ARISS Weekly Status Report - Aug. 7, 2023

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