ARISS News Release No. 24-26
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at
Thrive Home School Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
April 20, 2024—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Thrive Home School Academy located in Colorado Springs, CO. ARISS conducts 60-100 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
Thrive Home School Academy (THSA) opened in 2009 and serves home schooled students in grades K-12, with 367 students. The school offers students a one-day-per-week full school day program that is highly interactive and experiential and engages students in hands-on activities. THSA also offers an array of extracurricular activities to further enhance students’ learning outside of the classroom. THSA has also worked with Growing Beyond Earth on the NASA Veggie Project with Dr. Goia Massa for the last six years, allowing one of their students, who has worked on this project over the last two years, to ask a question based on that work. While STEM education is a focus within the district, in the 2023-24 school year and leading up to this ARISS contact, the curriculum is focusing on space technologies and radio communication. Some of the student activities incorporate principals of the electromagnetic spectrum, orbital mechanics, electronics, and ham radio and satellite communications. THSA is being supported in the way of ham radio technical instruction and ham radio communication lesson plans by members of the Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association (AFØS).
This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Jeanette Epps, amateur radio call sign KF5QNU. 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 relay ground station.
The amateur radio ground station for this contact is in Colorado Springs, CO. Amateur radio operators using call sign AFØS, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for April 22, 2024 at 11:42:36 am MDT (CO, USA) (17:42:36 UTC, 1:42 pm EDT, 12:42 pm CDT, 10:42 am PDT).
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. Do things smell or taste differently in space?
2. What is your favorite meal while on the International Space Station?
3. How did it feel to walk in space?
4. How many rooms does the ISS have, and do you have your own bedroom?
5. If the ISS travels at 17000 mph, why do you float?
6. Based on the research from the Veggie Project, could you grow a fruit-bearing bonsai tree in space?
7. How do you keep up your muscle mass?
8. How much power would it take to reach the nearest neutron star?
9. How do you communicate with your family when you are in space?
10. How does it feel to take off in a rocket?
11. What inspired you to become an astronaut?
12. What is your favorite thing you have seen in space?
13. When do you come back from space and how will you get back?
14. Do you operate and sleep on Universal time or Houston time?
15. Do you feel like you’re falling all the time? If not, how long does it last until you get used to it?
16. What is one mission you’ve done onboard, and do you like doing them?
17. Can you play a musical instrument on the ISS?
18. Can you see constellations from the ISS?
19. What is one thing you will do differently because of your experience in space?
20. What movie or show inspires you about space?
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 ISS. In the United States, sponsors are the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN) and the ISS National Lab—Space Station Explorers. 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 http://www.ariss.org
Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
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