Drifting into nothingness
Thank goodness he's nothing but an empty suit, but as the stuffed dummy known as SuitSat drifted off into the ether complete with power pack and helmet. The Russian Orlan spacesuit, stuffed with rags and other trash, twisted gently in nothingness 220 miles above the central Pacific Ocean, beginning a gentle downward spiral that will end in four to seven months when it incinerates in Earth's atmosphere.
But for a few days, SuitSat will serve as an educational tool and diversion for amateur radio enthusiasts worldwide. Outfitted with three batteries, transmitter and sensors. Tune in to 145.990 MHz FM with a hand-talkie ham radio or a police scanner. First comes an announcement via voice synthesiser that, ``This is SuitSat-1, RSORS,'' followed by greetings in English, French, Japanese, Russian, German and Spanish. Then, it relays its vital signs in English - temperature, available battery power, the elapsed time of the mission. The transmission concludes with a mystery TV picture. The whole thing takes 30 seconds, after which SuitSat rests 30 seconds and broadcasts again. SuitSat arose in late 2004 as the brainchild of the Russian space station team and the Space Radio Amateur Satellite Corp., known as AmSat, an international nonprofit that promotes education and amateur radio satellites.
The old spacesuit, weighing several hundred pounds, had last been used by NASA astronaut C. Michael Foale during an August 2004 spacewalk.
The Washington Post
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