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Suitsat, Making use of old spacesuits
ljk4-1
post Jan 26 2006, 10:17 PM
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Disembodied Spacesuit set to orbit Earth

NASA Science News for January 26, 2006

A very strange satellite is about to go into Earth orbit. It's "SuitSat," an empty spacesuit thrown overboard from the International Space Station. Using a simple police scanner or ham radio, you can listen to SuitSat when it orbits over your hometown.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/26....htm?list161084


--------------------
"After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance.
I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard,
and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does
not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is
indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have
no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

- Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853

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dilo
post Jan 26 2006, 10:27 PM
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This is a very odd idea, IMHO! blink.gif


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Guest_BruceMoomaw_*
post Jan 27 2006, 01:20 AM
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Guests






What will be really interesting is if a voice over the radio starts pleading for help...
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odave
post Jan 27 2006, 01:32 AM
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Sounds like contraband vodka is still making it onto those Progress cargo ships wink.gif


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ljk4-1
post Jan 27 2006, 03:22 PM
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They have a space-qualified and tested "device" that is already in Earth orbit. I think it makes a lot of sense to turn an old space suit into a useful satellite. I can see great potential with the concept. An efficient use of resources, which the Russians have had to have a lot of practice with.

It also beats trashing the space suits in Progress return capsules and lends a "noble" way for such an important item aboard the space station to end its final days. Nor should a useful space instrument end up sitting in a museum collecting dust.


--------------------
"After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance.
I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard,
and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does
not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is
indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have
no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

- Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853

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Bob Shaw
post Jan 27 2006, 07:47 PM
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More on this 'unmanned' spacecraft at:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SuitSat_...February_3.html

Bob shaw


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Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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Canopus
post Jan 27 2006, 07:54 PM
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Nifty! Were I a school student, I'd be delighted to partake in SuitSat.

It's the first of more to follow.

Will get kids interested in space exploration. Sometimes the "little things" are more provocative than the "big things" they might otherwise have a difficult time grasping.

A friend has a ham radio set, but it's doubtful he'd lend use of it to my spouse and I.
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djellison
post Jan 27 2006, 09:32 PM
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Stroke of genius if you ask me, I hope some people get recordings of its signal for us to enjoy.

Doug
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ljk4-1
post Jan 29 2006, 06:41 PM
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From the FPSPACE list - some footage of an earlier Orlan suit they ejected into space that was actually set up to wave, and another one showing cosmonauts putting a suit on a "space bike" and releasing it!


Message: 12
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2006 21:51:21 +0000
From: Ivan Artner <ivan@wavenet.hu>
Subject: Re: [FPSPACE] Orlan jettison from Mir, 1991-1992??
To: ivan@wavenet.hu
Cc: Jim Oberg <joberg@houston.rr.com>, fpspace@friends-partners.org
Message-ID: <43DBE759.7040407@wavenet.hu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

I found another related video a joke by the same Soyuz-TM17 crew.
jettisoning a small "Soyuz" and a worn cosmonaut overall riding on it.

here is a small realvideo sample, (I'm searching for the original tape
in my archives):

http://xyber.wavenet.hu:8080/mir/real/stm17_56.rm


Message: 20
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 10:55:56 +0000
From: Ivan Artner <ivan@wavenet.hu>
Subject: Re: [FPSPACE] Orlan jettison from Mir, 1991-1992??
To: ivan@wavenet.hu
Cc: Jim Oberg <joberg@houston.rr.com>, fpspace@friends-partners.org
Message-ID: <43DC9F3C.4000302@wavenet.hu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

mined my tape archives and found the orlan jettison video from october 1993.
sorry, but the quality is very poor as it was downlinked using an odd
television system after the EVA.

http://media.irisz.hu/orlan/1.rm

is 15Mbytes in realvideo format

http://media.irisz.hu/orlan/orlan1.jpg

http://media.irisz.hu/orlan/orlan2.jpg

http://media.irisz.hu/orlan/orlan3.jpg

are 3 tiny still images captured.

On the video file you can listen to the crew commenting on the EVA.

Best Regards: Ivan Artner


--------------------
"After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance.
I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard,
and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does
not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is
indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have
no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

- Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853

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Bob Shaw
post Jan 29 2006, 08:21 PM
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The second still is nicely degraded - you can just see Alexei Leonov in it, waving in triumph at the TV camera after leaving LK-1 'Eagle' in Lunar orbit during the EVA back to the LOK mothership, following the first manned landing on the Moon in October 1968 (of course, later flights used the more capable Kretchet suit rather than the Orlan seen here).

(sigh)

Bob Shaw
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ljk4-1
post Feb 1 2006, 03:34 AM
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Space Weather News for Jan. 31, 2006

http://spaceweather.com

SUITSAT: On February 3rd, astronauts plan to hurl an old spacesuit overboard
from the International Space Station. The disembodied suit, nicknamed
"SuitSat," will proceed to circle Earth, transmitting a radio message which
anyone can hear using a police scanner or a ham radio tuned to 145.990 MHz FM.
This strange experiment is a test of a sensible idea--that old spacesuits might
be transformed into useful satellites.

Would you like to listen to SuitSat?

Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE http://spaceweatherphone.com and you'll receive
alerts when the suit is about to orbit over your area.


--------------------
"After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance.
I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard,
and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does
not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is
indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have
no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

- Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853

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ljk4-1
post Feb 1 2006, 06:06 PM
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RELEASE: 06-09

UNUSUAL SATELLITE TRANSMITS VOICES OF MARYLAND STUDENTS WORLDWIDE

Just before 6 p.m. EST this Friday, the crew aboard the International Space Station will deploy an unusual satellite called “SuitSat.” During a planned spacewalk, the two station crew members will release an unmanned Russian spacesuit into space.

This new satellite will transmit the recorded voices of female students from Paint Branch High School and Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring, Md., that anyone with a HAM radio can hear.

"SuitSat is a Russian brainstorm," explains Frank Bauer of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. “Some of our Russian partners in the ISS program had an idea. Maybe we can turn old spacesuits into useful satellites." SuitSat is the first test of that idea.

SuitSat consists of a Russian Orlan spacesuit with three batteries, a radio transmitter and internal sensors to measure temperature and battery power. SuitSat will help scientists determine the durability of spacesuits, the life of the batteries that power the suit, and if a tumbling suit affects the clarity of radio transmissions. It will lay the groundwork for SuitSats of the future.

The Suitsat will transmit one of three types of messages for 30 seconds, pause for 30 seconds, and then repeat.

The transmission begins with "This is SuitSat-1, RS0RS," followed by a prerecorded greeting in six languages. The greeting contains "special words" in English, French, Japanese, Russian, German and Spanish, for students to record and decipher. Awards will be given to students who correctly identify the message. The English-language greetings were recorded by the two Maryland students.

The next message will detail SuitSat's telemetry: temperature, battery power and mission elapsed time. "The telemetry is stated in plain language­in English," says Bauer. "Everyone will be privy to SuitSat's condition. It 'talks' using a voice synthesizer. It's pretty amazing." The transmission ends with a slow scan television picture.

“All you need is an antenna (the bigger the better) and a radio receiver that you can tune to 145.990 MHz FM," Bauer added. "A police scanner or a hand-held ham radio will work just fine."

SuitSat is sponsored by an international working group called Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). It consists of volunteers from national amateur radio societies and the internationally-based Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT).

For more information about the spacewalk, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/...exp12_eva2.html

For more information about SuitSat, visit:

http://SuitSat.org

or

http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php


--------------------
"After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance.
I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard,
and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does
not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is
indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have
no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

- Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853

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ljk4-1
post Feb 1 2006, 08:23 PM
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Spacesuit goes overboard for unusual mission

Worn-out suit recycled into miniature satellite sending out a radio beacon

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11102068/

By James Oberg, NBC News space analyst // Special to MSNBC

Updated: 2:52 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2006

HOUSTON - It sounds like a scene from science fiction: A lone figure is cast
off from the space station, getting smaller and smaller as it drifts out into
empty space.

In this case, however, no human will actually be at risk. When the crew
members aboard the international space station toss a worn-out spacesuit over
the side, it will be empty except for an interesting amateur radio experiment.

During a spacewalk scheduled this Friday, astronaut Bill McArthur and
cosmonaut Valery Tokarev will spend six hours carrying out assembly, repair and
inspection work on the space station - and one photogenic feat of "space
littering."

It won't be the first time an old Russian spacesuit has been tossed
overboard, but "SuitSat," as it is called, has an actual mission.

A simple battery-powered radio transmitter inside the suit will use an
antenna mounted to the suit's helmet to send signals down to Earth for up to
several days. The data will include temperature readings, a slow-scan TV image
and several specially coded messages for ham radio listeners to figure out.

The project is aimed mainly at students, and SuitSat organizers solicited
hundreds of school pictures, artwork, poems and signatures from schools all over
the world. A CD with the imagery is being placed inside Suitsat, with another
copy of it to be kept on the space station.

SuitSat's transmitting career will be short, however: Its batteries are
expected to run out after several days. Within a few weeks, SuitSat itself will
burn up in the atmosphere.


--------------------
"After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance.
I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard,
and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does
not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is
indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have
no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

- Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853

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ljk4-1
post Feb 2 2006, 04:04 PM
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THIS SPACESUIT THINKS IT'S A SATELLITE (Space & Astronomy News, 31/1/06)

Three Russian spacesuits are being prepared for a spacewalk at the weekend
from the International Space Station, but only two will be coming back
inside when the planned six-hour excursion is over.

http://abc.net.au/science/news/space/Space...ish_1558727.htm


--------------------
"After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance.
I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard,
and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does
not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is
indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have
no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

- Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853

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ljk4-1
post Feb 2 2006, 06:31 PM
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ARISS Seeks School Involvement in "SuitSat" Project

NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 3, 2005--Plans are on the fast track to deploy a surplus
Russian Orlan spacesuit this fall as a non-traditional satellite. Dubbed
"SuitSat," the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
project could become the most unusual Amateur Radio satellite ever orbited.
Now, an ARISS-US proposal will provide an opportunity for schools to
participate in the SuitSat enterprise. To be launched during a spacewalk,
SuitSat will carry an Amateur Radio transmitter that will send voice
greetings to commemorate the 175th anniversary of Russia's Bauman Moscow
State Technical University. Other message possibilities remain under
discussion.

ARISS got permission from the ISS Program Office in May to go
forward with delivery of the SuitSat project, and schools now will have the
chance to take part through what's being called "School Spacewalk." ARISS
International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, says the idea is to have schools
around the globe provide a page of artwork that will fly inside SuitSat.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/06/03/100/


--------------------
"After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance.
I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard,
and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does
not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is
indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have
no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

- Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853

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