SuitSat - History Made in Space - Listen on your Police Scanner!

SuitSat
History Made in Space
Listen on your Police Scanner!

One of the most interesting satellites in the history of the "space age" is expected go into orbit, potentially, on February 3, 2006. That's when astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) will hurl an empty spacesuit overboard. Its called the satellite: "SuitSat."

Now is the time to begin preparing your amateur (ham) radio station or police scanner to receive signals from SuitSat, which will be the most unusual Amateur Radio Satellite ever placed into orbit..

They've equipped a Russian Orlan spacesuit with three batteries, a radio transmitter, and internal sensors to measure temperature and battery power. As SuitSat circles Earth, it will transmit its conditions, as well as other information.

Photo courtesy of suitsat.org

SuitSat can be heard by anyone on the ground. You'll need is an antenna and a radio receiver, tuned to 145.990 MHz FM. A police band scanner, hand-talkie ham radio, or fixed ham base station WILL work just fine. Everyone is encouraged to tune in.

In the United States, SuitSat will pass overhead once or twice a day, probably between midnight and 4 AM for a 5 to 10 minute flyby.

SuitSat transmits for 30 seconds, pauses for 30 seconds, and then repeats. "This is SuitSat-1, RS0RS," the transmission begins, followed by a prerecorded greeting in five languages. The greeting contains English, French, Japanese, Russian, German, and Spanish.

SuitSat's transmissions will not only include special international voice messages, but spacesuit telemetry, and a pre-programmed SSTV (slow scan TV) picture on its 145.990 MHz FM downlink. If you've already received the packet station or heard the ISS (Internationa Space Station) crew on 2-meter voice, then you already have most of what you need. Amateur radio signals from the ISS can be received with a 2 meter vertical antenna, on a ham rig or your police scanner. The SSTV signal can be decoded with personal computer SSTV software after you connect your computer to the speaker output of your radio.

The ARISS-Russia team headed by Sergei Samburov, RV3DR, came up with the idea for SuitSat, and the concept was initially discussed during a joint AMSAT Symposium/ARISS International Team meeting in October 2004

The project is called "Radioskaf" or "Radio Sputnik." Its headed by project manager A. P. Alexandrov and Deputy Project Manager A. Poleshuk from RSC Energia. On the U.S. side, AMSAT Board member Lou McFadin, W5DID was in charge of the hardware project development. The SuitSat electronics were built and tested in Phoenix, AZ by a team lead by Steve Bible, N7HPR.

This is a "once in a lifetime" chance, as is expected to ONLY remain in orbit up to 6 weeks after being deployed.