ARLA/CLUSTER: ARISS vai colocar mais equipamentos a bordo da ISS

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

ARISS one step closer to flying new equipment to ISS

The ARISS website reports on progress towards flying new amateur radio
equipment to the International Space Station

On behalf of the ARISS International team, I am proud to announce that
on Friday September 29th the ARISS team submitted the InterOperable
Radio System (IORS) Safety Data Package to NASA for review!  Our next
step in this process is the Safety Review, which is planned for
November 2.

Submitting this was a phenomenal accomplishment!!  Particularly since
the entire Safety Data Package was developed exclusively by our ARISS
volunteers---something we have never done before.

Prior to this submittal, all safety packages---from Owen Garriott’s in
the early 1980s to today--were developed with contractors from NASA,
ESA or Energia.  And might I say at substantial expense.  I am pleased
that the ARISS team did it ourselves!

Why is this important?  Two reasons:

1) This is a very major IORS milestone. We cannot get to orbit without
successfully completing the safety review process and getting our
hardware certified for flight.
2) Developing the safety package exclusively with volunteers is an
innovative and gutsy approach to keep costs down and get the hardware
flown sooner.  Otherwise we probably would have to slip launch 1-2
years while we acquired additional funding to get this done.

NASA Human Spaceflight Safety Certification is a four-step
process---Phase 0, Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3.  The material we
submitted covers the first three of the four phases.  As part of
Phases 0, 1 and 2, we need to make sure NASA understands our design.
And we need to show NASA that we understand all the potential hazards
that our hardware systems could introduce to ISS and how we have
mitigated (or prevented) these hazards.
One example is to demonstrate to NASA that our IORS was designed with
electrical wiring and circuit breakers that possess adequate features
and sufficient margin to prevent an electrical shock or fire on-board
the ISS.  Critically important stuff!
The final phase (Phase 3) will be complete when we have completed all
testing and NASA inspection of our flight hardware and NASA deems it
flight worthy.  At that point the IORS will be flight certificated and
we can fly!  Currently we are looking to March-May 2018 for flight
readiness.

For those not following ARISS hardware development very closely, we
are developing the IORS to replace most of the on-board radio
hardware.
It is called “interoperable” because it is being designed to be
operated anywhere on ISS.  But specifically, it will be used in the
two areas with ISS Ham legacy antennas: the Columbus Module and the
Russian Service Module.
Interoperability allows us to leverage existing ISS power cables, it
can be moved between modules in the event of on-orbit failures, and it
supports common training and operations.

The IORS is the most complex in-cabin hardware system we have ever
designed, built, tested and flown as a volunteer team. We will remove
the 3 watt Ericsson handheld radio system, initially certified for
flight in 1999, and the Packet module--both of which have recently had
issues—and install a brand-new, specially modified 25 watt JVC Kenwood
D710GA radio to enable a multitude of new or improved capabilities on
ISS, including voice repeater and better APRS operations.
A key development is the Multi-Voltage Power Supply (MVPS), which
interfaces with multiple electric outlet connection types on ISS and
provides a multitude of power output capabilities for our current and
future ARISS operations and amateur radio experimentation.  It will
also allow our Ham Video system to have a dedicated power outlet,
eliminating the outlet sharing we have now, which shuts down Ham Video
at times.

This effort would not be possible without the dedication and
persistence of our IORS development team of volunteers.  They have
been working tirelessly behind the scenes to provide an outstanding
amateur radio experience for all.  Our IORS development team includes:
Lou McFadin, W5DID, our Chief Engineer; Kerry Banke, N6IZW, the MVPS
lead designer; Bob Davis, KF4KSS, the MVPS Mechanical enclosure
designer; Ed Krome, K9EK, supporting IORS thermal control and cabin
noise dissipation; Dave Taylor, W8AAS, our JVC Kenwood D-710
development liaison; Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, our APRS and D-710
operations expert; Shin Aota, JL1IBD, and Phil Parton, N4DRO for all
their phenomenal support from JVC Kenwood; Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, our
operations lead; and our safety package team—Ken Ernandes, N2WWD, and
Gordon Scannell, KD8COJ.  Kudos to all on a fantastic effort!

Designing, building and testing the IORS is a huge undertaking and
*very* expensive.  We need to build ten (10!) units to support flight
hardware, flight spares, testing, and training across the
international team.  Hardware parts, development tools, fabrication,
testing, and expenses to certify the IORS are expected to cost
approximately $150,000.  And the hard part (i.e. most expensive part)
is just now starting.  So please consider making a donation to ARISS
to take our hardware system from dream to reality.
You can donate to ARISS directly through the AMSAT web site at:
http://www.ariss.org/donate.html.  ALL donations go directly to ARISS.

Thank you for all your support to inspire, engage and educate our
youth to consider wireless communications and amateur radio, and to
pursue STEAM careers through our exciting human space exploration and
amateur radio endeavor!

Ad Astra!  To the Stars!

Sincerely,
Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
ARISS International Chair and ISS Ham Radio Principal Investigator