July 31–August 4: ARISS educator Mic Ivancic and astrophysicist Elisa Gastaldi planned a week-long Space Day Camp at the latter’s farm resort in Castelnuovo Scrivia, Italy that features a planetarium. Elisa led 14 campers in daily planetarium shows on constellations and planets. Mic guided them in researching the ISS, how it stays in orbit, and what life is like onboard. Youth divided into four teams of three “crewmembers” and used teamwork to accomplish fun tasks. An example: built and launched yeast and sugar rockets and vinegar and baking soda rockets, recording notes on failures and successes, and comparing launches.  On “astro-egg day” each team received two boiled eggs and a few items to design and build a protective vehicle to “land” the egg safely after a launch from an upstairs room. Kids saw the ISS pass overhead while watching Mic manipulate her ham radio and antenna to listen to ARISS cross-band repeater radio contacts. Also, a few days after camp ended, Mic and the astrophysicist organized a walk for 80 people to watch Perseids meteors and a planetarium show and to see Mic’s presentation about the ISS and ARISS.
 
August 10: ARISS volunteer Stefan Dombroswki and area ham operators set up four outreach stations related to ARISS for people attending “Night of the Stars” hosted at the Euro Space Centre in Libin, Belgium. The Centre widely advertised the free mega-STEM event; 2,200 people came, each walking by the first ARISS exhibit station where Stefan and team had youth doing multiple hands-on activities that demonstrated radio waves. At the second ARISS station, youth (with a parent) built an FM radio receiver and electrical kits. The third station offered a QO-100 satellite radio station that kids experimented with. The fourth station featured a pulsar hunt, a hidden transmitter hunt with a space twist. At all stations, people heard about ARISS and radio.

ARISS Upcoming Events
Aug 31: Augusta Preparatory Day School, Augusta GA – ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team

August 10: Two ARISS SIP interns, Sruthi Sankararaman and Bryce Lanese, gave their final presentations at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.  Sruthi titled hers, “SPARKI: Workshopping Amateur Radio Education Resources.” Her internship work dealt with enhancing and finalizing lessons for the ARISS Educate the Educator workshops that utilize the SPARKI kit (Space Pioneers Amateur Radio Kit Initiative). She also helped ARISS coordinate and lead a workshop held in conjunction with an educator conference at Kennedy Space Center.  Bryce Lanese titled his presentation “Prototyping Educational Activities for Amateur Radio on the International Space Station.” He had plotted patterns of ARISS’s L- and S-band antennas, built satellite simulator units, and used software to process telemetry signals transmitted from the simulator units. Frank Bauer wrote compliments to the interns: “I could feel positive energy from the audience through their questions and glowing comments.  Note that these came from our very important NASA leaders and sponsors. I have never experienced such excitement and enthusiasm from the audience on an intern presentation or one related to our ARISS program.“
 
May 5-6: The Luxembourg Space Agency in Neimënster organized a "Space Summer Festival" inviting youths of all ages, including university students, young professionals, and parents to learn about careers in space and science sectors. ARISS team member Stefan Dombrowski and six volunteers engaged hundreds of youth at a ham radio display they set up. The exhibit booth offered electronics kits the youth could assemble, a QO-100 satellite radio station (a geostationary satellite carrying a ham radio payload) kids could experiment with, and a hearing about ARISS and ham radio. Half of the youth who stopped by were university students and half were high schoolers. 150 of them soldered, assembled, and took home simple receiver kits to listen to FM broadcast stations. A number of astronauts and cosmonauts came to the festival, which was free to the general public on day two, bringing hundreds more youth and parents to the booth.
 
Also, Stefan and the Belgian ARISS team reported that they assisted the CanSat Belgian Teams competing at the ESA Galileo Integrated Logistics Support Centre in April in Libin-Transinne. 24 teams—150 boys and girls ages 16-18—launched CanSats. During mentoring sessions, the youth learned about ARISS and ESA STEM camps where ARISS volunteers teach. A week later, the ARISS group helped the CanSat Luxembourg Teams at the same ESA center. 12 teams totaling 75 girls and boys launched CanSats and learned about ARISS. One girl decided to attend Stefan’s ESA Camp in July. 
 
August 11-13: At the 2023 ARRL Pacific Northwest DX Convention for amateur radio operators in the US and Canada, ARRL-ARISS Committee Chair Mark Tharp set up a display table sporting ARISS’ roll-up banner, handouts, and business cards. 120 attendees came from 12 northwestern states and British Columbia, and they took home many ARISS business cards. This annual convention features programs of interest to ham radio operators who enjoy making radio contacts with hams in countries located in remote parts of the globe.  
 
ARISS Upcoming Events  
Aug 24: STEM for GIRLS, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada - ARISS contact, ARISS-Canada Team
Aug 25: Australian Air League, Salisbury, S. Australia, Australia - ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan Team
Aug 28: Bowman Middle School, Bakersville NC – ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team
Aug 31: Augusta Preparatory Day School, Augusta GA – ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team

July 31-August 3: Four ARISS team members, Frank Bauer, Randy Berger, Diane Schuler, and Kelly Cammarano traveled to the International Space Station Research & Development Conference (ISSRDC) in Seattle, WA to set up an ARISS exhibit table. They displayed items from the ARISS SPARKI educator radio experimentation kit such as ARISS’s robot, the electrical components from Snap Circuits®, and a manual of ARISS lesson plans, along with items related to ARISS 2.0.  The team also aimed for a second goal at the conference, which they achieved, to network with engineers, educators, professionals from NASA and commercial space companies, some of whom ARISS already works with, and also, many STEM enthusiasts. Exhibit visitors got an overview of ARISS’s mission, accomplishments, and future goals. In all, the team interacted with 500 people, 80 being educators, and of those 80, half were college professors.  Frank Bauer gave an ISSRDC session presentation and reported 40 attendees, with about half being educators. His talk covered the future direction of ARISS 2.0.
 
July 31:  ARISS thanks NASA for spotlighting ARISS and Stephen Bowen’s support of it. The NASA web page (see below) carried a photo blurb featuring him talking on the ARISS radio on the ISS for a scheduled ARISS contact with youth at the Youth On The Air (YOTA) STEM camp. The young people were from the US and Canada, and Carleton University in Ottawa, ON hosted the camp.  The NASA web URL is https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/astronaut-stephen-bowen-conducts-a-ham-radio-session.
 
July 31: The Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) sponsored the seventh and final ham radio session in the “A Call from Space” series of student/astronaut ARISS contacts. The Emirates Amateur Radio Society in Sharjah, UAE hosted this event and handled the ham radio communications for Sultan Al Neyadi to talk with youth; over 30 people came to the event. An Emirates News Agency-WAM story described the ham radio contact as part of the enriching programme that gave attendees an overview of MBRSC projects, a detailed look into space stations and space history, hands-on training in using a ham radio station, and basics on the benefits of amateur radio and  communications. A video clip is at https://wam.ae/en/details/1395303183053. MENAFN, a Dubai PR Network, posted a story, as well.  
 
Summarizing all seven UAE ARISS contacts, MENAFN reported that the outreach programme with its seven events and special ARISS contacts engaged over 500 students, ages 7 - 15. Hosts included the MBRSC and its library; Mushairif School, GEMS Wellington International School, all in Dubai; Cycle 1-Ajyal in Ajman; and the Emirates Amateur Radio Society facility in Sharjah. MBRSC social media recapped the seven events: “The sessions have been an extraordinary journey, leaving an indelible imprint on young minds, inspiring them to explore the boundless universe.” MBRSC Director General Salem Humaid AlMarri said, “I would like to thank our partners, the Emirates Amateur Radio Society and Emirates Literature Foundation, for their integral role in the success of this series.”  Emirates New Agency-WAM praised all of the ARISS contacts, writing: “The most unforgettable part of these events were the captivating live interactions with Al Neyadi in which students asked him their burning questions about space, a first-hand exchange that deepened their understanding of the space exploration journey.”  

ARISS Upcoming Events  
Aug 24: STEM for GIRLS, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada - ARISS contact, ARISS-Canada Team
Aug 25: Australian Air League, Salisbury, S. Australia, Australia - ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan Team

August 3: The Karasuyama Residents Center supports educational and cultural events in Setagaya, Japan, and hosted an ARISS radio contact for area youth with Sultan Al Neyadi. He answered 18 questions.  The audience consisted of 100 kids (kindergarten, elementary, and junior high school), families, 100 teachers, the UAE Ambassador to Japan who brought 7 of his team, and a rep from the Setagaya government.  Newspaper, magazine, and cable TV reporters came, as well.  476 individuals saw the action in person or via a livestreamed YouTube (https://youtu.be/7N7JFOT2VAA) and 438 watched the recording. The area amateur radio club set up the ham radio station for this ARISS contact. The youth had visited a planetarium, used telescopes, and learned about orbital mechanics, the ISS and its mission, space exploration, and how amateur radios work, allowing them to communicate with the ISS crew.
 
July 27: The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre’s library in Dubai, UAE hosted the sixth ARISS contact for youth and Sultan Al Neyadi. 100 students and space enthusiasts, along with 4 Centre officials, and a group of reporters heard the youths interview Al Neyadi.  The Gulf News reporter wrote that the event “captivated the enthusiastic audience;” the story quoted library board member, Dr. Mohammed Salem Obaid Al Mazrooei, as follows: [The contact helped] “promote awareness, knowledge, and ambition towards studying space sciences among future generations.”  URLs of three media stories are:

• https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/events-and-conferences/6th-ham-radio-session-featuring-sultan-alneyadi-from-the-iss-livens-up-young-minds-at-mohammed-bin-rashid-library-t4prprou
• https://www.khaleejtimes.com/space/can-astronauts-see-stars-clearer-from-space-uaes-sultan-alneyadi-responds
• https://gulfnews.com/uae/science/watch-what-uae-students-said-on-a-ham-radio-call-with-al-neyadi-1.97281647
  

 
July 30: Andrey Fediaev supported an ARISS contact for students of the Baltasi Airfield School in the Baltasinsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. Students had participated in the Gagarin from Space program. 30 people watched while area ham radio operators facilitated the conversation between the youth and Fediaev.  Mission Control-Moscow scheduled this ARISS contact.
 
ARISS Social Media
 
ARISS social media leader Jim Reed reported July 2023 highlights:

• 274,546 Impressions across all platforms--impressions were up 23% per day over June

• Largest monthly increase in Followers in the past 2 years, 450 new Followers across all platforms

• 186 posts created for all platforms, averaged 1,726 impressions per post
• Tested out Threads (72 Followers, 8 Interactions on 7 posts) and LinkedIn (14 Followers, 175 post Impressions)

 
ARISS Total July Social Media Metrics:

• ARISS X – Total Impressions / Views 155,710,  Interactions / Engagements 4,506 
• ARISS Facebook – Total Impressions 112,753,  Interactions / Engagements 3,468
• ARISS Instagram – Total Reach 6,083,  Interactions / Engagements 530
• ARISS Mastodon – Interactions / Engagements 135
• ARISS LinkedIn – 5 New Followers,  240 Reactions     
• ARISS YouTube – Total Subscribers 1.95k

 
July Social Media Top Posts
On all ARISS Social Media platforms in July, the top posts were ones announcing the July 26th ARISS Slow Scan TV (picture link) Experiment with the ARRL Educator Workshop teachers and the public. Below is one version of two very similar posts, and also, bullets on metrics.  
 

• Top X post: Impressions 6,798, Interactions / Engagements 77
• Top Facebook post: Impressions 5,600,  Interactions / Engagements 129
• Top Instagram post: Impressions 200, Interactions / Engagements 24
• Top Mastodon post: Interactions / Engagements 14
  

ARISS Upcoming Events  
August 25: Australian Air League, Salisbury, S.Australia, Australia - ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan Team