An amateur radio satellite specifically designed to interest students in scientific and technological careers will be activated and begin transmissions from the ISS in in about Monday to celebrate Yuri Gagarin's first human space flight. Transmissions are scheduled to begin Monday around 14:30 UTC April 11 and ending Wednesday around 10:30 UTC on April 13, 2011. These transmissions will commemorate 50 years since the flight of Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin as the first human to enter outer space. The satellite (ARISSat-1, RadioSkaf-V) will send telemetry, SSTV images, and messages of goodwill in multiple languages as it orbits earth inside the ISS. In order to operate inside the ISS, ARISSat-1 will be connected to an external amateur radio antenna already mounted on the outer surface of the space station. The craft will use its own battery for operation, therefore it will be in low power mode. As a result, listeners can expect 40-60 second "ON" periods followed by two-minute "OFF" periods to save battery power.
The ham radio satellite was to be deployed by Russian cosmonauts earlier this year into space but the effort was delayed until summer of this year. Upon deployment in July, ham operators will be able listen-in until sometime early 2012.
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