The SuitSat-2 project now has a new name to go with its new shape, ARISSat-1. Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, the ARISS Chairman announced the new name for the satellite and project this week. The project team is moving ahead using the same hardware that was to fly in the Russian Orlan suit. The team is re-configuring some of the modules to fit into the new structure being designed by Bob Davis, KF4KSS and his team.

Due to storage considerations on the International Space Station, the two surplus Orlan space suits in storage on the International Space Station were discarded via the Progress Cargo Vessel. One of these suits was to be used to house the electronics for the upcoming SuitSat-2 mission where the batteries were to be mounted inside the suit, solar panels attached to the extremities with the electronics, video cameras and antenna mounted on the helmet by the ISS crew prior to deployment during an EVA. The Progress vehicle, with the suits included, has undocked from ISS.

The ARISS International Team has been informed that there is still space available for shipment of the SuitSat-2 electronics on the projected cargo flight to the Space Station in January 2010 and the EVA scheduled for April 2010 still has a 'SuitSat-2' deployment scheduled.

The experiment being developed by Russia's Kursk State University is expected to be integrated into the electronics once the US produced equipment is delivered to Russia this fall.

However, the significant importance of this project to both ARISS and AMSAT is not diminished. ARISS sees this mission as an important component of education outreach as it will provide an opportunity for students around the world to listen for recorded greetings from space as well as learn about tracking spacecraft in orbit.

Meanwhile, the deployment of SDX (Software Defined Transponder), the associated receiver and transmitter modules, and control electronics is a critical milestone for AMSAT as this upcoming flight provides an opportunity to flight test the next generation of spacecraft hardware. Lessons learned from this deployment will be applied to future flight opportunities as AMSAT moves towards a 'modularization approach' to spacecraft development with the expectation the future spacecraft missions will utilize a derivative of SDX and the associated hardware.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php