group 40-50. Candidates who had to withdraw from their dream due to medical reasons were mostly in the age group of 20-35. Mars One Chief Medical Officer Norbert Kraft, MD says, “what really left an impression with us is the fact that the medical tests turned out to have a major impact on the candidate’s lives, as some of them found out that they needed to undergo an operation, were sick and needed medical attention, or even had a malignant form of cancer that otherwise would not have been detected in such an early stage.”

After the interview round, the group of candidates will be narrowed down to several international teams consisting of two women and two men. These teams of prospective Mars settlers will be prepared for the mission by participating full time in an extensive training program. Training to go to Mars will be their full time job. Whole teams and individuals might be selected out during training when they prove not to be suitable for the mission. Mars One will repeat the selection process regularly to train additional teams to replace eliminated teams and crews of settlers that have successfully left Earth to live on Mars.

About Mars One
Mars One is a not-for-profit foundation that will establish permanent human life on Mars. Human settlement on Mars is possible today with existing technologies. Mars One’s mission plan integrates components that are well tested and readily available from industry leaders worldwide. The first footprint on Mars and lives of the crew thereon will captivate and inspire generations. It is this public interest that will help finance this human mission to Mars.

Astronomy, Education

Resource guides: Astronomy of Many Cultures + Women in Astronomy

Prof. Andrew Fraknoi of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College passed along this item:

Two New Resource Guides for Those Who
Teach or Explain Astronomy

“Unheard Voices,” a set of resource guides about the astronomy of many cultures and about the contributions of women to astronomy, is now available on the Multiverse web site at: multiverse.ssl.berkeley.edu/Learning-Resources/Educator-Resource-Guides

The two new resource guides are designed specifically for instructors and students in introductory college science courses (such as Astro 101), but can be used by anyone who is teaching, explaining, or learning astronomy or earth and space science.  Sponsored by the Heliophysics Forum of the Space Missions Directorate at NASA, the guides include written, on-line, and audio-visual materials, many of which can be used directly in the classroom, for student papers, or personal enrichment.

“Unheard Voices 1: The Astronomy of Many Cultures” features the contributions to astronomy of African, Asian, Hispanic, South Pacific, Islamic, and Native American cultures, together with a section on reports and articles for achieving greater diversity in science.  (15 pages)

“Unheard Voices 2: Women in Astronomy” features sections on: the history of women in astronomy in general, materials on selected women astronomers of the past, issues facing women in astronomy today, and materials on selected contemporary women astronomers. (13 pages)

Multiverse — formerly known as the Center for Science Education at the University of California, Berkeley — offers a website with a wide range of resources, information, and programs, to help educators and their students learn about the universe in a more multi-cultural context.

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Science and Technology

Microbial astronauts now and in the past

Life’s spread into the solar system may have gotten inadvertent transport via earth’s spacecraft:

Life probably spread already from earth via debris thrown into space from giant meteorite impacts in the distant past:  How Life-Bearing Rocks from the Chicxulub Asteroid Impact must have Spread through the Solar System: Earth rocks capable of carrying and protecting life have probably to travelled to Europa, Titan and beyond, say astrobiologists – The Physics arXiv Blog

Also, if life originated on Mars, it would have colonized earth in a similar manner:

Activism, General, SpaceCasts

The Space Show this week

The guests and topics for The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, May 5, 2014, 2-3:30 PM PDT(5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome MICHAEL LISTNER, ATTY who will be explaining the recent SpaceX lawsuit & other space legal issues in the news..

2. Tuesday, May 6, 2014:, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): ROBERT (BOB) ZIMMERMAN returns for a special program on the Russian-NASA space tension we are hearing about on a daily basis.

3. Friday, May 9 2014, 9:30 AM-11 AM PDT (12:30-2 PM EDT; 11:30 AM-1 PM CDT): We welcome back DR. JOHN JURIST to discuss the significance of our human spaceflight program and its contributions to modern medicine & quality of life here and around the world. .

4. Sunday, May 11 2014, 12-1:30 PM PDT (3-4:30 PM EDT, 2-3:30 PM CDT). NO SHOW TODAY IN HONOR OF MOTHER’S DAY. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL.

See also:
/– The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
/– The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
/– The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.