The Fram2 mission recently ended with a successful splashdown at 16:19 UTC at the Oceanside area of the Pacific Ocean. Our congratulations to our @framonauts on a tremendously successful mission!! At 08:42:50 UTC, a few hours before splashdown, the Fram2Ham equipment was stowed away. Just a few minutes earlier, our competition teams were still downloading live images from the ICOM IC-705 radio on-board Fram2. You can’t say that Fram2Ham is not efficient! From a Fram2Ham perspective, our entire team concurs that this amateur radio experiment—our first in a Dragon Capsule—was incredible. It far exceeded our wildest dreams! Signals from space were outstanding. During the mission, @Rabea was able to conduct a pioneering contact with TU Berlin just a few hours after orbit entry. It appears that thousands of SSTV puzzle pieces were captured by folks in many places around the globe. This was accomplished using only battery power. @Rabea provided all of us an outstanding experience while also juggling 22 other research initiatives during this short duration mission. The Fram2Ham initiative has demonstrated that outstanding amateur radio communications can be conducted from a Dragon Capsule. This groundbreaking mission can open new opportunities for human spaceflight amateur radio operations. This includes future low Earth orbit destination missions, including commercial space stations.

 

 

Our student competitors have worked hard, learned from others, honed their amateur radio skills and adopted a “test like you fly” attitude. Your efforts, whether you were able to acquire Fram2Ham images from space or not, make each of you amateur radio space pioneers and, as a result, adjunct members of the Fram2 mission.

With Fram2Ham operations complete, the Fram2Ham team would like to extend our thanks to all our team members for making this groundbreaking effort successful. Our thanks to the @framonauts, particularly astronaut @Rabea as well as Fram2Ham team members @Lars and @Peter. We would also like to extend our thanks to the SpaceX team for realizing the Fram2Ham mission, through genuine interest in Fram2Ham, certifying the radio system for flight and coordinating Fram2Ham operations. Our thanks to the ARISS team that worked with @Rabea and her team to architect the Educational Program, worked with SpaceX on the radio system, supported operations, including the SSTV gallery, and provided outreach to the public. And special kudos to @Elizabeth—a superb leader on Discord–mentoring, guiding, motivating and inspiring all!

To the youth involved: Our hope is that this opportunity inspires each of you to further your knowledge of Earth’s polar regions, continue to grow in your pursuits of amateur radio, expand your knowledge of STEM (Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) topics and rise to become our next generation of Earth and space explorers as well as our newest amateur radio leaders.

 

To all:

1) We hear that you want to “Keep the Band Together.” Fram2Ham has demonstrated that human spaceflight amateur radio is on the cusp of some exciting new experiences, be they in low Earth orbit, in cislunar space or even at Mars. If you are interested in supporting these efforts and moving these activities forward, drop us an e-mail at volunteers@ariss-i.org.

2) We have another experience to announce. In commemoration of Cosmonautics Day (April 12, when Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth) ARISS will be conducting an SSTV event that will start on April 11 and continue through the weekend. Acquire 12 PD-120 images on the 145.80 MHz downlink from ISS.

Reminders:

1) If individual contestants would like a Fram2Ham certificate, we encourage you to individually submit your acquired images to the Gallery without your team ID number. Use your name and callsign in the request.
2) Please DO NOT share any information about the answers or images on Discord or social media. We will make an announcement when you are clear to post your captured images on Discord and social media Thank you for your participation in Fram2Ham!

73—our best wishes to you.

Ad Astra! To the Stars!
Sincerely,
The Fram2Ham Leadership Team

@ARISS_Chair 04 April 2024 18:20 UTC

 

Svalbard, previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it lies about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range from 74° to 81° north latitude, and from 10° to 35° east longitude.

 

Franz Josef Land is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is inhabited only by military personnel.[1] It constitutes the northernmost part of Arkhangelsk Oblast and consists of 192 islands, which cover an area of 16,134 square kilometers, stretching 375 kilometers from east to west and 234 kilometers from north to south [81°N 55°E]

 

Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee and the US Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, in which the name “Antarctic Peninsula” was approved for the major peninsula of Antarctica, and the names Graham Land and Palmer Land for the northern and southern portions, respectively. The line dividing them is roughly 69 degrees south.

 

Here are some general announcements: Thank you all for sharing your photos of your station setups! Prior to posting, please carefully check to make sure no SSTV images or partial images are showing up in your station photos. We want to keep the Fram2Ham activity competitive amongst the teams. We appreciate signal reports from you during the SSTV passes. When inputting your images on the Gallery, there is a place to include your signal report. Please make sure your report includes your location, time/orbit of your reception, your signal strength, as well as whether you saw a change in signal during the pass (please describe: example: signal was S9 and then dropped to S3 after time of closest approach (high point in your pass)) This will be very important to understand the reception characteristics during our Fram2Ham experiment. Next SSTV operations are expected to occur during today’s evening passes (April 2) over the USA and Canada. There are some passes in Europe midday on April 3, but some of these opportunities may be subject to change, based on crew research activities, radio availability or radio battery life. We will do our best to keep you informed.

Also remember that SSTV operations on Fram2 will only occur during crew wake periods, which is different than 24/7 experienced on ISS. Having the radio turned on and transmitting in a small volume during crew sleep periods does not promote sleeping…and it impacts the results of the crew’s sleep studies! The Fram2Ham team is not sure of the crew’s exact sleep schedule. And, during this short duration mission, that sleep schedule might change as they get closer in time to return to Earth. Great work team! Ad Astra!! To the Stars!!

Joe Fitzgerald (KM1P)
AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager