ARISS News Release                                                                    No. 22-04

ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at Lewis Center for Educational Research, Apple Valley, California, U.S.A.
 
January 28, 2022—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact with astronauts. ARISS is the group that puts together special amateur radio contacts between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses on the International Space Station (ISS).
 
This will be a Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio between the ISS and students from Lewis Center for Educational Research. Students will take turns asking their questions of ISS Astronaut Thomas Marshburn, amateur radio call sign KE5HOC, during the ARISS radio contact. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHZ and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the ARISS radio telebridge station.
 
Amateur Radio Operators in Silver Spring, MD will use call sign K6DUE to serve as the ARISS relay amateur radio ground station. Local Covid-19 protocols are adhered to as applicable for each ARISS contact.
 
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for January 31, 2022, at 9:47 am PST (Apple Valley, CA) (17:47UTC, 12:47 pm EST, 11:47 am CST, 10:47 am MST).
 
The Lewis Center for Educational Research operates two STEM-focused charter schools: Academy for Academic Excellence (AAE) in Apple Valley, California, and Norton Science and Language Academy (NSLA) in San Bernardino California. AAE is a Transitional kindergarten (TK) through12th grade that also offers students participation in Air Force Junior ROTC (One of the first 10 ROTC units chosen to convert to Space Force Junior ROTC). NSLA offers Dual Immersion (English/Spanish) programs for TK-9th grade and opened a new TK-12 campus that features a World Language and STEM-focused high school.
 
The Lewis Center also operates the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) Radio Astronomy Program through a 25-year partnership with NASA/JPL. GAVRT students locally, nationally and globally have contributed to a number of NASA missions, including the LCROSS Mission to the moon and the Cassini Mission to Saturn. Through their Jupiter Quest campaign, NASA/JPL scientists have used GAVRT data taken of Jupiter to refine synchrotron radiation models which aided in the planning of the Juno mission orbiting Jupiter. GAVRT students are currently collecting valuable data on the Sun, Jupiter, Black Holes, and SETI.
 
The Lewis Center extends the classroom to the community and beyond with local science and social studies programs, which align with the State of California Common Core and Next Generation Science standards. Programs are offered in Astronomy, Aviation/Aeronautics, Beginning Engineering, California Gold Rush, and Trails West. A foundational partnership exists with Apple Valley Unified School District through the collaboration at Apple Valley Center for Innovation (AVCI), an informal education STEM center. In addition to hosting field trips, STEM nights and teacher trainings, AVCI also is home to the Luz Observatory which is operated by the Lewis Center’s High Desert Astronomical Society and open to the public.
Local amateur radio operators also provided the students with ham radio demonstrations and classroom presentations/activities prior to the ARISS contact.
 
View the live stream of the upcoming ARISS radio contact on facebook live at:
 
https://www.facebook.com/events/7430066970340476/
 
and simulcast on Youtube at:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=VzMVvoEhwok
 
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As time allows, students will ask the following questions:
 
1. How do you celebrate holidays in space?
2. What dangers do you face on the International Space Station?
¿Qué peligros enfrentan en la estación espacial nacional?
3. Does breathing feel different when you are on the space station, or does it feel about the same as breathing on earth?
4. If Earth food has expiration dates, how does food in space stay in good condition for several months?
5. What is the scariest thing that happened when you were in the spacecraft launching or landing or on the International Space Station?
6. If there's a power outage on Earth, how will that affect you?
7.  How does it feel to be able to find new discoveries to help humanity? What are some of the most recent discoveries?
8. What precautions would be taken if a crew mate got sick?
9. What is one piece of training that has been the most useful to you?
10. Mike Hopkins is currently the only Space Force Astronaut and he switched from USAF to USSF while aboard the ISS. Will there be more Space Force Astronauts and how many?
11. Milan (AAE 6th grade):  How does living in space with artificial light, recycled air, and close quarters affect one’s mental health?
12. Do the stars look different from space than they do from Earth? Are they brighter? Are they clearer? Are there more of them?
¿Se ven diferentes las estrellas en el espacio que en latierra? Hay muchas estrellas?
13. Does each person on the ISS have a specific role? What is your role and what is your day like on the International Space Station completing your role?
14. What do you do if the person guiding you from Earth loses connection?
15. What meal will you get first when you come back to Earth?
16. How did it affect you when you saw the Earth from a different perspective while you were on the International Space Station?
17.  What has been the most surprising experience or feeling since you've launched?
18. What happens if a machine starts breaking down on the International Space Station?
19.  What is your favorite thing to do during your spare time on the International Space Station?
20. How might being part of Space Force Junior ROTC help me toward a NASA/Space Force career?

News Release No. 22-02

January 5, 2022
 
ARISS‐USA is known for engaging students in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) subjects by arranging live question-and-answer sessions via amateur radio (ham radio) between K‐12 students and astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). In the last two decades, over 1,400 contacts have connected more than one million youth using amateur radio, with millions more watching and learning. ARISS is constantly pursuing educational opportunities that inspire student interest and outcomes.
 
ARISS-USA is pleased to announce that the ARRL Foundation awarded funding for the first year of a two-year project called the “ARISS *STAR* Keith Pugh Memoriam Project” with *STAR* being the acronym for Space Telerobotics using Amateur Radio. The ARRL Foundation very generously provided $47,533. The project honors the memory of highly-respected Keith Pugh, whose call sign was W5IU (Silent Key, May 2019). He was an expert supporter of ARISS for many years, a star ARISS Technical Mentor assisting schools with their ARISS contacts, finding educators who might be interested in learning about ARISS, and going to schools to lead youth in a variety of lessons about wireless radio technology.
 
ARISS *STAR* (short for ARISS *STAR* Keith Pugh Memoriam Project), is a brand-new education program that will enable US junior high and high school education groups to remotely control robots through digital APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) commands using amateur radio. Year 1 focuses on systems development and initial validation of *ARISS* STAR, and Year 2 focuses on evaluation and final validation. Systems development and evaluation will be led by university staff and students who will undertake hands-on-wireless and telerobotics lesson development, learn about Amateur Radio, and support the development of the *STAR* engineering hardware and software. Next, youth teams will be selected to experiment and critique *STAR* telerobotics scenarios along closed courses and radio lessons. Some participating students will want to prepare for, and earn, their amateur radio licenses, using ham radio to learn and practice concepts in radio technology and radio communications.
 
Overarching goals for *STAR* are to improve and sustain ARISS STEAM educational outcomes with youth. Robotics is gaining popularity among youth and adults alike. Telerobotics adds a wireless accent to robotic control.  *STAR*, therefore, gives ARISS a new educational dimension to attract the attention of more education groups and their students and educators—outreach that promises to attract new audiences.
 
The ARRL Foundation was established in 1973 by ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio ®, and advances the art, science and societal benefits of the Amateur Radio Service by awarding financial grants and scholarships to individuals and organizations in support of their charitable, educational and scientific efforts. ARISS-USA Executive Director Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, praised the ARRL Foundation, saying, “ARISS team member, Keith Pugh, W5IU, poured his energy into inspiring, engaging and educating youth in space and in amateur radio endeavors.  What a better way to honor Keith than through the ARISS *STAR* initiative.  We thank the ARRL Foundation for their vision to move this initiative forward. Maybe someday one of our ARISS *STAR* students will use their telerobotics skills to control scientific rovers on the Moon or Mars!”
 
 
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 American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the ISS National Lab‐Space Station Explorers, and NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (NASA SCaN). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this 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 take part in hands‐on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss-usa.org, www.ariss.org.

ARISS News Release                                                               No.   22-01  

ARISS Contact Scheduled for Participants at Scouts Victoria (Radio and Electronics Team), Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia
 
January 3, 2022—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact with astronauts. ARISS is the group that puts together special amateur radio contacts between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses on the International Space Station (ISS).
 
This will be a telebridge contact via amateur radio and students will take turns asking their questions of Astronaut Mark Vande Hei, amateur radio call sign KG5GNP. Local Covid-19 protocols are adhered to as applicable for each ARISS contact. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHZ and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the telebridge station.
 
ARISS team member Fred Kemmerer, using his call sign AB1OC in New Hampshire, will serve as the ARISS relay amateur radio station.
 
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for January 4, 2022 at 10:27 pm AEDT (Mt Waverley, AU), (11:27 UTC, 6:27 am EST, 5:27 am CST, 4:27 am MST and 3:27 am PST).
 
The Victorian Scout Jamboree is a week-long event that has enabled over 4000 scouts, venturers, rovers and leaders to travel to Elmore in Central Victoria for 10 days of excitement and fun. The scout organizers’ goal is to provide an adventurous, fun, challenging and inclusive program for youth, teaching them life skills and leadership. During the event, the Radio and Electronics Team will be providing radio and electronics related support and activities for scouts of all ages and abilities, which include STEM-related activities while also promoting amateur radio training (radio participation and license qualification).  
 
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
 
1. What 3 things do you miss from Earth?  My Mum worked on a ship and missed; sleeping with the window open, the smell of cut grass and the sound of rain on the roof.
2. What do you have to do to become an astronaut?
3. What would happen if someone were seriously ill on the ISS, and what would you do?
4. How do you prepare and eat your meals while up in the space station?
5. What is it like to float around in no gravity without friction?
6. How does it feel going from zero gravity in space back to earth's gravity? Does it hurt??
7. What is the scariest thing to happen to you whilst you have been in space?
8. How do you shower and go to the toilet in space?
9. After being in the space station for so many months, how does it feel to experience planet Earth and nature again with all your senses, especially smell?
10. How do the seasons affect the veggie production system on the ISS? How often do you get to eat fresh food?
11. Did you always want to be an astronaut and how did you make it happen?
12. Why do people go into space and how long is an average mission?
13. If you only had the chance to go to into space 1 time but only live till 30 or not going into space at all/not being able to see the stars or the milky way and live to over 70, which would you choose?
14. Can you share some of the science that was worked on in space that we can now see on earth?
15. Is there sound or much noise in space?
16. Multiple nations have had space stations each bestowed with a specific name - Russia had Mir, NASA had Skylab and China Tiangong-1. As a truly international effort and the largest man-made object in space, does the ISS have a nickname or is there a name that the astronauts use for the individual components?
17. What energy supply do you use to power the station. If nuclear, what type of reactor do you use? If solar, how many solar panels do you use, and what are their power density?