Citizen science and amateur radio have been quietly reinforcing each other for years, and NASA has just put real money behind that relationship at a national scale.

HamSCI — the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation — will lead a significant NASA-funded effort to expand public engagement in space science. Funded through NASA's Science Activation (SciAct) program as a cooperative agreement, the citizen-science group has been entrusted with a grant totalling nearly $5.5 million to lead a space education initiative centred on space weather and amateur radio, with the University of Scranton serving as the lead academic institution. The project's goal is to bring scientific discovery out of research labs and into schools, libraries, museums, and communities across the country.

Pirate radio enforcement continues to be an uphill battle for the FCC, but this round of cases shows the Commission isn't inclined to go easy on offenders who come forward — even when they cooperate.

The Federal Communications Commission has affirmed penalties of $20,000 in three separate pirate radio cases, including one where the operator admitted responsibility, said he'd disposed of the equipment, and specifically asked for leniency. The request was denied.

Some milestones only last minutes, but the impact sticks around a lot longer. This is one of those stories.

Chile has just marked its first-ever direct amateur radio contact between a public school and the International Space Station — a moment that lasted exactly 10 minutes, but one the students involved are unlikely to forget any time soon.