Standing on Earth looking towards the night’s sky, it’s difficult to imagine how impossibly far away the astronauts in the International Space Station are. Although they may be floating up the Earth incredibly high above the planet, they are not entirely out of reach, in fact, they can be quite easily reached with a simple home radio set-up. Adrian Lane, an amateur radio enthusiast, demonstrated last week that pretty much anyone can chat with the International Space Station if they know their way around a radio transmitter.
How Is This Even Possible?
Getting in touch with the International Space Station is actually quite easy if you know what you’re doing. Having a basic knowledge of radio transmitters, and being able to build one powerful enough to reach the space station are obvious prerequisites, but you also must be able to identify where overhead the station is flying in order to find a window of opportunity for contact. This can be done using a pass prediction tool.
What Will Happen Now That Other Amateurs Know They Can Reach the Space Station?
The International Space Station is actually set up to receive incoming radio transmissions, and some of the crew members aboard the vessel enjoy making spontaneous outbound calls while floating in space according to the ISS radio contact webpage, “Some ISS crew members make random, unscheduled, amateur radio voice contacts with earth-bound radio amateurs often called ‘Hams’.”
The website also offers a list of a frequencies at which the International Space Station can be reached.
What Do You Talk About When You Dial up The International Space Station?
Adrian Lane’s call to the ISS only lasted 45 seconds, so depending on the weather conditions you may only have time to say a few things the space station before the connection is lost. You can find the crew’s schedule and plan your calls accordingly using NASA’s log of space station activity. The prospect of being able to reach the International Space Station is excited for any amateur radio enthusiast, and experiences like Adrian Lane’s show just how simple it can be to chat with an astronaut.
