At the ARISS Schools contact with the Royal Masonic School for Girls on Thursday 11th February 2016, HamVideo signals were received showing Tim Peake answering the questions put to him by the girls at the school.
This was the first time that the HamVideo system has been used during an organised ARISS Schools contact and came after an incredible effort of the UK Operations team for ARISS. Have a look at the moment that the picture of Tim was received during the contact.
The HamVideo signals were received on a 3.8m antenna dish located at Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall and on a mobile Land Rover based 1.2m dish that was built for the Principia mission. The UK Operations Team worked very closely with Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, Catapult Satellite Applications and QinetiQ to achieve this goal. More details can be found here and here.
A historic event was made on 11 February 2016, at the Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth.
For the first time a school had the possibility to receive live video link from the ISS (International Space Station), talking to British Astronaut Tim Peake, during a contact lasting about eight minutes organized by the ARISS Radio Amateur organization. One year after commissioning in orbit, the HAM Video Hardware developed by Kayser Italia under ESA Contract was successfully used for the first time.
This is an important milestone also for the UK Space Industry, which proved their leadership in space communications. Congratulations!
David Zolesi, CEO of Kayser Space, Harwell, Oxfordshire.
Hello David
thank you very much for your kind words – a major goal achieved by significant international teamwork.
look forward to meeting you one day..
73
Ciaran – M0XTD
ARISS Operations lead in the UK
Thanks a lot for your detailed explanation I really enjoyed it