Delivery of Suitsat Hardware to NASA JSC

Delivery of Suitsat Hardware to NASA JSC
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I am proud to announce that today the ARISS-US team has delivered their
portion of the Suitsat hardware to the NASA Johnson Space Center. NASA is
in the process of shipping this hardware to Energia in Russia where it is
expected to be certified and integrated with the Russian team's Suitsat
equipment for eventual launch on the 19P Progress launch vehicle in the
August/September 2005 timeframe.

The Suitsat amateur radio system, coupled with a school artwork DVD project
that will be delivered later this month, is planned to be installed in an
outdated Russian Orlon spacesuit in late September. It will then be
deployed from the ISS during an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA, or
spacewalk). The Suitsat amateur radio system will beam down special
messages and an SSTV image from within the Orlon space suit as it floats in
space. Suitsat radio system will allow hams and students to track the suit
and decode special international messages, space suit telemetry, and a
pre-programmed Slow Scan TV image through its specially-built digital voice
messaging system and amateur radio transmitter. As built, Suitsat will be
a transmit-only capability that will run on the space suit's battery
power.

The idea for Suitsat was first conceived by the ARISS-Russia team, led by
Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, and was extensively discussed at the joint AMSAT
Symposium/ARISS International Partner meeting in October 2004. The
project, also called Radioskaf or Radio Sputnik in Russia, is being led by
project manager A. P. Alexandrov and Deputy Project Manager A. Poleshuk
from RSC Energia, located in Korolev (Moscow area) Russia. On the US
side, the hardware project development was led by Lou McFadin, W5DID.

Since October the Suitsat design concept matured and evolved due to the
challenging development time constraints. A joint NASA letter, allowing
the ARISS team to proceed forward with the Suitsat project was signed on
May 10, 2005. In the four short weeks since that letter was signed, the US
project team, has designed, built and tested a simple, yet fully featured
system that we hope will inspire hams and students around the world.

On behalf of the ARISS International team, I want to congratulate the
Suitsat hardware development team for their "Can Do" spirit and ability to
deliver the Suitsat hardware on such a very challenging schedule.

Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
ARISS International Chairman
AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs