January 19: Following months of prep and working through a curriculum concentrated on space and communications, Escola Secundária de Lagoa students at Lagoa in the Azores (autonomous region of Portugal) took part in a successful ARISS radio contact with Josh Cassada. He answered 16 of their questions. The school livestreamed the event to the public at https://youtu.be/R2Rd5Eku5lA; 6 days after the ARISS contact, viewers totaled 595. The ARISS telebridge radio station in Italy offered a livestream too, and within a week garnered 243 viewers. Reporters at the event consisted of two national TV stations, two national radio stations, two area radio stations, and two newspapers. As of now, six online outlets carried reports. A student quoted by the newspaper Correio dos Azores, said, “It was a fantastic experience and of course we would not have done it without the help of our teachers, our colleagues. This is an experience of a lifetime." A 12th grader quoted by the same news outlet, commented, “Talking to an astronaut who is in space does not seem real. It's hard to believe, but it was possible and we were able to accomplish it with work and dedication."
 
January 17: ARISS educator Micol Ivanci spoke virtually with two classes at Colegio Diocesano Santa María Nuestra Señora in Écija, Spain. Her presentation covered facts about the ISS and crew-carrying space vehicles and she described ARISS ham radio ground stations and how one will facilitate their school’s ARISS contact in mid-February.  50 students and a group of teachers attended Mic’s session. The school takes part in Europe’s Erasmus activities. At a news conference the school set up regarding the ARISS contact, administrators thanked ARISS, ESA, and NASA for the opportunity to host the ARISS contact. They also thanked the Unión de Radioaficionados Españoles (Spain’s national association of radio amateurs) for technical assistance, Edelvives (a publishing firm focused on STEM) for pedagogical innovation, and the Écija City Council for its help.  
 
January 24: An ARISS contact hosted by the MBU DO Center for Children's Technical Creativity, "Young Motorist" took place in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Mission Control Center-Moscow scheduled the event and 14 students talked with crew member Dimitri Petelin. The ARISS-Russia team supported the contact and led students in the About Gagarin in Space lesson series. 
 
January 4: ARISS-USA Education Director Kathy Lamont and ARISS Technical Mentor Fred Kemmerer hosted an ARISS Orientation Webinar; 20 people attended. This online development activity gave an assist to schools and education organizations recently selected for ARISS radio contacts to be scheduled in the future.  Educators from those selected groups took part in the webinar as did representatives of their area amateur radio clubs who will help the educators. Listeners heard a review of what is expected of them and got their questions answered. 
 
ARISS Upcoming Events
 Feb. 4:  Youth in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia-ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team                                                                     

January 17: The ARISS Team received a report on Montross (VA) Middle School students who enjoyed exciting preparations for their ARISS contact targeted for mid-April. The school’s science curriculum provides students with lessons on sound waves, our solar system, and aspects of the ISS, among other things.  Last semester the school sponsored a science fair with activities and exhibits for students and parents. Engineers from the Dahlgren Naval Surface Weapons Lab put on physical science demos such as what happens when freezing flowers down to -320 degrees Fahrenheit using liquid nitrogen and what generates static electricity. Deputy Superintendent Director Carole Alexander (a ham operator) exhibited her portable “Go-Kit” ham station and she reported, “Students were very interested!”  Last fall, Westmoreland Amateur Radio Club members taught students how to make amateur radio contacts so the school amateur radio group could compete in a bi-annual activity sponsored by the American Radio Relay League for US school ham clubs. Students learned many things about radio and radio operation during the event and made a lot of radio contacts, including one with an overseas group. The youths’ communications successes garnered their group 10th place among middle school clubs nationwide. 
 
January 18: Girls and boys in the Norwich (CT) Free Academy Amateur Radio and Engineering Club created a YouTube video as part of the preparation for the school’s upcoming ARISS radio contact. The two-minute video tied to the ARISS project features a number of students expounding on the ARISS contact, some of the club’s STEM activities, facts about the ISS and its focus, showing the school’s ham radio station, and more.  One goal the youth met by making and posting the video was to explain to the entire student body how to submit questions for the ARISS contact and why. Their ARISS contact happens on January 30.  330 viewers saw the YouTube video as of Monday; the URL is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJyGFWfzupk.

ARISS Upcoming Events                                                                       
Jan 24:  Youth at Nizhny Novgorod, Russia-ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team
Jan 26:  Brentwood Elementary Sch of Engrg, Raleigh, NC-ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team
Jan 30:  Norwich Free Academy, Norwich, CT-ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team

January 3: ARISS educator Diane Warner and a teacher colleague received approval to present a class session to educators who’ll attend the Ohio Afterschool Network annual conference to be held in Powell, OH. The two plan to describe a variety of STEM curriculum that has been used in their after-school program at Tallmadge Community Learning Center in Lancaster OH. Listeners will learn about using Ozobots (small robots designed to introduce students to coding), Snap Circuits, Squishy Circuits, and more. Diane will describe a 2019 ARISS radio contact the Tallmadge center had hosted and STEM activities teachers led to help students prepare for their ARISS contact. Attendees will also hear how a learning center can write and submit an ARISS Education Proposal that could garner an ARISS contact.
 
January: ARISS leaders and educators have been mapping out what 2023 education conferences and outreach events to exhibit at and what forums the educators might propose to the conference committees. Some ARISS educators already have received acceptance for their proposed presentations.

ARISS Upcoming Events                                                                       
Jan 19: Escola Secundária de Lagoa, Lagoa, Azores, ARISS-Europe Team

Late December:  Last fall, the faculty at Brentwood Magnet Elementary School of Engineering in Raleigh, NC developed engineering challenges for the semester that tied into the school’s upcoming ARISS contact.  The 412 students focused on engineering related to space exploration and here are examples. Students experienced the engineering/design process as they created and tested prototypes of model rockets and designed parachutes to help the rockets land safely. ARISS Education Ambassador Martha Muir reported that the school’s STEM coordinator described this challenge: during the week of the Balloons Over Brentwood parade, students set up a mini-parade route in the gym, making boxes representing buildings and creating mini-floats that they attached to dash dot robots. Youth learned coding that would guide these robots in navigating the route. Also, third graders enjoyed a field trip to a planetarium “to learn about space and about where astronauts have trained.”
 
January 5: ARISS volunteer Jim Reed reported increased social media metrics in Q1FY23 for October through December.   He stated:  “ARISS social media grew by more than 1,200 followers (4.6%) over the previous quarter and generated close to 500,000 impressions of ARISS content, nearly a 5X increase.”
  
December 31: ARISS Director of Engineering Randy Berger built a multi-functional demo unit he refers to as an ARISS CubeSat. This educational demo item can be placed on ARISS exhibit tables at conferences and ham radio public events to aid ARISS volunteers in describing ARISS communications modes. The unit can be utilized for educational instruction in the classroom, too, to demonstrate multiple communication types, including ARISS Slow Scan TV.
 
ARISS Social Media
 
December's Top Posts and December’s total metrics are below. 
 
Top December 2022 Social Media Posts

• Top Tweet: (Impressions 17,188,  Interactions / Engagements 782)
• Top Facebook Post: (Reaches, Impressions 10,956,  Engagements 511)
• Top Instagram Post: (Reach 256,   Interactions / Engagements 54)

 
 
Total December 1-31 2022 Metrics on Social Media Platforms:

• ARISS Twitter - Total Impressions/Views 125,536,  Interactions/Engagements 4,167  
• ARISS Facebook - Total Impressions 84,826,  Interactions/Engagements 4,962
• ARISS Instagram - Total Reach 401,  Interactions/Engagements 277
• ARISS YouTube - Total Subscribers 1.73k

 
 
ARISS Upcoming Events  
Jan 18: Escola Secundária de Lagoa, Lagoa, Azores,
ARISS-Europe Team