The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program is planning a slow-scan television (SSTV) event starting on Thursday, July 20, and continuing for 2 days, to commemorate its 20th anniversary. Transmissions, set to get under way around 2125 UTC, will feature 12 images from past and present ARISS activities. The SSTV signal should be available nearly anywhere on the globe at some point during the event.

“Starting with our first meeting in November 1996, our joint operations on Mir, becoming the first operational payload on ISS in November 2000, to our [more than 1,100] school contact (so far), ARISS’s accomplishments have been tremendous,” ARISS International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said, in first announcing the SSTV event last. “We have touched the lives of many and inspired and educated countless students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math careers.”

The event plans to use a computer on the ISS Russian Segment, which stores images that are then transmitted to Earth using the onboard Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver, the ARISS announcement explained. Those receiving the images can post them for public viewing.

SSTV signals will be transmitted on 145.80 MHz using FM. The SSTV mode is expected to be PD120, with PD180 as a possible second option. Free SSTV decoder software is available on the Internet.

ARISS asked educators to consider ways in which they might use this opportunity to inspire their students by having them take advantage of this chance to capture images directly from space to their computers.

All ARISS events are dependent on other activities, schedules, and crew responsibilities on the ISS and are subject to change at any time. News and updates are on the ARISS website, the AMSAT website, the AMSAT-BB, the ARISS Facebook page, and the ARISS Twitter feed @ARISS_status.