Hours after the launch of the private Fram2 spacecraft from the US on March 31st, astronaut Rabea [ROBBIA] Rogge [RAGGA], LB9NJ/KD3AID, began the space team's scheduled transmissions of SSTV imagery, an exercise conducted as part of a high school and university competition for students. It was, however, a voice contact with the DKØTU amateur radio club at the Technical University of Berlin that was among the Fram2's earliest QSOs. The brief question-and-answer session from space took place at the university where the German-born astronaut had been a student herself once.
Much of the Fram2's ham radio activity was designed to be SSTV transmissions from space, carrying the four astronauts' views of the polar regions. They were transmitted in fragments, puzzle-style, challenging students around the world to piece them together to form a complete picture.
The Fram2 mission is named to honour the Norwegian-built ship, Fram, that carried researchers on polar explorations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This amateur contact -- and all transmissions that were to follow - engaged in another form of exploration. In anticipation of the decommissioning of the International Space Station by 2030, hams have been in search of other possible sources for radio contacts from space.
To hear the QSO between the astronaut and the students in Berlin, see the link in the text version of this week's script at arnewsline.org