ISSCOM 19 January 2002 (024)

Long silence: Between this and my last ISSCOM report (nr. 23) there has been a long period of silence. This does not mean that nothing happened on board the ISS. The silence has been caused by to the enormous quantities of information about ISS and the accessibility to the sources of those reports for those who have the modern digital possibilities at their disposal and who are of course sufficiently motivated to zigzag via the many electronic highways. My ISSCOM-reports reach you all via the same routes, but in contradiction to the good old MIR era it is not possible for me to add much extra’s to all what is poured over us every day.

So the only thing I can do is now and then report or tell something about communication procedures, modes and systems of the ISS.
I am still very interested in these subjects and that is why I continue my monitoring of radio communications as far as this reaches me via the Russian VHF-channels.

In comparison with the radio traffic during the MIR-era (and earlier when Salyut-7 still was operational) the ISS traffic is now so intensive because of the fact that the command and the adjacent infrastructures are now shared by at least 2 main mission control centers.
For monitoring I am dependent on the Russian VHF communications especially when the transmitters for these channels transmit to the far westerly located Russian tracking stations (Shcholkovo and Sankt Peterburg) and my position in The Hague (52.1 degr. North 4.33 degr. East) still is in the footprint of the ISS. In practice this means monitoring possible contacts between the Russian segment of the ISS and TsUP-Moscow during 4 or 5 passes for my position every 24 hours. Normally the Russians do not use the first pass which means that mainly 3 or 4 passes bring in information for me. It goes without saying that I cannot add very much to the official information streams.

But for me there has been left enough to carry out my old hobby with sufficient satisfaction.
In fact I still can look a little bit into the ISS and during specific Russian operations I enjoy myself enormously.
Examples for this are the EVA’s as far as they are controlled by TsUP-M, the flights of the the Soyuz-TM- ships (and soon the Soyuz-TMA-s) , Progress-M(1)-s and the redockings of the Soyuz-ships. So there are still a lot of ‘déjà-vu-s’ from the past and of course taken in consideration the character of such operations, special scoops for me are always possible.

After 29 November 2001 there have been a lot of special events. To begin with the launch and operations of the Endeavour for her STS-108 mission to the ISS.
After the start of Endeavour on 5 December 2001 at 22.19.34UTC, I monitored some traffic from from the shuttle on frequency 259.700 mc AM-W 19 minutes later. It seems as if Endeavour is speaking with TsUP-Houston via this channel, but in fact the real traffic goes via a TDRS channel. The 259.700 mc is stand-by as an alternative if the TDRS communications fail. If needed for communications the tracking facility Moron in Spain can be used.
During the docking operation on 7 December at about 2002UTC there was radio traffic from the Russian segment of the ISS for which Dezhurov used the VHF-2 (130.165 mc FM-N) to report some distances. During the period until the undocking of Endeavour on 13 December 2001 the crew of the 3rd Main Mission (Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin) were relieved by Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz.

In the 2 months on board ISS of the 4th Main Mission, Onufrienko regularly uses the VHF-12 (143.625 mc FM-N) for voice communications with TsUP-M. Rarely, and if so very short, one of the American crewmembers can be heard via that channel.

From the conversations between Onufrienko and TsUP-M can be derived that O.
is intensively involved in checks and maintenance of all kinds of systems of the ISS, mainly the life support systems, such as the oxygen production and the care for the atmosphere, for instance as little as possible humidity and CO-2.
Believe it or not: life in the station is only possible due to the old reliable Russian systems Elektron (oxygen production), Vozdukh (CO-2 scrubber) and the water regeneration equipment.

Already for a very long time the packet-radio rattles cannot be heard via the Russian VHF. Packet radio nowadays is handled via the system Regul, possible via an S-band and/or a TDRS. Though the Russians now and then use the American communications facilities in the S- and Ku-bands, the Russians prefer the use of their own systems if activities on the Russian segment are involved.
Physical trainings during which an Electro Cardiogram is active, mainly take place when coordination with Russian medical specialists is possible.

The last highlight was the 6 hours lasting EVA by Onufrienko and Walz in the night from 14 to 15 January 2002. Bursch remained inside the ISS to assist his crewmates and to maintain communications with TsUP-M.
With a little exception the gentlemen spoke Russian .
Onufrienko praised his EVA colleague. They fulfilled their tasks: the replacement of the Strela, a Russian manipulator arm and installation of a radio amateur antenna. For me good to remember that I myself had been able to touch and photograph this Strela during a visit at Spacehab in Florida in January 2000.

During the last EVA voice communications were loud and clear on 143.625 mc and -though somewhat less- on 130.165 mc. So the annoying cross modulation by air traffic control stations did not show up.
A joy for the ears!

One of the limitations of the ISS operations is still the absence of a second rescue vehicle. Now only one Soyuz-TM is available, restricting the maximum main crewmembers to 3. So if an emergency return is necessary, this is only possible with the Soyuz-TM. So regularly the 6-figure groups for the ‘ugli posadki’ (angles of attack) can be heard. The figure groups give the times at which the reentry in the atmosphere of the landing apparatus under an angle of about 130 degrees is possible. The times are calculated on earth, transmitted to the ISS and checked by Onufrienko in coordination with TsUP-M.

Telemetry frequencies: Zvezda: 630.125 and 628.125 mc, Zarya 633.850 and 631.850 mc.

Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202