The initial pronouncement of the 鈥渄eath鈥� of an unmanned cosmonaut spacesuit flung from the International Space Station on Friday appears to have been premature.
SuitSat-1 was launched during a spacewalk by the space station crew, Valery Tokarev and Bill McArthur, which began at 1744 EDT. According to NASA, it transmitted for about two orbits before stopping, perhaps due to its batteries failing in the cold environment of space.
But dozens of amateur (ham) radio operators who continued to listen in at the 145.990 MHz frequency reported hearing a weak signal over the weekend.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 real weak, but it鈥檚 there,鈥� says Allen Pitts, spokesman for the American Radio Relay League in Connecticut, US. He told 快猫短视频 he grabbed a 2-metre antenna on Saturday morning when SuitSat was scheduled to fly over Connecticut, pointed it into the air and detected the signal.
鈥淎s it turns out, a whole lot of people all over the place were getting it,鈥� he says. Dozens of radio operators have posted reports describing the signals they have heard on a SuitSat website created by ham radio operator Steve Dimse. On a scale from 1 to 5, where 5 is a very strong signal, most recent posts rated the signal no higher than 1 or 2.
Rolling and tumbling
Frank Bauer, of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation in Silver Spring, Maryland, US, agrees: 鈥淚t is absolutely clear that SuitSat-1 is alive. The prime issue appears to be an extremely weak signal.鈥�
He says while the source of that weakness is unknown, early reports of frozen batteries were incorrect. Bauer, also the space station鈥檚 ham radio programme manager at NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center, says he received a temperature reading of 13掳C from the spacesuit, which is 鈥渁 little chilly but somewhat comfortable for batteries鈥�.
He believes SuitSat-1鈥檚 rapid tumbling action in space may be partially to blame for the intermittence of the signal. As the suit rotates, the antenna points away from and then toward the Earth, he explains: 鈥淪o we lose the signal about 30% or 40% of the time.鈥�
Special words
SuitSat-1, nicknamed Ivan Ivanovich, was a aiming to use a defunct spacesuit to gather data and generate public interest as it falls towards Earth and disintegrates within a few weeks.
It is stuffed with batteries, a radio transmitter, and sensors to monitor its power and temperature. It also carries a disc carrying hundreds of submissions from schoolchildren around the world. The signal it emits carries 鈥渟pecial words鈥� in English, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and French as well as a 鈥渕ystery鈥� TV picture.
Pitts thinks SuitSat has captured the spirit of ham radio: 鈥淗ams will make a radio out of anything.鈥� Trying something just to try it, experimenting, sparking imaginations, especially with kids 鈥� that鈥檚 what鈥檚 going on with SuitSat.鈥�
