On September 2 a cross band FM amateur radio repeater with a downlink on 437.800 MHz was activated on the International Space Station. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) announcement reads: The ARISS team is pleased to announce that set up and installation of the first element of our next generation radio system was completed and amateur radio operations with it are now underway. This first element, dubbed the InterOperable Radio System (IORS), was installed in the International Space Station Columbus module. The IORS replaces the Ericsson radio system and packet module that were originally certified for spaceflight […]