Please save Packet Radio on ISS - open letter to ARISS
Back in the days MIR cosmonauts used to read PMS messages and eventually reply using a simple 1200bd tnc with the PMS built in. Packet radio was a very useful asset up there that Cosmonauts used also for their private needs. Sometimes it was even used off band for non-amateur operations.
Nowdays, after more than a decade, times have changed but the ISS is still using the very same setup that is overwhelmed by the increasing number of ground stations. The result is that gradually the astronauts have lost their interest in the system, which is essentially dying.
ARISS seems to have no ideas for any upgrade and has no plans to prevent the decline that Packet Radio on ISS is facing.
On the contrary, ARISS vigorously sponsors APRS (check www.ariss.net to see what I mean) which makes things even worse. In facts, the tiny bandwith that 1200bd packet can offer is normally wasted for ground to ground digipeatering (that could be easily done using any other satellite) instead than being reserved for its primary goal that is human space flight communications.
I have a proposal for an improvement that in my opinion could save ISS Packet Radio from its actual fate.
The proposal consists of installing a store and forward system that would provide the following features:
1) A real messaging system that astronauts could use for educational, amateur and emergency purposes that is redundant to the official systems
2) Faster Speed that would allow bidirectional transfer of reasonably sized files (digital pictures, large texts... etc)
3) Real messaging capabilities for a large number of ground stations trying to access the ISS all at the same time
4) A system usable for emergency communications in developing countries, major disasters, remote scientific outposts
You might ask yourself how much the development and the delivery of such a system would be since that is a primary issue, in times like this.
Well, I believe that the cost is very very low. Potentially null. Let me explain why.
First of all because Amsat/Ariss has a very extensive knowledge about store / forward satellites. In facts among all these years many different ones have been developed, launched and successfully operated.
Second because the system can be (and should be) a Linux based free software project developed by people around the world. We already have a good starting point which is the PB/PG application by Bent Bagger, OZ6BL. Bent wrote the client. All we need is a server.
Where would we run this server? Easy, we would run it on a laptop that the ISS already has. The ideal scenario would be using a single bootable DVD that transforms an IBM laptop into a store & forward satellite. The TNC's are already there (but we might use the laptop's sound blaster!), the radios are there, the antennas are there.
Everything is there!
All we are missing is a piece of software that would be an easy task for Ariss/Amsat and also an interesting project for Universities or Linux Hackers around the world.
Ariss people, only you can: please save packet radio onboard ISS, please make the ftl0 store & forward system real.
Alain WW3WW
issfanclub.com founder
ISS-APRS
Please hold 1k2 APRS alive on the ISS. It's an easy way to demonstrate ham-radio in space to
newcomers. I miss it desperately.
Siegfried DD1JSN
RE:Please save Packet Radio on ISS - open letter to ARISS
Frank answered that we don't have access to a DEDICATED computer for use on orbit.
What would it take to fund such a computer for use or are we allowed to have one up there?
Just how much would a laptop be to send up there that would run either Linux or a FTL0 system?
I have NO idea what the power budget is up there, but one more item added to draw a little
more current might not hurt at all.
James W8ISS
ARISS Chairman Response to Open Letter to ARISS
Alain,
Given that this is an open letter to ARISS and I am the ARISS International Chairman, I felt it would be appropriate for me to respond to this. First, I want to thank you for providing an outstanding resource to the amateur radio community and the general public through the ISS Fan Club web site. I access it often and refer people, worldwide, to your site. I find it a valuable resource on ARISS development and operations.
The ARISS team has received substantial feedback on the ham radio system from the ISS crew members during their flights and through post-flight debriefs. This includes the spaceflight participants that have had short stays on ISS and Shuttle crews that have used the ARISS gear. The ARISS Russian and US team members have compared notes from these sessions. And we have had countless, informal dialog sessions with ISS crew members that have flown to get a better understanding of how to improve ham radio operations on ISS. We have also discussed with the space agencies (NASA, Energia, ESA, JAXA and CSA) what we can and cannot do regarding computers and computer files on ISS.
We all need to accept the fact that things have changed significantly since the Mir days. And they have even changed significantly since the early ISS expeditions. Communication gear on Mir and early ISS was a lot more Spartan than it is now. What has changed? Besides DVDs, and other hobby items, two main in-space innovations---IP Phone and on-orbit e-mail access. When IP Phone and e-mail access was started, the crew saw little need for family connections through ham radio. And they have expressed the opinion: Why get on a packet BBS when you can send e-mails to selected individuals or teams? We have queried numerous crew members, including many of the "dyed in the wool" ham radio operators. And we have gotten almost unanimous agreement that we should not focus on BBS capabilities, but on other activities that engage students and the public, like school contacts, SSTV, and video. As a result, the digital systems on-board ISS have evolved primarily for the hams on the ground.
One way of looking at this is that ham radio was a pathfinder. We showed long duration crews the utility of communicating with their friends and family through voice and digitally. And the space agencies have now accommodated the crew's interests through permanent on-orbit capabilities.
Another complexity which make BBS operations challenging is access to a computer. We continue to get little to no access to the ISS computers. And both the US and Russian ARISS teams have worked aggressively to resolve this issue since Expedition 1. While we have on-board software loaded on the flight computer suite to support packet operations, SSTV, computer logging, etc, the amount of crew time required to reboot and configure the computer to support packet and then access and communicate (type in their messages) is more than the ISS crews want to expend. Especially since they already have the ISS-provided e-mail system.
File transfer from Earth to Space will not be allowed due to the risk of viruses. This has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks regarding us getting access to a computer---for packet radio, SSTV or any other use. We are required to be off the ISS computer network for anything we do with ARISS, significantly limiting some of the ideas you described in your letter.
So what should the amateur radio community do? We should recognize that we have many stakeholders in the ISS Ham radio. This includes the ham radio community, the space agencies and the on-orbit crew. We need to listen to all of them and balance our developments and operations to maximize interest and capabilities to all three groups.
We continue to be a pathfinder to new ideas and innovations. So experimentation through new modes of operation should continue. Things like digital TV, expansion of SSTV, SuitSat and other modes are great examples.
We need to make our systems more autonomous because we have witnessed that the crew time on ISS is precious. And we cannot wait days for the crews to command our systems in their spare time. We should be doing that remotely.
And some of the emergency capabilities you propose may be better suited for stand-alone satellites or as a payload externally mounted on ISS. The ISS ham radio BBS will still be a part of the ham radio complement to support emergency backups. And there will be an occasional crew member that will want to use the BBS because they prefer that mode. But we do not anticipate ham radio BBS systems to be a significant utility because the crew interest is simply not there.
I really appreciate your interest in the ISS Ham radio system and your interest in challenging the team to move in different directions. And I hope you can see through this letter, that the ARISS International team is doing their best to listen to all their constituents to best support the development and operations of the ISS Ham radio system.
73, Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs
ARISS International Chairman
Many thanks
Many thanks for your reply Frank,
I personally feel NASA & the ISS team are doing a fantastic job - I understand the crew have a very busy schedule, and amateur radio operations can be last on the list of things the astronauts/cosmonauts might wish to participate in, with their very, very precious time.
Your idea for 'remote control' setting of the on board station to what ever mode it needs to be set to I think is a great idea - this should allow the radio to be set into voice (x band repeater - crew simplex)/packet/ SSTV modes without wasting time asking the crew to go through a set of procedures to set the radio to the correct mode.
I caught a few SSTV images when Richard Garriot was onboard - I emailed these to work colleagues and they were fascinated that images could be picked up from the station.
I think APRS & BBS traffic, SSTV, as well as the x band repeater are perfect modes of operation - even if some of these modes may be a little dated in comparison to the internet - it's obvious the crew will use what ever means they have for work & family contacts without having resort to the amateur kit onboard, but it's great for the rest of us having access to the amateur kit - many hams have stations capable of working the toys on board - including 'ancient 1200 baud TNC's' & SSTV - this allows a majority a chance of 'playing' with the station.
Alain has some good ideas, but I feel some of them would be moving the system away from something accessible to a majority of amateurs, and more towards a specialised club of 'we can do this mode'.
Keep up the good work Frank - you guys are very much appreciated, especially by myself for the system on board, that we do get a chance to play with.
Many thanks, and all the best to you and yours -and everyone else, for the New Year.
73's
de Matty
MD0MAN
Frank, first of all thank
Frank,
first of all thank you for your response and for your words about this website. The IFC staff cares about this hobby and is happy to contibute any way it can to whatever makes it better.
I am aware of the hard work that your team is putting into the efforts to develop ham radio on ISS.
The ham community around the worls is grateful for that, and so am I.
I know that convincing you, or someone around you, could make a big change so here I am once again to insist.
In brief, let me explain why and where my positions differ from yours:
- NEGATIVE FEEDBACK
The feedback you get from crewmembers are based upon the usage of a system that actually doesn't work at all. It's obviuos that this feedback will not be good.
Imagine instead a system that would allow a crew member to take a high resolution picture (or a video!) and digitally broadcast it to multiple schools on the ground. Imagine the same system being capable of receiving email-like messages from the ground and eventually allowing the crew to respond.
Would the astronauts still recommend SSTV? I don't think so.
- EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES
Doesn't the above example ring any bell? You probably have heard about EarthKam. The EarthKam project, run by NASA, does exactly the same without any amateur radio involved. Why shouldn't we do that? We would demonstrate that ham radio can be as good as NASA, or even better for a fraction of the cost.
- INTEREST
If astronauts don't have interest in ham radio messaging because they already have e-mail, why should they have interest in ham radio voice when they already have a telephone?
- TIME
You suggest that astronauts are not willing to spend much time to reply to written messages but I disagree because I have personally received many replies to my messages from different MIR crews.
If someone wants to spend half an hour talking on voice, maybe someone else will decide to spend the same kind of time typing written messages. Not everyone likes to operate contest like pile-ups...
- STAND ALONE SATELLITE / EXTERNAL PAYLOAD
APRS does not involve the crew in any way. A FTL0 BBS, instead, can involve the crew and also be used for emergencies.
If APRS stays on ISS, why shouldn't the other system?
- VIRUSES
This is not an issue.
We already allow the upload of text messages. In my proposal the scenario is identical.
My opinion is that we must keep our equipments and operating modes on ISS as updated and as useful as possible.
If we don't, just like educational imaging is being done with earthkam and not with packet radio, one day educational voice contacts will be done with the voip telephone and not with amateur radio.
I believe we need to do something useful with Packet Radio. Once again, please consider an upgrade before its too late.
Thanks
Alain
Considerazioni sul packet ed altro da ISS
Caro Alain,
ho letto il tuo messaggio relativo all'invito, per l'ARISS, a fare qualcosa per salvare il modo packet dalla ISS e la risposta ,con conseguenti considerazioni, inviata prontamente dal Responsabile Internazionale dell'ARISS, Mr.Frank H,Bauer,KA3HDO .
Avrei dovuto scrivere questa lettera in inglese, ma è per me molto difficile esprimere questi concetti in maniera corretta e quindi forse nessuno la leggerà .
Tu hai fatto e stai facendo tanto,con il tuo sito web, per tenere uniti gli appassionati-radioamatori e non- della ISS.
Vedi quante comunicazioni ci sono ogni giorno,quanti aggiornamenti continui, informazioni su tutto ciò che riguarda la Stazione Spaziale Internazionale e aggiungo anche il mio "grazie".
Detto questo ,però, devo dirti che concordo al 100% con quanto precisato dal Sig. Frank .
Certamente è necessario ed auspicabile che le trasmissioni radioamatoriali dalla ISS migliorino sempre di piu',ma perché punti tanto e maggiormente al solo packet?
E' vero,lo constato anch'io quasi ogni giorno,ci sono tanti radioamatori che fanno traffico packet via ISS e forse anche per vedersi in APRS.Ma che c'è di male? La sentiamo piu' viva la Stazione e piu' vicina a noi, anche con il semplice lancio del beacon packet dalla stessa,oramai diventato così familiare..E' vero, sarà anche un uso improprio di detto modo, visto e considerato che era nato per mettersi in contatto,via tastiera,con l'equipaggio,ma oggi tutto è cambiato!
Oramai le comunicazioni ed i contatti tra la Terra (NASA) e gli equipaggi avvengono in tempo reale con trasmissioni video che ti fanno sentire quasi presente , vicinissimi agli astronauti!
Queste giuste e sofferte tue riflessioni sono di tutto il mondo radioamatoriale e sta a noi tutti sforzarci per aggiornarci e migliorarci.
Certamente i video NASA sono eccezionali e sono necessari anche e soprattutto per motivi di assistenza/sicurezza spaziale,ma è anche tanta la gioia e l'emozione nel ricevere le immagini in diretta dalla ISS in SSTV con i propri modesti mezzi radioamatoriali.
Oramai la Stazione Spaziale è diventata un Complesso molto grande da gestire e da controllare da parte dell'equipaggio.E' quindi sempre piu' difficile e sporadico sentire un "CQ de NA1SS",ma questo non può e non deve scoraggiarci,anzi ci deve spronare ad essere piu' presenti ed attivi,come tu aspichi.
Probabilmente dovrebbero esserci in futuro, speriamo non troppo lontano e qui concordo con te, le trasmissioni video digitali in banda S dal modulo Columbus,quando saranno completati i rack previsti.
Grazie Alain e stai a noi vicino!!
73' Michele I7PQD
saluti
Ciao Umberto IW5EBY
ISS Packet
I for one am just happy to be able to use the ham gear on the station for anything. I would be
very pleased if the packet radio would be turned on and left on as it was in earlier days, and it
would be used as it always has been. It seems obvious to me that Ham Radio on the station is
very low on the list of priorities there and and always will be, we don't pay taxes to fund billion
dollar projects in space to give hams some operating opportunities. My vote here would be to
continue to use what we have been provided and try to schedule operating modes better so we
do not waste time setting up our stations for passes and waiting only to find it is not operating as
expected. If you turn it on and set it up, we will listen.
73' Ed, KD7YAT
Goodyear, Az
Using the right tools
Hello Ed,
I believe that nothing is supposed to be as it is just because that's the way it has always been.
Anyway here we're not discussing about being progressive rather than being conservative. Here we are discussing about a technical problem.
No, we are not paying billion Euros (or Yens, or Rubles, or even Dollars) funds to let Ham operate in space.
But when we do spend that kind of money, whatever the reason, we must pretend that the tools used up there are the best of the best available... And right now, believe me, they are not.
What might be the best AX25 setup in your own car, is definitely not be the best setup in a space station.
AMSAT/ARISS know what the best tools are, and that is why they normally use FTL0 on their digital satellites rather than plain AX25.
I intend raising awarness about the issues of Packet Radio onboard ISS and I annouce that this topic is going to become permamently visible on this website.
The goal is to create proposals, alternatives, ideas, anything that could prevent Ham Radio from keeping wasting this unbelievale opportunity that are digital communications onboard ISS.