A digital amateur television
(DATV) transmitter that had added pictures to voices during Amateur Radio on
the International Space Station (ARISS) contact for more than two years is back
on Earth after it stopped working last April and could not be repaired in
orbit.The ARRL Letter reports that the unit was packed aboard a SpaceX-16 Dragon supply ship last December and returned to the surface in mid-January.
ARISS and the transmitter's manufacturer, Kayser-Italia, will try to figure out what went wrong and whether the unit can be repaired or will need to be replaced. The whole process, including all pre-launch certifications for a new or repaired transmitter, is expected to take at least a year.