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<H1>Latest ARISSat-1 activation news</H1>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>The <EM>AMSAT News Service</EM> has received the latest
information regarding the planned activation of <STRONG>ARISSat-1</STRONG>
aboard the ISS which has been awaited by the amateur radio community all day
Monday.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>ARISSat-1 Project Manager, Gould Smith, WA5SXM reported
that aboard the ISS, "<STRONG><U>Cosmonaut Dmitri performed hardware setup and
test activation of the 'KEDR' microsatellite aboard the Russian segment of the
ISS by connecting the satellite to an Orlan battery and checking out its
transmitter from the satellite control panel</U></STRONG>."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>A status report received via NASA assures the amateur radio
community that, "<STRONG><U>KEDR (ARISSat-1) will be activated onboard the
station on April 12 to celebrate Cosmonautics Day, when the world celebrates the
anniversaries of the first human flight into space and the first Space Shuttle
flight</U>.</STRONG>"</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>The <STRONG><U>crew aboard the ISS operates on UTC time and
sleeps from 2130Z to 0600Z. The ARISSat-1 team is awaiting the next crew
activity to commence after 0600Z on April 12</U></STRONG>.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>Depending on which press release information you find
on-line the names ARISSat-1, RadioSkaf-V, RadioSkaf-B, KEDR are all names
for the same satellite. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG><U>Once activated on April 12, the 145.950 MHz FM
downlink will transmit messages a continuous sequence, one of which is the
Gagarin-to-ground station conversation, famous "Poyekhali" (Let's Go!)
from Yuri Gagarin from Earth orbit. This downlink frequency will also transmit
spoken telemetry, SSTV images, and pre-recorded messages of
goodwill</U></STRONG>.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>ARISSat-1 also bears the name KEDR in honor of the call
sign of Yuri Gagarin during his historic space flight. According to the Russian
Space Agency, KEDR is the first phase in Russia's integrated program approved by
UNESCO, with the goal to create and operate mini-satellites with a mass less
than 100 kg by the combined efforts of students across the world. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>KEDR (ARRIsat-1) currently contains a student experiment
designed by the Russian Kursk State University. AMSAT has built three additional
ARISSat-1 spaceframes which are available for future flights to continue with
the goal of flying student space experiments. Each ARISSat spaceframe has the
capability to support five experimental packages in addition to its amateur
radio payload. <STRONG><U>The BPSK-1000 telemetry beacon on 145.920 MHz will
provide a forward error corrected downlink capable of reliable reception of data
in low signal level conditions</U></STRONG>.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG><U>Thanks to Amsat and the ARISSat-1 team for the
above information</U></STRONG></FONT></P><!-- Converted from text/plain format --></DIV></BODY></HTML>