Context: Indian Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla interacted with the country’s students using a HAM radio from the International Space Station (ISS).
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: About HAM Radio and its working; Uses of HAM Radio.
What is a HAM Radio?
- Amateur radio, popularly known as ham radio, is a licensed radio service that relies on radio waves for establishing communication.
- Ham radio service is largely deployed for educational and knowledge purposes, for emergency or SOS communication.
- Using a dedicated frequency, a transceiver and an antenna, communication can be set up between two licensed hams by trained ham operators. The communication can be hyper-local, global, and in space.
- In India, any individual above the age of 12 is permitted to operate a ham radio. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issues these licences.
How has HAM Radio been used in space?
- Amateur radio was first used on a space shuttle to establish communication between space and Earth in 1983.
- The ISS also has a ham radio, known as the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), which is often used to organise astronaut-student interactions.
- The objective of such interactions is to inspire the young generation.
- Typically, there is a nine minute window to make contact with the ISS while it revolves around the planet.
- Note that for safety purposes, the ARISS schedules radio outages at the ISS at the time of docking or such important activities. This is done to ensure that the radio does not interfere with any signals.
- The Axiom-4 mission’s astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary will contact their respective countries using the ham radio twice during their 14-day stay at the ISS.
- Whenever the ISS is cruising past the horizon for a short period, an attempt to establish ham communication will be performed.
Why is HAM Radio an alternate mode of communication?
- Ham radio is a reliable alternative communication mode, especially during emergencies.
- Despite advances in technology, it remains effective when traditional networks fail, such as during wars or natural disasters.
- In India, it proved vital during the Bhuj earthquake (2001), Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), and Uttarakhand floods (2013), among others.