The Fram2 mission successfully launched from the east coast of the US via a SpaceX rocket late Monday evening. Just a few hours later around 9:30 AM Berlin time, Rabea Rogg (LB9NJ) became the first astronaut and amateur radio operator to make contact with Earth from a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Rogg is also the first woman from Germany in space. Contact was made between Rogg and the DK0TU amateur radio club at the Technical university of Berlin.
The amateur radio contact is significant as the International Space Station (ISS) faces a decommissioning date within the next 5 years. ISS has been the primary source of amateur radio voice contacts from astronauts since the NASA Space Shuttle program was sunset in 2011. Fram2 has demonstrated that SpaceX may be a viable alternative for space based amateur radio QSOs with astronauts beyond the ISS’s lifespan.
In addition to voice contact with the university, Fram2 is also conducting an SSTV event, Fram2Ham, that encourages students to participate in a puzzle activity. Rogg will use a battery-powered Icom IC-705 to transmit SSTV images of polar regions that students are expected to receive and piece together to form a larger image. Because of the nature of the contest, ARISS is asking any received images to not be posted to social media until after the event concludes. Fram2 is expected to orbit Earth for 3-5 days.
Anyone with a receiver capable of capturing SSTV images should tune to 437.550 MHz and expect a Robot 36 formatted image. Doppler correction tables are available from ARISS.
Fram2 is a private space flight mission funded by cryptocurrency entrepreneur and Fram2 Mission Commander Chun Wang.
Source: Amateur Radio Daily