[FLham] SUITSAT-1 to be launched Febuary 3rd

[Evans F. Mitchell KD4EFM / AFA2TH FL]

Gimmick in the Heavens: An Orbiting Spacesuit With Transmitter


By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: January 28, 2006

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/28/science/28suit.html?_r=1>

In what might resemble a horrifying moment in a science fiction film,
astronauts aboard the International Space Station will toss an empty
spacesuit overboard next week.

The Russian suit will carry three batteries and a ham radio transmitter
and antenna. Amateur radio operators on Earth will be able to listen
to its transmissions over several days until the batteries fail.
The space station has long had a bond with earthbound amateur radio
operators, and there is a ham rig on the station to communicate with them.
The idea of turning a suit into a satellite came from the Russians,
NASA officials said.

In a few weeks, the orbit of the suit (designated SuitSat-1) will decay,
and the suit will burn up as it falls into the atmosphere. Kwatsi Alibaruho,
a NASA flight director who spoke yesterday at a news conference in Houston,
said, "No part of the suit is expected to survive re-entry."

The suit will be released during a spacewalk on Feb. 3 in which the 
astronauts,
William S. McArthur Jr. of the United States and Col. Valery I. Tokarev of 
the
 Russian Air Force, will also repair a moving platform that carries the 
station's robot arm.

In December, a safety device designed to cut snagged cables cut one of two 
control lines
to the platform; NASA is studying why the accident occurred. The 
spacewalkers will
install a bolt that will keep the second line from being cut until a more
complete repair can be carried out.

"It's very important that we repair this," said Kirk Shireman,
the deputy space station program manager.
Anyone with a ham radio or police scanner that picks up the
FM frequency 145.990 MHz can listen to the spacesuit's transmissions.
NASA has put a computer program online at
http://science.nasa.gov/RealTime/JPass/25/JPass.asp to help people figure 
out
when the suit will be traveling overhead.

The suit will be unpressurized, but the astronauts have stuffed it full of 
discarded clothing so
that it should retain a somewhat human shape. Sensors will monitor the 
suit's
temperature and battery power, which will be transmitted along with a 
message in five languages.

The message (which is not "heeeeeellllllppp!") will include an image and 
secret
words for student listeners to decipher.