What is "suitsat"

SuitSat (also known as Mr. Smith, Ivan Ivanovich, RadioSkaf, Radio Sputnik and AMSAT-OSCAR 54) was a retired Russian Orlan spacesuit with a radio transmitter mounted on its helmet. SuitSat-1 was deployed in an ephemeral orbit around the Earth on February 3, 2006. The idea for this novel OSCAR satellite was first formally discussed at an AMSAT symposium in October 2004, although the ARISS-Russia team is credited with coming up with the idea as a commemorative gesture for the 175th anniversary of the Moscow State Technical University.

"SuitSat is a Russian brainstorm," according to Frank Bauer of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "Some of our Russian partners in the ISS program, mainly a group led by Sergey Samburov, had an idea: Maybe we can turn old spacesuits into useful satellites." SuitSat is a first test of that idea.