Amateur radio operators have plans for a somewhat unusual satellite:

ARISS Seeks School Involvement in "SuitSat" Project

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Or maybe it's just fun to push someone out the airlock, even in effegy?

Hehe, this has to be the coolest thing ever! Gotta get my radio dusted off so I can have a listen; I hope they give out QSL cards. 8)
73,
KB3HTS

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The catch is, you need to go to low earth orbit to collect the cards!

G8PRH

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The meek will inherit the earth ... the rest of us will go to the stars.

Astronauts turn spacesuit into satellite

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I do believe it will be on my day off. I'll have to see if I can catch it. I don't have a lot of luck with spce signals though. I think my antennas are just too low. I only heard the ISS last week for the first time. Still I'll give it a shot.

73, de KE5BWT

edit: From here

Rats, anybody set up for slow scan?

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Previous thread on this:
SuitSat Launch February 3rd

Not a great success:

Empty spacesuit orbits Earth, transmits, goes silent

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Obviously, an alien spacecraft must have swooped in and rescued what they thought was an unfortunate human.

They're probably probing the suit right now.

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But...

I waited all day for a pass close by. It never came, at least not before I had to go to bed. The ISS came by around 0300 central but it was out over the gulf so it was still pretty far away. I heard packet bursts from the station with noise but no suit. Maybe the batteries are not working well but they seem to be working, at least according to AMSAT. It really needs more power...and a heater apparantly.

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Unmanned Spacesuit Goes Silent
I would freak out if I saw a man floating around in space. I'll never have the opportunity, but still the thought.

Pretty much ToSeeked by ToSeek, right up above.

And, AMSAT still (February 4) says such as:

Suitsat.org says:

Nice pictures of ISS preparations

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I didn't see the quote I wanted to use in his link. I see it now.

I saw pictures of that Orlan floating alone.

Spooky.

Open the pod bay doors HAL.

yeah it looks great

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If aliens ever find that package they'll have the most tremendous theories about what is actually a practical joke.

When they find it, at first they'll think it is or was a living creature. Then they find it's just some machinery. They conclude this radio transmitter is so advanced, it has an own mind and even an identity crisis. Indeed it designed itself to look like a living thing as it felt like one!

Boy will those aliens have a field day on this one.


Seriously though, really spooky pics of a free floating astronaut. If that happens in real life, you can only hope a heart attack kills you before the slower ways have time to get you...


Why was the suit discarded in the first place? Was it broken or something like that?

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I remember reading somewhere that the Russians build cheap spacesuits that they discard and replace regularly, while the Americans have more expensive spacesuits that get refurbished and reused as needed. So this is just an old Russian spacesuit that would otherwise have been discarded.

As for aliens finding the suit, I also recall reading that it's going to burn up in the atmosphere after a few years, so odds are against that scenario, entertaining though it may be.

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Oh yeah, somebody should probably post a link for some recordings from those who have heard it, unlike myself, so here.

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Looking at the launch video, I had the idea of a nice cartoon showing two astronauts launching suitsat:


*push* There he goes. Aint that a wonderful sight eh John. John? JOOOOOHN!!!!!!!!!

(1 asrtonaut and suitsat are shown on the edge of the ISS, watching astronaut John as he floats into free space)


Indeed I was watching an astronaut upside down whole the time, thinking I was watching Suitsat. That's where I got the (pretty obvious) inspiration.

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The SUITSAT mission is predicted to re-enter the Earths atmosphere on the 17th March 2006.


Expand (100kb, 560 x 336)

TLE Data:

^{SUITSAT DEB
1 28934U 05035D 06060.35942931 .00380723 00000-0 14385-2 0 387
2 28934 051.6439 021.1777 0001094 299.8124 060.2905 15.86148701 3332
1 28934U 05035D 06060.17041735 .00376303 00000-0 14324-2 0 370
2 28934 051.6446 022.1628 0002495 327.8598 032.2463 15.86006842 3303
1 28934U 05035D 06059.91837936 .00365793 00000-0 14078-2 0 362
2 28934 051.6415 023.4822 0000871 297.0956 063.0356 15.85805488 3261
1 28934U 05035D 06059.35117010 .00351859 00000-0 13833-2 0 359
2 28934 051.6397 026.4338 0003456 022.7355 337.4089 15.85396431 3177
1 28934U 05035D 06059.16207196 .00345720 00000-0 13680-2 0 342
2 28934 051.6420 027.4153 0006922 006.0399 354.0881 15.85257896 3147}

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