• April 20: Winmalee Public School in Blue Mountains, New South Wales (NSW), Australia hosted an ARISS radio contact with Victor Glover who answered 18 questions. Students ended the session with a big thank you. The school STEM curriculum includes a weekly STEM Lab for K-6. Space studies covered the solar system, space travel and missions, and exploration. Lessons to prepare for the ARISS contact focused on the ISS: tracking its position in orbit using applied mathematics, building models of the ISS, youth learning about astronauts and their roles, then sharing their ISS knowledge with high school students. The ARISS event brought out a big crowd following area COVID rules—100 students, 200 parents, and the director of Blue Mountains schools. Others were a Blue Mountains City Council member, a popular Sydney TV crew filming the entire event, and a high-rating radio station that later broadcasted its audio recording. The school’s livestream got 300 viewers. The lead ARISS teacher wrote, “Our entire townspeople are now huge fans of Victor Glover. He was so delightful in his manner and responses with the children. Thank you so much to NASA and ARISS. Science Rocks!” The NSW government web site ran a great story at: https://education.nsw.gov.au/news/latest-news/winmalee-students-visit-outer-space. The minister of education stated, ”It’s an incredible opportunity for students to be able to speak with an astronaut and connect what they’re learning to real life events.” A two-minute delightful ABC Facebook post is at:  https://www.facebook.com/9NewsSydney/videos/496447581720667/

• April 20:  During the Winmalee ARISS contact described in the previous blurb, a Belgian ARISS team member and colleague were teaching a ham license class for Belgian Army soldiers in two cities. A message said: “We each used the Winmalee students’ ARISS contact / ISS pass to demonstrate amateur radio. We heard 18 questions and answers at both of our sites with only a simple handheld ham radio station—an excellent demo of ham capabilities, antenna polarization, and signal propagation.”

 

• April 21: The ISS National Lab, Lockheed Martin, and the Space Foundation sponsored “Gateway: The Next Giant Leap,” a webinar on inspiring the next generation of world changers. ARISS-US Education Committee member and Space Station Ambassador Melissa Pore presented a talk on how to connect students to the ISS through ARISS programs. The audience, made up of educators participating in Space Foundation and ISS National Lab programs, learned about Gateway as an outpost for Artemis missions to the moon and how to engage students in related learning activities.

 

• April 15: A member of the ARISS-US Education Committee, Diane Warner, who hosted an ARISS school contact in 2019, had presented an ARRL (American Radio Relay League) Learning Network webinar last month at ARRL’s request, on ARISS activities at her school. Now, ARRL has asked her to have the webinar shown, and to support it during a livestream Q&A, at one of its July educator professional development workshops Teachers Institute—TI. TI offers educators four days of virtual instruction on topics related to wireless technology and amateur radio. Diane will get to attend all four days; she is thrilled! 

 

• April 19:  The ARISS team thanks SCaN for posting on its Twitter and Facebook platforms (53.4k Followers) an ARISS news release about the Winmalee Public School ARISS contact. SCaN’s Twitter post garnered top spot for the week with 7,132 Impressions. NASA STEM retweeted the Twitter post to their 300k followers.

 
        Upcoming Events
 

• April 21 Space Foundation Gateway Webinar, talk on ARISS for educators, Melissa Pore
  
• April 24 ARRL Virginia Convention, panel: ARISS engages Kids/Women in Radio, K.Lamont, M.Pore
• April 26 St. Scholastica’s College, Glebe AU, ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan team
• April 26 St. Margaret’s School, Melbourne AU, ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan team

                             

• April issue: The Smithsonian magazine ran a feature on how ISS crew members spend their leisure time. The story began with a bit of detail on early space crews’ heavy workloads and needing time off. The writer moved to now, with space crews continuing to be more productive when schedules include relaxing—with making music being quite popular. The story cited the importance of ham radio as an engaging onboard leisure activity, as Doug Wheelock realized during his 2010 ISS mission. Speaking about the myriad of radio signals he heard from Earth’s ham operators, Doug said, “That started a trend for me where I made thousands of contacts across the world. That really became part of my connection back to the planet.”  Referring to deep space missions, he said, ““I can’t imagine doing a long-duration mission without that connection to the planet. It’s a huge psychological hurdle that we’re going to have to figure out.” The article is at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-do-astronauts-spend-their-weekends-space-180977480/?utm_source=pocket-newtab. A post about the story was added to the ISS Ham Twitter page and to ARISS Facebook and Twitter pages.
  

• April 14:  A team from the ARISS-USA Education Committee is reviewing ARISS Education Proposals that arrived during the opening of the recent window (February 15 to March 31, 2021) to accept such proposals. US education institutions whose proposals rise to the top in this competitive process will be offered the opportunity for ARISS radio contacts to be scheduled for January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022.
  

         Upcoming Events
 

• April 20 Winmalee Public School, Blue Mountains NSW Au, ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan team
  
• April 21 Space Foundation Gateway Webinar, talk on ARISS for educators, Melissa Pore
• April 24 ARRL Virginia Convention, panel: ARISS engages Kids/Women in Radio,  K.Lamont, M.Pore
• April 26 St. Scholastica’s College, Glebe AU, ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan team
• April 26 St. Margaret’s School, Melbourne AU, ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan team

• March 24-25: Students at the Savannah River Academy (SRA) in Grovetown, GA have been preparing for their upcoming ARISS contact. Members of the Amateur Radio Club of Columbia County (ARCCC) presented a session that gave students a solid understanding of how to operate a handheld radio. They practiced talking to each other using Family Radio Service (FRS) radios and remembered to use phonetics when saying call signs. The kids learned about QSL cards that confirm a radio contact was made between hams; QSLs are commonly traded after radio contacts. The cards were a hit with students getting to design their own personal QSLs.
  
• The next evening at SRA Family Day, ARCCC members set up exhibit tables to engage students, their parents and teachers in ham activities. Demos of amateur satellite communication took place with students recording call signs and grid square coordinates for hams they contacted. They talked over the air with an ARCCC member at home. Kids showed off to parents the things they had learned such as sending Morse code. Several students and adults said they’re interested in getting a ham license.
  

• March 26: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) offers week-long summer classes to educators; ARISS-US Education Committee member and science teacher Martha Muir attended one. Upon completion, educators become part of the CDC’s Science Ambassador Fellowship (SAF) program and receive the quarterly Science Ambassador Alumni Newsletter. Last quarter’s e-letter carried a notice on watching CDC leaders take part in a NASA-sponsored live chat with Kate Rubins and Shannon Walker. Thinking that some SAF educators might want to host their own ARISS contact for students, Martha penned and submitted a short piece on ARISS and the ARISS proposal process. The editors accepted her item for the Spring 2021 e-newsletter.
  

• April 6: The School of Information Technology & Mathematical Sciences, Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program 2021 in Mawson Lakes, SA, Australia hosted a successful ARISS radio contact with Shannon Walker for elementary students of Mawson Lakes School.  She answered 22 student questions. People in attendance numbered 45 including the university’s Department of Education Director and Advanced Technology Program Manager. A student exclaimed, “I loved this! One day I will become a scientist and go to space.” Another said, “This made me take a special interest in space and astronomy. I loved the way we were trained and briefed for the event.” The university used its Facebook account to livestream the contact: 767 viewers, 605 engagements. A few days later, another 190 had viewed it. People listening via Echolink totaled 30.
  

• April 5-7: ARISS-Russia hosted three successful ARISS contacts for these schools:

1. Nilak Dosaaf Llc in Kaluga
   
2. Kaluga Regional Schools in Kaluga  
3. St. Petersburg School in St. Petersburg
   

• On April 5, Nilak Dosaaf Llc high school students enrolled in the educational program called About Gagarin from Space spoke with Sergey Kud-Sverchkov. On April 6, students in the About Gagarin from Space program in Kaluga Regional Schools spoke with Sergey Kud-Sverchkov.  St. Petersburg students in the About Gagarin from Space program talked over the radio on April 7 with Sergey Ryzhikov.

• March 31: Three ARISS Italian volunteers presented a live ARISS program for the Associazione Radiotechnica Italiana, Firenze chapter.  The talk was titled “The ISS Seen through ARISS Eyes and Beyond” and 39 people watched, including 2 students and 1 educator. An unknown number of others watched live via the chapter’s Facebook page but within a week, viewers totaled 454; the link is: https://www.facebook.com/IQ5FI. Topics included the antennas to use for ARISS school contacts, the ARISS HamTV system, the ARISS Italian radio telebridge station, and the ARISS Interoperable Radio System.   

         Upcoming Events

• April 20 Winmalee Public School, Blue Mountains NSW Au, ARISS contact    ARISS-Japan team

March 28-31: In four days’ time, the ARISS-Russia team sponsored ARISS radio contacts at:

• Aznakaevo School, Republic of Tatarstan
• International Aerospace School, Ufa
• Lipetsk Regional Public Organization, Lipetsk
• Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk  
  

 
Two of the contacts were tied to the ARISS-Russia educational program called “About Gagarin from Space.” Sergey Kud-Sverchkov supported the first of the four radio contacts with students of the Aznakaevo School. Sergey Ryzhikov handled the second radio contact for students at the International Aerospace School. The third contact, hosted by Ust-Ivanovka Amurskaya school of Amur State University, had Sergey Ryzhikov speaking over the radio with students. Sergey Kud-Sverchkov talked with the Lipetsk Regional Public Organization of Radio Sportsmen.   

• March 20:  Two students at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA gave a presentation at the school’s amateur radio club meeting to invite more students to become members of the club.  The two students talked about a new AMSAT CubeSat Simulator received by their teacher Melissa Pore, an ARISS-US Education Committee member. The youth explained the CubeSat payload’s new and interesting aspects and how they’ll engage in hands-on activity with it.  Also, Pore’s students were highlighted in the April edition of Virginia Living regarding the TI Codes competition hosted by Texas Instruments and NASA; students designed an astronaut pillow that among other things, had a CO2 sensor and a micro fan to circulate air near an astronaut’s face.
  

• March 31: An article titled “ARISS, The Most Engaging STEAM Proposal: Amateur Radio Activity from the Space Station” written by ARISS Italia volunteer Micol Ivancic appears in the March 2021 edition of Radio Rivista. This is the official monthly publication of the Associazione Radiotecnica Italiana (ARI), the national amateur radio society in Italy. The three-page article covers ARISS operations and schools’ ARISS STEAM activities.  Italian teachers can request free copies of the magazine for their schools.  

Social Media
 
Facebook – March 2021

 *Higher Reaches--posts about the result of the EVA to re-install the original ARISS cable and also an upcoming ARISS school contact
 Facebook Impressions for the quarter (January-March) totaled 62,277.
 
Twitter:
As of March 31, 2021, ARISS Twitter followers totaled 14,530, a slight gain over February.  Impressions for the quarter (January-March) totaled 257,290.
 
Instagram:
As of March 31, 2021, Instagram followers increased to 297, an increase of over 3% from February.
 
YouTube Members:
As of March 31, YouTube members totaled over 1,300. In January, the total was a little over 800. 
 
ARISS Web Unique Pageviews:
In March ARISS Web Unique Pageviews totaled 43,329, an increase of over 3,000 from February.

         Upcoming Events

• April 6      Sch of Information Tech & Math, Mawson Lakes Au, ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan team
  

• March 11: Students at Avoca State School in Bundaberg, QLD, Australia engaged in an ARISS contact with Mike Hopkins at the ham radio station on the ISS. The Bundaberg Amateur Radio Club (BARC) had assembled a ham station at the school and students, adhering to Queensland Covid guidelines, got to see firsthand how radio contacts work. Hopkins answered 18 questions and 459 parents and visitors were allowed to attend. The school Facebook page posted the video and got 913 viewers. Media coverage of the contact was tremendous:  two TV stations’ morning and “drive PM show” featured the ARISS contact and interviews with the school principal.  Three radio stations aired different audio interviews and a Facebook video garnering multiple play during morning news shows. A BARC member told a reporter, “This was one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever been involved in. The teachers and principal were united in their work and students displayed euphoria right after the contact was completed.” A regional online news outlet posted live interviews of students and a story on the ARISS contact. Australia Broadcast Corporation Facebook video is at: https://www.facebook.com/9NewsWideBay/videos/vb.481418035544544/159220456041479/?type=2&theater
  
• The school serves three nearby cities and surrounding rural areas. Prior to this ARISS contact, students’ science curriculum contained a course of study on rocket propulsion. Students built and launched model rockets using a pneumatic energy source. Prior to Covid the school partnered with BARC and members invited youth to participate in a high-altitude balloon launch carrying an amateur radio repeater. 
  

• March 15: The spring 2021 quarterly journal of the National Earth Science Teacher Association ran a peer-reviewed article in its “Today’s Technology” column. It covered a 2019 ARISS school contact with the Vermont Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA sponsored by the USC Young Scientists Program. The article by Rita Barakat (USC Neuroscience Graduate Program-Joint Educational Project Young Scientists Program) and Dieuwertje Kast (USC Rossier School of Education-Joint Educational Project Young Scientists Program) leads readers through the myriad tasks of hosting a contact, such as the proposal process, compiling a technical team of area ham operators, creating special curriculum providing a foundation for an ARISS contact, and so on. Photos portrayed many activities students engaged in preparing for the contact. A chart depicted how curricula aligned with Next Generation Science Standards. The article quoted teachers and students. Immediately after the contact a fourth grade teacher commented that “…one of my students turned around, looked at me and said, ‘We really talked to a real astronaut! Wow!’ The look on his face: absolutely priceless.” Another student declared she was “…inspired to learn more about space and astronauts…” as a result of the contact experience.
  

• March 14:  A panel of educators speaking on “Makers, Youth and Ham Radio” at the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo included ARISS-US Education Committee member Melissa Pore. Panelists discussed two ideas. First, how ham radio can play an important part in K-12 education and beyond. Second, how the "Maker spirit in ham radio” is a combination that enables hands-on activities and attaining practical skills in electronics, mechanics, optics, and other high-tech fields. Pore focused on ARISS education and radio contacts. A panelist affirmed that ham radio is a lifetime public service, educational and scientific hobby, and an excellent career- and networking-booster. The panel session was to last one hour but due to the energy of the 110 attendees, was extended 15 minutes.  The presentation is available online for a few weeks for Expo registrants.
  

• March 11: The Girl Scouts of Citrus in conjunction with SpaceKids Global submitted an ARISS Education Proposal that was chosen for hosting an upcoming ARISS contact. The mission of SpaceKids Global, a non-profit, is to inspire elementary students in STEAM education in order to empower young girls. As part of hands-on preparations for the ARISS contact, Girl Scouts of Citrus helped create a project called Making Space for Girls Challenge Program that was carried out in conjunction with the SpaceKids Global group and ProXops, a high-tech engineering and science support company with ties to the ISS National Lab. Last fall, Girl Scouts around the World engaged in this Challenge by submitting an essay, a mission patch, or an experiment idea. Selected were 21 finalists and their work will be flown in August to the ISS in a Faraday box provided by ProXops.
  

• March 20: ARISS-US Education Committee member Joanne Michael designed the International Simultaneous Equinox Launch for balloons with pico-radio transmitters. Participants signed up from East Coast to the West Coast, Texas, Brazil, and India. More details will be in next week’s report.
  

 

• March 17: Goodwood Primary School in Adelaide, South Australia, AU, had an ARISS contact, and more details will be known next week.
  

 

• March 3:  ARISS-US Education Committee member Melissa Pore was part of a panel on a Women in Aviation discussion hosted by the College Park (MD) Aviation Museum.  She described how she ties together her interest in aviation and her passion for ARISS activities in her lessons for her high school engineering students and for her school’s ham radio club. An audience of 40 watched the panel discussion.
  

        Upcoming Events

• Mar 22 Oakwood School, Morgan Hill CA, school contact, ARISS-US Team           
  
• Mar 24 School of Info. Tech. & Math. Sciences, Mawson Lakes AU, school contact, ARISS-Japan team

• March 14:  After the March 13th EVA, which included disconnecting the new Airbus Bartolomeo cable from the Columbus module, and re-connecting the original older ARISS cable, the following day the crew powered on the ARISS radio system. It had been set by the crew for APRS packet. A bit later, ARISS volunteer Christy Hunter was the first in the US to report making an ARISS packet radio contact, followed by other team members.  The ARISS international team is ecstatic to have the radio operational again!  Thanks goes to NASA, ESA and Airbus, the crew, ARISS team mate Sergey Samburov, and the entire international team.

• February 26:  Estes Park Elementary School (EPES) in Estes Park, CO hosted an ARISS contact for students with Shannon Walker; she answered 18 questions on ISS research and other topics. The Estes Park Memorial Observatory (EPMO) on the school’s campus hosted 23 social-distanced students, teachers, media, school district officials and the principal, and retired astronaut Loren Shriver. The school’s livestream to district schools and the community reaped many live views: 750 students and 100 teachers. The assistant superintendent led off the program and then students and faculty gave short heart-felt presentations on their STEM studies and women in STEM.  See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnPkH2eJM-A.  The ARISS YouTube livestream garnered 650 live views; a few days later this leapt to 1,558 views. Media included: 
• Estes Trail Gazette: https://www.eptrail.com/2021/03/03/out-of-this-world-encounter-for-fifth-graders/
• Channel 9 News NBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=keuMiucgVUk
• Denver CBS News newscast and online story: https://denver.cbslocal.com/2021/02/26/shannon-walker-estes-park-elementary-school-students-astronaut

Estes Park 5th graders’ social studies classes research past and present US and world explorers. The lead teacher said, “This overlaps with the science curriculum and the study of the solar system. In 2020 the 5th-grade teachers pursued a year-long space exploration unit aligning the two programs for the 80 youth. We thought the ARISS program was a perfect melding of the two curricula.” But EPES shared ARISS-related studies with the whole school district, also—1,140 students. EPES partners with the EPMO, which welcomes volunteers who lead activities on astronomy; students and the community watch online and at times can go to the dome for hands-on viewing. EPES’s STEM cross-curricular activity included an introduction to operating amateur radio equipment, exploring ham antennas and ham activities. The lead teacher said, “The Estes Valley Amateur Radio Club and Loren Shriver have been an integral part of the STEM activities. They aided students in following Space-X Expedition 64, ISS crew, and progress of the Perseverance rover. We thank our very own retired astronaut Loren Shriver for time spent and knowledge imparted to our classes and teachers leading up to this day. He has been involved with the school district for many years and always takes the time to inspire and educate our students. After today's contact, he remarked how proud he was of our students.” 

• March 1: Students at Newcastle High School in Newcastle, WY had an ARISS radio contact with Mike Hopkins and he answered 15 of their questions. It was the first ARISS contact for the state of Wyoming. The students linked in from their home computers to an ARISS radio ground station in Oregon, which relayed their audio to Hopkins at the ARISS radio. Attendance tally for the event was 125; teachers counted nearly 400 students who viewed the livestream. It is at https://youtu.be/qdQlKQK5mT4. The school offers college prep and vocational-technical training courses. The Newcastle High School Amateur Radio Club members learned how to operate ham radios and build ham antennas with curriculum tie-ins to their math and science classes. The lead teacher wrote, “We’ve been working on ARISS-related studies for 18 months and activities involved grades K-12, designed to increase awareness and interest in STEM and amateur radio, and to foster an appreciation for STEM career choices.” The school partnered with the North East Wyoming Amateur Radio Association. Media stories ran in the online News Letter Journal and on KGW TV. For the latter, the ARISS radio ground station operator was interviewed on why he enjoys helping ARISS inspire students; see: https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/portland-oregon-man-connects-kids-to-international-space-station/283-ec9e7ff2-8eec-411b-a825-866ebbca6e93

 

• March 3: An ARISS radio contact hosted by the Moldovan Peace Corps (MPC) in Chisinau in the Republic of Moldova allowed youth to talk to Mike Hopkins; he answered 13 questions. This was ARISS’s first contact for Moldova. 90 students aged 10-18 represented a consortium of educational institutions, rural schools, and libraries from 9 Moldovan villages. Students linked to the ARISS ham relay station in Portland, OR through a Zoom connection. The contact was livestreamed on Facebook by both the MPC and the Technical University of Moldova (UTM)--see: https://m.facebook.com/PeaceCorpsMoldova/ and  https://m.facebook.com/UTMoldova/.  Total Facebook viewer count was 1,204 views and within a few days, spiked to 4,900 views. Three articles written about the contact are at:
•  https://diez.md/2021/03/01/elevii-din-tara-vor-putea-dialoga-in-direct-cu-astronautii-de-pe-statia-spatiala-internationala-despre-ce-licee-este-vorba/
• https://www.jurnal.md/ro/news/e863873c15e45b14/apel-intre-rm-si-statia-spatiala-internationala-elevi-si-profesori-de-la-trei-licee-vor-discuta-cu-astronautul-mike-hopkins.html
• https://utm.md/blog/2021/03/01/cnts-utm-liceeni-din-rm-vor-dialoga-in-direct-cu-astronautii-de-pe-statia-spatiala-internationala/  

The MPC focuses on offering youth STEM opportunities and aiding teachers and librarians in implementing STEM curriculum activities. MPC promotes economic and civic development,
fostering local resources in rural and suburban communities. Supporting MPC student activities is the Centre of Excellence for Space Sciences and Technologies within the UTM.

• February 27: Frank Bauer joined Josh Tanner, the Australian filmmaker who produced the thriller Decommissioned, in a 45-minute interview set up by the American Radio Relay League, an ARISS sponsor. In Tanner’s 6-minute thriller by Perception Pictures, ARISS’s SuitSat returns in the future to haunt USS commander “Diaz,” played by Joey Vieira. Back in 2006, the ARISS team converted a surplus Russian Orlan spacesuit into an amateur radio satellite. Tanner explained how he thought of the idea to develop the movie short: he happened upon an image of SuitSat and read its history. He said about the real-life SuitSat floating in space, “They had what looked like a stranded, dead astronaut floating around the Earth…and there were voices of children being transmitted from it.” Bauer described the background of the SuitSat project, telling how it was “…the initial brainchild of ARISS teammate Sergey Samburov, and the ARISS team ran with it. SuitSat-1 transmitted a voice message, ‘This is SuitSat-1 RS0RS!’, in several languages, plus telemetry and a slow-scan TV image on an 8-minute cycle as it orbited Earth.” Tanner and Bauer’s interview was very popular; Facebook and YouTube metrics are:
• Facebook Feb. 27-Mar 7 at: https://www.facebook.com/ARRL.org/posts/10158361971807408
  15,248 People Reached
    2,141 engagement
• YouTube at: https://youtu.be/sqjjZppQPWw

       2,588 Views by March 6
          103.1 watch hours

• March 13: CBS News ran an online story about the day's spacewalk.  Just above the article’s second to last picture is a sentence about the crew reconfiguring the ARISS antenna: "Hopkins also reconfigured a HAM radio antenna on the European Columbus module that failed to work correctly after a recent upgrade and both spacewalkers began work to route two ethernet cables that eventually will be part of an expanded external wi-fi network."  The URL is:  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacewalk-nasa-astronauts-international-space-station/. MSN and another media outlet picked up the CBS story, too.

 

• March 2: ARISS-US Education Committee member Diane Warner developed and presented a webinar hosted by the American Radio Relay League’s (ARRL) Learning Network; ARRL is a sponsor of ARISS. She described her ARISS school contact held in Fairfield, OH, on October 31, 2018 and “How ARISS Affects Schools and Communities.” Those attending the webinar included 5 educators, 2 school administrators, 2 students, and 43 adults who are interested in ARISS school contacts. The recorded webinar will be available for months to come.

 

• March 3: The Idaho STEM Action Center (ISAC) bestowed an INDEEDS Award (Industry’s Excellent Educator Dedicated to STEM) to ARISS-US Education Committee member Gina Kwid. She teaches elementary engineering at Galileo STEM Academy in Eagle, ID, has taught in the West Ada School District for 15 years, and is heavily involved in leading extracurricular robotics programs. Her school hosted a 2019 ARISS contact and she presented talks on ARISS at the Space Exploration Educators Conference. A technical mentor wrote: “Gina is the embodiment of STEM and excellence in education.”  The yearly INDEEDS Award goes to two Idaho educators who create unique opportunities for students to experience the fun and excitement of STEM by integrating real-world experiences and hands-on activities into the classroom.  ISAC is “committed to ensuring equitable access to STEM pathways for all Idaho students, educators, and communities” and ISAC engineers “innovative opportunities for educators, students, communities, and industry to build a competitive Idaho workforce and economy through STEM and computer science education.”

 

• March 4: The online newsletter Media INAF written by Italy’s National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) ran an article titled “ARISS project; astronauts talk to schools.” The author interviewed ARISS volunteers Micol Ivancic and Claudio Ariotti on how European schools can participate in ARISS. INAF is considered the most important Italian institution conducting scientific research in astronomy and astrophysics, and funds and operates 20 research facilities. 

 

• March 11: ARISS won an award from ISS National Lab Space Station Explorers (INL-SSE) that will now be presented each quarter. The award goes to 1 of the 44 SSE programs that carries out an exemplary job of submitting quarterly metrics. ARISS’s award is a framed mission patch that was flown on the ISS.  INL-SSE’s Samantha Thorstensen said: “ARISS does a great job with collecting metrics.”

 

• March 11: Students from the Avoca State School in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia took part in an ARISS contact. More details will be available in next week’s report. 

         Upcoming Events

• Mar 17  Goodwood Primary School, Adelaide, S. Australia, AU, school contact, ARISS Australian team
  
• Mar 22 Oakwood School, Morgan Hill CA, school contact, ARISS-US team                
  

• February 24: Frank Bauer and Kathy Lamont presented to the education committee members from the User Advisory Group of the National Space Council sanctioned by the White House to coordinate space.  The presentation included the following:
  • in-depth review of ARISS including many of ARISS’s metrics
  • the months-long STEM activities building up to each school’s radio contact
  • activities beyond ones tied to ARISS contacts, i.e., ARISS Radio Experimenters Kit, and
  • teachers’ quotes on ARISS’s effectiveness for improving students’ STEM interests.

Many listeners expressed great interest in ARISS, including AIAA and Eileen Collins. She was an astronaut and ham radio operator who supported Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment radio contacts prior to ARISS coming into being.

• Feb 24: Students from John F. Kennedy High School in Denver, CO engaged in an ARISS radio contact with Mike Hopkins; he answered 17 of their questions. Due to COVID-19, students at home connected virtually, and the link between them and Hopkins’ radio was via an ARISS radio ground station in Oregon. A YouTube video livestreamed for the public, seen by 164 people, has now been viewed by 798 individuals; the URL is: https://youtu.be/1RgszX0npbQ.  Raytheon had funded a space lab for the school to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch. The lab affords engineering students hands-on engagements tied to a curriculum applicable to space engineering related to the ISS: exploring ISS-Above cameras, amateur radio, and engineering communications. Some activities included building a solar and hydrogen fuel cell car and how this applied to the ISS, bioengineering/growing plants in space, and solar-system modeling. Students built electronic kits related to amateur radio and constructed a radio antenna so as to try radio direction-finding. The school partnered with the Rocky Mountain Ham Radio group and Cherry Creek Young Amateur Radio Club to mentor students.
  

•  Feb 19: Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, NH held an ARISS radio contact for Shannon Walker to be interviewed by students at home in 40 communities in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. An ARISS Mentor in Hollis, NH transmitted the audio between Walker’s radio and students; she answered 14 questions.  Several outlets provided livestreaming to 2,022 viewers. The ARISS YouTube video is at https://youtu.be/0-Dsel4_7gM and had 642 views. Many media outlets posted reports. WMUR-TV interviewed students on Zoom and aired this on both the evening and following morning news broadcasts—see https://youtu.be/B0KtrKoTDjA. New Hampshire Public Radio’s article and audio are at https://www.nhpr.org/post/nashua-students-connect-outer-space-home#stream/0. Boston’s WCVB-TV News carried a story (https://www.wcvb.com/article/new-hampshire-students-chat-with-international-space-station-astronaut/35605567) as did the NH Union Leader and Nashua’s The Telegraph.  Student prep for the ARISS contact included an 18-month curriculum of STEM for all grades; some examples are space exploration, life in space, and the importance of the ISS research and radio communications. The school supports extracurricular STEM-related activities in student-organized clubs--astronomy, 3-D printing, robotics, and ham radio. Over the past four years, the school collaborated with the Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) on many student STEM activities; a few examples are understanding radio communication, building kits to send Morse code messages, and launching/tracking two high-altitude balloons with ham radio payloads. Students formally presented their collected balloon data at a NARS meeting. Activities mentored by NARS inspired a number of students to earn their ham radio licenses. The STEM Club teacher was impressed with the collaboration; she said: “THIS WAS AMAZING!!! We are so impressed by the students, faculty and partners at NARS! How fortunate our students are to have had this experience. Thanks to ALL involved. We are just blown away.”
  

• February 19: Students from Estes Park (CO) Elementary School engaged in many STEM studies in the months before their ARISS contact; details about the contact will be in next week’s report. One lesson included composing messages for thank-you cards to give to the Estes Valley Amateur Radio Club (EVARC) members who mentored students. A teacher described another lesson, done via Zoom:  “EVARC members engaged our 5th graders in an awesome Q & A about ham radio operations. The kids asked some really fantastic questions!” A few students want to get their ham radio license, and one girl said she is studying for it.   

 

• January 23: ARISS-US Education Committee member Neil Rapp presented a forum on Youth On The Air (YOTA) and ARISS at Winterfest 2021, hosted annually by the St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club, this time, virtually. Rapp spoke about the yearly YOTA event, this year’s in July, where activities include an ARISS contact and trying out radio satellite contacts. Attending the forum were over 5,000 viewers from the US, the UK, India, Indonesia, Germany, Austria, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden.  

 

• February 25: ARISS leaders John Kludt and Kathy Lamont led an ARISS Proposal Webinar for US educators with an interest in hosting an ARISS contact in 2021.  29 registrants participated in the introduction to ARISS.  

 

• February 28: ARISS Volunteer and JVC Kenwood engineer Shin Aota presented a 10-minute talk at the Japanese JAIA Fair on the ARISS radio station (with its JVC Kenwood radio) in the ISS Columbus Module. The live audience totaled 458 with 3,348 viewers afterwards. The online event, sponsored by JAIA (Japan Amateur Radio Industries Association), was held near Tokyo in previous years.

 

• March 2-3: The ARISS team has worked very closely with NASA and ESA to identify potential ARISS radio anomaly causes and resolve the radio issues observed after the January 27th EVA.  Cabling had been installed to support commissioning the Bartolomeo platform, rerouting the cabling of the ARISS antenna to the ARISS radio system. A set of APRS tests employing three different internal cabling configurations has determined the ARISS radio system is still not operational.  Ham radio operators around the globe monitored the ARISS radio frequency for any transmission to be heard, but nothing was detected. A contingency task was approved for the March 5th EVA to return the ARISS cabling to the original configuration prior to the January 27th EVA, but there was not enough time for the crew to perform this task.

Social Media

Facebook - February 2021

Twitter: As of February 28, 2021, ARISS Twitter followers totaled 14,345, a slight gain over January.
 
Instagram: As of February 28, 2021, Instagram followers increased to 288, an 8% gain over January.
 
YouTube Members: As of February 28, 2021, there are 1,102 YouTube members.
 
ARISS Web Unique Pageviews:  For February 1 – 28, the total of Unique Pageviews was 40,323.

• Feb 13-14: Three ARISS-US Education Committee members gave presentations at the online 2021 Orlando HamCation. 
  1. Melissa Pore and two of her high school students presented to 110 Zoom viewers on using ARISS and amateur radio in space to enhance school science and engineering classes.  Another 103 people viewed the recording.
  2. Alan Johnston’s presentation included two of Pore’s students and how they and she engaged with the AMSAT CubeSat simulator in class, and how other educators can. This device lets students experiment with operations and features of a typical ham radio CubeSat. Live views totaled 212. Another 211 people viewed the recording.
  3. Neil Rapp, who won the convention’s 2021 educator award, was vetted for his STEM education efforts and he spoke about Young Operators on The Air (YOTA) and its tie to ARISS. YOTA is a nationwide group of young hams and has been selected for an ARISS contact in 2021. Rapp reported 67 live views and 10 watching the recording afterwards.

• February 13: ARISS volunteer Melissa Pore teaches engineering at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA and she and her students took part in a Zoom meeting hosted by the University of Southern Maine (USM). The event kicked off the formal opening of the USM CubeSat Design Competition and Pore’s students want to compete. Meeting attendees included 10 high school teachers, 10 professors, and 10 industry professionals.  Students viewed the recorded session.

• February 12: ARISS recently opened a window to accept ARISS Education Proposals from education institutions interested in hosting ARISS contacts. In addition to the ARISS team distributing a news release to many media outlets about the window opening, the NASA EXPRESS newsletter received a blurb from ARISS. The blurb was accepted. NASA EXPRESS went to 50,918 subscribers and was shared through the Office of STEM Engagement’s social media tools with 299,777 @NASASTEM Twitter followers, 90,413 NASA STEM Engagement Facebook followers, and 372,820 NASA STEM Pinterest followers. This means NASA EXPRESS content will be viewed by 813,928 followers.

 

• February 15: Rosalie White gave a talk on “The ARISS Mission” to 14 amateur radio clubs associated with Boeing companies around the US.  Boeing sponsors two main types of clubs; they are called Boeing Employees Amateur Radio Society, a general-interest ham club and Boeing Auxiliary Communications Services, focused on ham radio emergency communications. Tying in were 29 members and 3 guests who were educators.  

 

• February 19: Students at home from Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, NH, had an ARISS radio contact with Shannon Walker. Details will be available for next week’s report.

 

• February 24-26: Two ARISS schools in Colorado received tentative schedules (due to the NG-15 launch) for an ARISS contact—Estes Park Elementary School and JFK High School.

         Upcoming Events

• Feb19   Bishop Guertin High School, Nashua NH, ARISS contact
  
• Feb 24  JFK High School, Denver CO, ARISS contact                                   
  
• Feb 26  Estes Park Elementary School, Estes Park CO, ARISS contact