ARLA/CLUSTER: ARISS já tem novos equipamentos, mas as doações continuam a ser necessárias ao projecto

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

New ARISS equipment completes major milestone, donations still needed

Yesterday, October 21, 2016, the ARISS hardware team accomplished a
very major milestone - the successful completion of the Technical
Interchange Meeting (TIM) for the Interoperable Hardware System, which
includes the JVC Kenwood D710 Radio and the Multi Voltage Power
Supply.

The TIM was conducted as an ARISS hardware milestone from the
Technical Evaluation and Support (TES) Committee and our international
members from TES were present. The TIM also had subject matter experts
from NASA attending and providing advice as well as a former (retired)
chief engineer from the NASA Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN)
organization.

All in all, ARISS received great advice and suggestions on how to move
forward with the hardware development. I am most proud that we have
completed this first major milestone in the development of the next
ARISS hardware upgrade to fly on ISS.

On behalf of the ARISS International team, I would like to thank TES
co-leads Mark Steiner and Lou McFadin for their leadership in getting
the important milestone accomplished. I would also like to thank Kerry
Banke, the Multi Voltage Power Supply developer, Bob Davis who is
developing the mechanical enclosure for the system, and Bob Bruninga
and Dave Taylor for their help on the D710 programming modes. And, of
course, special thanks goes to JVC Kenwood and Aota Shin and Phil
Parton for their support, equipment and engineering that will serve
ARISS and the ham community for years to come.

With this milestone completed, we will move forward with the design
process and finalize the design with a TIM in the next few months. Our
next hurdle will be the Phase 0 safety review which we hope to
complete before the end of this year. While aggressive, we are still
working with NASA towards an October 2017 launch of the hardware
system.

The costs and effort to develop and certify equipment for human
spaceflight missions is very high. The bulk of this cost is for safety
certification testing and hazard reporting expertise. We have
estimated that from beginning to end (a 3 year development cycle), the
costs for the new hardware system are in the $200k range. Note that we
are aggressively pursuing real dollar and in-kind donations to address
this. But, as you know, every bit of funding helps. That is why we
started the ARISS Challenge Coin Donation Campaign this year at the
Dayton Hamvention.

As you communicate this important milestone to your friends, please
remind them that we cannot complete this effort without funding. Human
spaceflight hardware developments are always expensive. They are most
welcome to donate towards the hardware development by pushing the
“ARISS Donate” button at www.amsat.org.

Those that donate $100 or more will receive a special ARISS
Commemorative Coin.

I thank all of you for all your sustained support and efforts to our ARISS
cause over the years. It is hard to believe that we are nearing 20
years of ARISS being a team.

Frank Bauer, KA3HDO,
ARISS Chairman