27 January 2006

This sounds interesting. The ISS is going to jettison a nearly-empty old spacesuit containing a radio transmitter that will continuously broadcast telemetry. It will report on the condition of its batteries and the temperature inside the suit and the elapsed time of the mission but not, apparently, information on radiation received. The telemetry will be broadcast in English so you can listen to it here on Earth if you can pick up the signal. The suit will be broadcasting on frequency 149.99 MHz under call sign RS0RS. I checked my short wave radio and that frequency is not available on that rig. You could tune an emergency services scanner to that frequency but it says you would need a big antenna. The frequency is also in the amateur 2-meter band so if I buy a handheld radio I might be able to put some sort of high gain antenna on it.

I did some more reading and the likely release date of the suit is 3Feb06 and the anticipated battery life is only 2-4 days so this is not something I would be able to get geared up for before then or something that I should be investing money in given its short duration.

Universe Today article.
SuitSat tracking page
Science@NASA story