ARISS News Release                                                                                   No.   20-05     
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
aa4kn@amsat.org
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Coming Soon!!
Mid-Altitude Balloon Race Planned for June 1
Three Space Station Explorer teams participate in an exciting
distance learning—social distanced balloon race to be held during Pandemic
 
May 27, 2020—ARISS educator, Joanne Michael is an amateur radio operator with callsign KM6BWB.  Joanne is also a science coach at the Wiseburn Unified School District in Los Angeles, California where she leads her students in several balloon launch attempts from the Los Angeles area each year.  With this year different because of the pandemic, Joanne wanted to “shake things up a bit” and give students, world-wide, a unique distance learning treat while keeping all safe during the pandemic.  So Joanne challenged Ted Tagami, KK6UUQ, from Magnitude.io to a mid-altitude cross-continent balloon race and Ted accepted the challenge!  Ted plans to launch his balloon from Berkeley, California.  ISS Above inventor, Liam Kennedy, KN6EQU, from Pasadena, California, got “wind” of the idea and he asked to participate, too.  All three organizations: ARISS, Magnitude.io and ISS Above are ISS National Lab Space Station Explorer (SSE) partners that work to inspire, engage, and educate students in Science Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) topics and to pursue STEAM careers. 
 
The three SSE teams plan to launch their balloons simultaneously on June 1st.  The winner will be the first one to cross the “Finish Line”—the Eastern Time zone.  Launch time is planned for 15:30 UTC/11:30 EDT/10:30 CDT/9:30 MDT/8:30 PDT.  A live video feed of the launch is planned to start approximately 5 minutes prior to the event:  https://youtu.be/UD-rO3nKMZo
 
Once the balloons are airborne, students can track each balloon’s location, altitude, and temperature via amateur radio APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) which is fed automatically to the aprs.fi web site.  Educators and parents around the globe can excite at-home youth with this initiative. Students can tally and track the states each balloon travels through and plot altitude versus temperature, etc. Also, by researching weather patterns, students can make assumptions from their own data.  This could include speed variations due to weather.  They also can predict each balloon’s flight path and when they might cross the finish line!
 
For more information on the balloon launch, lesson plans, and the livestream video link, please go to:  https://www.ariss.org/mid-altitude-balloon-race.html
 
Enjoy the Race!  May the best ballooner win!!

About ARISS:
 
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS).  In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org
Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR

 

ARISS News Release                                                                                  No.   20-04       
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
aa4kn@amsat.org
 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
 
ARISS to Attempt Second Test of New
Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio
 
May 10, 2020—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is announcing a second test of its new distance-learning ARISS radio contacts with astronauts. ARISS is the group that puts together special amateur radio contacts between students around the globe and astronauts with ham radio licenses on the International Space Station (ISS).
 
This will be the second test of the new-style radio contact, called Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio. The concept was developed for distance learning when schools closed worldwide due to COVID-19. The virus eliminated all opportunities for ARISS radio contacts at education organizations. A new ARISS telebridge radio ground station will be used this time, this operated by John Sygo, amateur radio call sign ZS6JON, near Johannesburg, South Africa.
 
The new concept requires three things. The ARISS telebridge radio ground station--a satellite ham radio station with special equipment that an ARISS team member uses for teleconferencing, the ham astronaut on the ISS using the ARISS ham radio station, and students at their homes. The telebridge radio operator links to the astronaut at the ARISS radio mic, and each youth ties in from home via their telephones. Their families can listen along with faculty and the public from home. Each student takes a turn asking their question of the astronaut.
 
The youth taking part in ARISS’s second test belong to the Airdrie Space Science Club in Airdrie, AB, Canada  The radio contact is scheduled for May 15 at 15:10 UTC. ISS Commander Chris Cassidy, amateur radio call sign KF5KDR, will support the ARISS radio contact. Prior to COVID, the students had participated in space and radio communications lessons such as balloon launches with ham radio payloads and building model rockets to launch. Brian Jackson, amateur radio call sign VE6JBJ, is one of the five club leaders. He related, “During this pandemic, our opportunities to develop kids’ interest in space has been interrupted. This ARISS contact gets them looking back up, towards the sky, and imagining themselves as an astronaut one day.”
 
ARISS invites the public to view the livestream of the upcoming ARISS radio test at: https://youtu.be/2mflSlShPHA.
 
During the contact, youth will ask as many of the following questions as time allows:
 
1. How has seeing Earth from its orbit affected you, in your frame of reference when moving around the ISS, or in your perspective of humanity as a whole?
2. What happens if you vomit in the space station? How do you clean it up?
3. How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you while you are in space?
4. What will be your first meal when you get back to Earth?
5. What does it feel like when the rocket lifts off?
6. What does the space station smell like?
7. Was training to be an astronaut harder or easier than training to be a navy seal?
8. What experiment that you've done had the most unexpected results? What was the expected and actual outcome of said experiment?
9. How successful is your 3-D printer on the station?
10. We are a model rocket building club.  Did you ever build model rockets when you were young?
11. What does microgravity feel like on your body?
12. Does the Earth look any clearer or less polluted now compared to when you flew in 2009 and with Canadian Chris Hadfield in 2013?
13. Do you play any games while you are on the ISS?
14. What kind of music do you listen to?
 
 
About ARISS:
 
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS).  In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org.
 
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ARISS News Release                                                                                        No. 20-03           Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
aa4kn@amsat.org
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
 
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, ARISS to Begin Experimental Demonstrations of School Contacts using a Multipoint Telebridge Amateur Radio Approach
 
April 28, 2020 —Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is pleased to announce the first use of a concept called Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio, allowing school contacts for Stay-At-Home students and simultaneous reception by families, school faculty and the public.
 
During the last several weeks, efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus have resulted in massive school closures worldwide. In addition, the Stay-At-Home policies invoked by authorities, initially shut down opportunities for ARISS school contacts for the near future. 
 
To circumvent these challenges and keep students and the public safe, ARISS is introducing the Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio concept. First operation of this experimental system will occur during a contact scheduled with a group of Northern Virginia Students located in Woodbridge, VA on Thursday, April 30 at 13:35 UTC (9:35 EDT). During this event, an ARISS telebridge radio ground station will link to the astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) ham radio station and each Stay-At-Home student and their teacher will be individually linked to the telebridge station. Under the teacher’s direction, each student, from their home, takes a turn asking their question of the astronaut.
 
Quoting ARISS Chair Frank Bauer, “This approach is a huge pivot for ARISS, but we feel it is a great strategic move for ARISS. In these times of isolation due to the virus, these ARISS connections provide a fantastic psychological boost to students, families, educators and the public. And they continue our long-standing efforts to inspire, engage and educate student in STEAM subjects and encourage them to pursue STEAM careers.”
 
ARISS is inviting the public to view a live stream of the upcoming contact at its new ARISS YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/Cu8I9ose4Vo.
 
During the contact, participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows:
1. What does the sun look like from outer space?
2. How comfortable is it to sleep in space?
3. What is one thing you want to eat when you get back to earth?
4. I've heard that stars are red, yellow and blue. Can you see those colors in space when you look at the stars?
5. Besides your family, what do you miss most while being in space?
6. What are your thoughts on our Covid-19 situation right now? Does the Earth look differently over the last 3 months now that many people are inside and not creating pollution?
7. How often do you get to go out of the ISS? Have you been on any space walks?
8. Who makes the rocket that takes you to the ISS?
9. What does it feel like to float all the time?
10. Do you use flashlights on space walks?
11. How do you exercise in space?
12. How do you get out for space walks safely without the air from the ISS coming out into space? How does it feel to walk in space?
13. What do you wear in the space station?
14. How did it feel when you first got to space?
15. How is space different from Earth?
16. What do you study in school to become an astronaut?
17. What do you like the most about being in space?
18. Were you nervous when you launched into space?
19. How do you communicate with loved ones while you are in space?
 
About ARISS:
 
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS).  In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEAM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org.
 

Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
                                                                               
 

ARISS News Release                                                                                                   No.   20-05     
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
aa4kn@amsat.org
 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Coming Soon!!
Mid-Altitude Balloon Race Planned for June 1
Three Space Station Explorer teams participate in an exciting
distance learning—social distanced balloon race to be held during Pandemic
 
May 27, 2020—ARISS educator, Joanne Michael is an amateur radio operator with callsign KM6BWB.  Joanne is also a science coach at the Wiseburn Unified School District in Los Angeles, California where she leads her students in several balloon launch attempts from the Los Angeles area each year.  With this year different because of the pandemic, Joanne wanted to “shake things up a bit” and give students, world-wide, a unique distance learning treat while keeping all safe during the pandemic.  So Joanne challenged Ted Tagami, KK6UUQ, from Magnitude.io to a mid-altitude cross-continent balloon race and Ted accepted the challenge!  Ted plans to launch his balloon from Berkeley, California.  ISS Above inventor, Liam Kennedy, KN6EQU, from Pasadena, California, got “wind” of the idea and he asked to participate, too.  All three organizations: ARISS, Magnitude.io and ISS Above are ISS National Lab Space Station Explorer (SSE) partners that work to inspire, engage, and educate students in Science Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) topics and to pursue STEAM careers. 
 
The three SSE teams plan to launch their balloons simultaneously on June 1st.  The winner will be the first one to cross the “Finish Line”—the Eastern Time zone.  Launch time is planned for 15:30 UTC/11:30 EDT/10:30 CDT/9:30 MDT/8:30 PDT.  A live video feed of the launch is planned to start approximately 5 minutes prior to the event. Note that weather can be a factor is exact launch date and time.  So check here and the web link below for updates!
 
Once the balloons are airborne, students can track each balloon’s location, altitude, and temperature via amateur radio APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) which is fed automatically to the aprs.fi web site.  Educators and parents around the globe can excite at-home youth with this initiative. Students can tally and track the states each balloon travels through and plot altitude versus temperature, etc. Also, by researching weather patterns, students can make assumptions from their own data.  This could include speed variations due to weather.  They also can predict each balloon’s flight path and when they might cross the finish line!
 
For more information on the balloon launch, lesson plans, and the livestream video link (when the livestream URL is available), please go to:  https://www.ariss.org/mid-altitude-balloon-race.html
 
Enjoy the Race!  May the best ballooner win!!

ARISS News Release                                                                                                  No. 20-02
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
aa4kn@amsat.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
10 US Schools Moved Forward in ARISS Selection Process
 
Feb 3, 2020 —Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is pleased to announce the schools and host organizations selected for the second half of 2020.  Of the proposals submitted during the recent proposal window, 10 were accepted to move forward in the selection process for a scheduled amateur radio contact with a crew member on the ISS. The primary goal of the ARISS program is to engage young people in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) activities and raise their awareness of space communications, radio communications, space exploration, and related areas of study and career possibilities.
 
The schools and host organizations are now engaged in the next step of the acceptance process. When ready, they will be put in the scheduling queue for a contact during the July to December 2020 time period. Although ARISS expects to schedule all 10 during this period, changes to NASA crew availability might force some delays to the next time period.

                               The schools and host organizations are:

About ARISS:
 
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS).  In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEAM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org.
 
 
Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR

ARISS News Release                                                                                                  No. 20-01
 
Dave Jordan, AA4KN                       
ARISS PR                                           
January 16, 2020

Message to US Educators
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
Contact Opportunity

Call for Proposals
Upcoming Proposal Window is February 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020
 
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS is happy to announce a proposal window which will open February 1, 2020  for contacts that would be held between January 2021 and June 2021. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan.
 
The proposal window for contacts between January 2021 and June 2021 will open on February 1, 2020 and close on March 31. 2020.  Proposal information and documents can be found at www.ariss.org. Two ARISS Introductory Webinar sessions will be held on two different date and times. The first is at January 23 at 2100 ET and the second is at Jan 27 at 1800 ET. The same material will be covered during both sessions, so choose the session that best fits your schedule. The Eventbrite link to sign up is https://ariss-proposal-webinar-spring-2020.eventbrite.com .
 
 
The Opportunity
Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session.
 
An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in dates and times of the radio contact.
 
Amateur Radio organizations around the world with the support of NASA and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe present educational organizations with this opportunity. The ham radio organizations’ volunteer efforts provide the equipment and operational support to enable communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world using Amateur Radio. 
 
More Information
For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Webinars, go to www.ariss.org.
Please direct any questions to ariss.us.education@gmail.com .
 
About ARISS:
 
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS).  In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEAM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org.
 
Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
aa4kn@amsat.org