<p>Russian crewmembers of the International Space Station (ISS) will manually launch an amateur radio satellite during a spacewalk planned for February 16. The satellite is named after the call sign of the world's first astronaut, Yuri Gagarin.<br /><br />The satellite will carry on the RadioScaf experiment started in 2005 with the launch of a spent spacesuit filled with instruments made at the Moscow Bauman Technical University and the Moscow Aviation Institute. Kedr is a metal frame with the size of 55x55x40 centimeters that weighs 30 kilograms and carries equipment and solar batteries.<br /><br />"The instruments as the same as the RadioScaf vehicle used, but this time the satellite will have solar batteries," RadioScaf project technical director Sergei Samburov told Itar-Tass. "In addition, the satellite will have four video cameras."<br />The main payload is a sensor developed at the Kursk University to measure the density of charged particles at the altitude of 35 meters and beneath.<br /><br />Kedr will be transmitting 25 greetings in 17 languages, Earth photographs and telemetric information from scientific and auxiliary systems. The data will be received at amateur radio stations. The communication sessions will last for 20 seconds at an interval of two minutes. Voice messages recorded by children from 20 states will be transmitted together with telemetric information and pictures, Samburov said. Apart from the children's wishes of friendship and peace, the satellite will be transmitting voices of Soviet cosmonautics fathers, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Sergei Korolyov.<br /><br />"This experiment is the first step towards the development and use of micro-satellites, which weigh less than 100 kilograms," the Russian Federal Space Agency said. The satellite designers expect it to work for no less than two months or, at best, until November. "Everything will depend on the solar activity. If it intensifies, the satellite will be operational only until the middle of April," Samburov said.</p>
<p>Russian crewmembers of the International Space Station (ISS) will manually launch an amateur radio satellite during a spacewalk planned for February 16. The satellite is named after the call sign of the world's first astronaut, Yuri Gagarin.<br /><br />The satellite will carry on the RadioScaf experiment started in 2005 with the launch of a spent spacesuit filled with instruments made at the Moscow Bauman Technical University and the Moscow Aviation Institute. Kedr is a metal frame with the size of 55x55x40 centimeters that weighs 30 kilograms and carries equipment and solar batteries.<br /><br />"The instruments as the same as the RadioScaf vehicle used, but this time the satellite will have solar batteries," RadioScaf project technical director Sergei Samburov told Itar-Tass. "In addition, the satellite will have four video cameras."<br />The main payload is a sensor developed at the Kursk University to measure the density of charged particles at the altitude of 35 meters and beneath.<br /><br />Kedr will be transmitting 25 greetings in 17 languages, Earth photographs and telemetric information from scientific and auxiliary systems. The data will be received at amateur radio stations. The communication sessions will last for 20 seconds at an interval of two minutes. Voice messages recorded by children from 20 states will be transmitted together with telemetric information and pictures, Samburov said. Apart from the children's wishes of friendship and peace, the satellite will be transmitting voices of Soviet cosmonautics fathers, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Sergei Korolyov.<br /><br />"This experiment is the first step towards the development and use of micro-satellites, which weigh less than 100 kilograms," the Russian Federal Space Agency said. The satellite designers expect it to work for no less than two months or, at best, until November. "Everything will depend on the solar activity. If it intensifies, the satellite will be operational only until the middle of April," Samburov said.</p>
