National Aeronautics and Educational Product Space Administration Teachers and Grades K–4 Students Office of Human Resources and Education Education Division Amateur Radio in Space A Teacher’s Guide With Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Amateur Radio in Space—A Teacher’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology is available in electronic format through NASA Spacelink—one of the Agency’s electronic resources specifically developed for use by the educational community. The system may be accessed at the following address: http://spacelink.nasa.gov Amateur Radio in Space National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of Human Resources and Education Education Division Acknowledgments Writers Sandy Peck Clear Creek Independent School District League City, TX Rosalie White American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Newington, CT Editor Jane George Teaching From Space Program NASA Headquarters Washington, DC Special thanks to Pamela L. Mountjoy at NASA Headquarters and Nancy Robertson and Matthew Bordelon at NASA Johnson Space Center for all their help and support. This publication is in the Public Domain and is not protected by copyright. Permission is not required for duplication. EG–1998–03–114–HQ Table of Contents Introduction....................................................................... 3 Activities Waves, Waves, Everywhere ................................................ 6 Can I Hear You?.............................................................. 13 “Hello Over There”......................................................... 17 Say It With Space Talk ..................................................... 22 Appendices A. How Can I Get Involved With the SAREX Program? ......................................... 26 B. SAREX........................................................................ 27 NASA Resources for Educators ....................................... 30 5 Amateur Radio in Space—A Teacher’s Guide With Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Introduction The Space Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX) is designed to facilitate communication between astronauts in orbit with students on the ground. SAREX is sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). SAREX is also supported by the Federal Com- munications Commission (FCC). Through SAREX, astronauts make scheduled and unscheduled Amateur Radio contacts from the Shuttle orbiter with schools selected through a pro- posal process (see Appendix for proposal process information) from around the world. These contacts energize students and families about science, tech- nology, and learning. The SAREX program will continue on the International Space Station (ISS). Ham radios provide a necessary secondary system component for communica- tion between Shuttle orbiter (and will be for the future ISS) crew members and with Mission Control and workers on the ground. What Is a More than 2.8 million people worldwide, including more than 670,000 Ham or Americans, are currently licensed Amateur Radio operators or “hams.” Oddly enough, there is no universally accepted explanation for where the popular Amateur term “ham” originated. Various theories have been put forth, but all are gener- Radio ally discredited. The most likely explanation is that the term derives from the Operator? frontier-day custom of referring to unskilled or inept telegraph operators as “ham-fisted.” Regardless, it is a term in which Amateur Radio operators take pride. The term “amateur” refers to one who engages in a pursuit as a pastime rather than as a profession. Amateur Radio is the personal use of short wave radio equipment for direct worldwide communications on a one-to-one basis. Amateur Radio has been a source of communicating and technical skills, espe- cially during an emergency. Hams never accept compensation for services they provide. The First On November 28, 1983, Space Shuttle mission STS-9 was launched carry- Space ing Mission Specialist Owen Garriott, Amateur Radio call sign W5LFL, and his ham radio into orbit for 10 days on the Space Shuttle Columbia. For seven Flights for of those days, hams around the world heard Dr. Garriott’s voice calling Earth- Ham Radio bound ham radio stations. Lance Collister, call sign WA1JXN, of Frenchtown, Montana, became the first Amateur Radio operator to work an astronaut- ham orbiting the world, and by the end of the mission, over 300 radio calls were logged by Garriott. The calls ranged from classrooms of children to King Hussein of Jordan. Garriott was even patched in to the Capsule Communica- tor (CAPCOM) at Mission Control Center to demonstrate the utility of the ham system operating as a backup to some of the orbiter’s communication systems. SAREX radios are operated on the conditions that they will not inter- fere with mission activities and that safety requirements will be met. The second time a ham radio transmission came from space was on the Chal- lenger STS-51 mission, and a new dimension was added to the already proven techniques used on STS-9. Working with a small group of hams, Mission Spe- cialist Tony England, call sign WØORE, developed the idea of adding a re- Amateur Radio in Space—A Teacher’s Guide With Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology 6 peater with a 2- Equipment meter radio fre- Configurations quency input and a 10-meter radio fre- quency output that would also have the capability for slow- scan television (SSTV) uplink and downlink. This mis- sion would deter- mine if television images could be sent and monitored Figure 1. Sample configuration for amateur radio. in space. In addition to the 130 voice contacts made—including one from a ham radio mounted in an automobile—there were 10 exchanges involving SSTV signals monitored by the Shuttle ham station. The first SSTV image monitored by Tony England was that of his wife, Kathi. This was the first television to be watched in space. There are different configurations for Amateur Radio equipment on the Shuttle orbiter. One configuration consists of a hand-held transceiver, interface module, a payload general support computer (PGSC), window antenna, packet radio (digital) module, headset, and terminal node controller (TNC). The TNC interconnects with a radio transceiver so the data to and from the computer is transmitted to and received from the Amateur Radio stations on the ground. This configuration is capable of operating in either the voice or data mode in commu- nications with Amateur stations within the line of sight (LOS) of the Space Shuttle orbiter or Space Station. This configuration can be operated in the attended mode for voice communications and in either the attended or automatic mode for data communications. A similar configuration will be used on the ISS along with other innovative ham radio set-ups. Another configuration (see Figure 1) consists of a hand-held transceiver, an interface module, a headset, a slow-scan and fast-scan television converter, a television camera and monitor, a PGSC, and an antenna capable of being mounted in one of the orbiter’s flight deck windows. This configuration com- municates with Amateur Radio stations within LOS of the Shuttle orbiter in one of four modes: voice, Slow-Scan Television (SSTV), data, or Fast-Scan Television (FSTV). An elaborate radio station setup in schools is not required to make a 2- Ground meter radio frequency contact. Ham radio operators will be glad to help with Equipment radios and antennas. Contact ARRL (see page 5) for information on how to find a list of hams in your area. Specially designed QSL cards (post cards designed by hams to confirm QSL Cards two-way radio contact or reception of signal) are available to anyone who sends a reception report of Amateur Radio operation from the Shuttle orbiter or the future International Space Station. Non-amateurs can listen in on a ham receiver or monitor on scanners to qualify for the special QSL. Send all recep- tion and confirmed contact reports to ARRL. 7 Amateur Radio in Space—A Teacher’s Guide With Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Licenses Every Amateur Radio operator must be licensed by the Federal Com- munications Commission (FCC). In order to obtain a license, a ham must pass examinations in radio theory, rules and, for some licenses, interna- tional Morse Code proficiency. There are Amateur Radio operators from ages 8 to 80, and they qualify for one of five grades of licenses, each at progressively higher levels of proficiency. The five grades are Novice, Technician, General, Advanced, and Amateur Ex- tra. Higher classes of licenses have additional operating privileges. The mini- mum license required to operate on the frequencies to the Shuttle orbiter and on the future International Space Station is Technician. Call Sign The Amateur Radio operator’s call letters are issued by the FCC at the time of obtaining a license. The first letter indicates nationality; in the United States the first letters are A, K, N, or W. There are several means of communicating with Amateur Radio in addi- tion to Morse Code (radiotelegraphy) and voice transmission (radiotelephony). These include radio teletype, computer-data exchange, and fast scan and slow scan amateur television. References AMSAT: The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation was founded in 1969 and Resources to provide satellites that can be used for Amateur Radio communication throughout the world and to disseminate information derived from these com- munications. For more information, write to: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation PO Box 27 Washington, DC 20044 ARRL: The American Radio Relay League was founded in 1914 as the ham radio operators’ organization. ARRL publishes monthly licensing guides, teacher’s materials, technical journals and an annual handbook and is the representative body with the Federal Communications Commission. For more information, write to: American Radio Relay League 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 SAREX on the ARRL Web Site: World Wide Web http://www.arrl.org/sarex/ AMSAT Web Site: http://www.amsat.org NASA’s SAREX Web Site: http://www.ccsds.org/sarex/ Goddard Space Flight Center Amateur Radio Club: http://garc.gsfc.nasa.gov/www/ Johnson Space Center Amateur Radio Club: http://www.phoenix.net/~mbordel/index.html Amateur Radio in Space—A Teacher’s Guide With Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology 8 Activity: Waves, Waves, Everywhere • Identify the components of a radio wave Objectives • Identify the ranges of frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum • Observe water waves • Create waves in different frequencies This activity will allow students to understand the relationship between Activity Overview water waves and air waves by learning about their parts. Students will also learn about frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum. They will work individually and in teams. Younger students will observe and draw waves in the water and with a Slinky. Older students will be able to see the relation- ship of radio waves to other waves in the electromagnetic spectrum and will be able to identify these parts. They will work in pairs to observe and create a visual representation of waves in varying frequencies. • Glass or metal pan Materials • Water • White paper • Eye dropper • 1 Slinky per group of 4; or • 1 short rope or jump rope • Data Collection Sheet • Science as Inquiry Science Standards • Physical Science • Transfer of Energy • Science and Technology • Understanding About Science and Technology • Technological Knowledge Technology Standards – Technological Concepts and Principals • Problem Solving Mathematics Standards • Patterns • Relationships Timeframe: 30–45 minutes 9 Amateur Radio in Space—A Teacher’s Guide With Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Background All around the world every minute of every day people are talking, and Information they are all talking at the same time. Think of places that you have been where everyone is talking at once—between classes at school, football games, shop- ping malls. Was it hard to hear just one particular conversation? When you turn on a radio, you hear people talking or you hear music. As you change the tuner to successive stations, you find that there is some form of audio on all the stations. You may wonder how they can all talk at once, but you can only hear one station at a time. This is due, in part, to electromagnetic waves— waves that are partly electric and partly magnetic and carry energy emitted by vibrating electric charges in atoms. All waves are on an electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is a continuous range of waves—radio waves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-rays, and gamma rays. It is a means of classifying electromagnetic waves according to their frequency. Waves all move, or vibrate, at the same speed (“c” for constant), but differ in their frequency. The fre- quency is how often a vibration occurs. This unit of frequency is called a hertz (Hz). When Heinrich Hertz first demonstrated radio waves in 1886, he found that the source of all waves was something that vibrates. Radio and television stations often announce that they are operating on a frequency of “x-number” of Megahertz. This is the frequency range assigned to them by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This organization divides the entire range of communications frequencies among those who use them. This includes com- mercial radio, television, and Amateur Radio. Radio waves vibrate at the low- est frequency and have the longest wavelengths on the electromagnetic spec- trum. Visible light is just a small part of this vast spectrum. Light waves and radio waves are both electromagnetic waves that originate from the vibration of electrons. Sound waves are not electromagnetic waves, but a mechanical vibration of matter. So even though we hear a radio by means of sound waves, radio waves and sound waves are not the same. A specific radio frequency is assigned to Amateur Radio operators when they are transmitting to space. All Amateur Radio operators, this includes those who operate for Space Amateur Radio Experiments (SAREX) missions, use a small portion of the frequency bands on the electromagnetic spectrum. Any ama- teur station that is located more than 50km above Earth’s surface is defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a space station. Amateur Amateur Radio in Space—A Teacher’s Guide With Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology 10 satellites, the Space Shuttle orbiters, the Russian MIR Space Station, and the International Space Station all fall under this category. If you drop a pebble into a pond circular waves will emanate from the drop source. The human eye can follow these waves as they progress outward from the drop point. These waves like all other waves have amplitude, wavelength, and frequency. These three characteristics are present in all waves that make up the electromagnetic spectrum. The frequency of a wave is measured in hertz, the wavelength in meters. Thus, the speed of a given wave is measured in meters per second. This rela- tionship is the same for all kinds of waves, such as sound waves, light waves, or water waves. A wavelength is the distance a wave travels through space in a single cycle. It can be measured from any point along the wave as long as it is consistently measured from the same point. The speed of the wave is equal to the frequency times the wave length. The amplitude of a wave is the maximum displacement on either side of the midpoint of a wave. The midpoint is the point at which the wave is at rest. 11 Amateur Radio in Space—A Teacher’s Guide With Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology