An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Farmwell Station Middle School Space Dreamers, Ashburn, VA on 29 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 15:01 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and K4LRG. The contact should be audible over the state of Virginia and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.
Story:
Farmwell Station Middle School is a public school located in the suburbs of Ashburn, Virginia close to our nation's capital. Our school has a diverse population attracted by a variety of work opportunities in the area. We have 1,186 students who attend and are in sixth through eighth grade. The native languages spoken by our students include English, French, German, Spanish, Urdu, Farsi, Mandarin, Korean, Hindi, Dari and Arabic. Our cluster schools (elementary and high) are going to be participating in this contact, so that we can include as many students as possible for this experience.
The mission of Loudoun County Public Schools is "Empowering all students to make meaningful contributions to the world." Our school is committed to building a culture of continuous improvement by developing strong partnerships with families and our community. Our goal is to develop knowledgeable critical thinkers, communicators, collaborators, creators, and contributors through a series of rich learning experiences that are connected to the real world.
Through this contact we want to raise awareness for STEM subjects and bring them alive for our students by investigating various topics dealing with space exploration, research, and communication technologies. We have a Space Dreamers Student Ambassadors Club here at Farmwell Station Middle School. The club's goal is to provide an ongoing opportunities for students to share knowledge and information with other students in their school about space science. Ambassadors will help plan events or activities such as rocket launches, the Tomatosphere project, and field trips. Our school purchased an ISS Above to provide our students with the opportunity to watch the live feed as they eat lunch.
Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows:
1. Can you grow plants in space?
2. Did you bring anything to remind you of home with you to Space?
3. At the start of the 19th century, how were pigeons used in the early
form of remote sensing?
4. Do you believe that we can create Faster Than Light travel?
5. How does the oxygen in the space suit work?
6. How is the technology from other fields of science creating
engineering to make it safer for the astronauts?
7. When you're in space, how do you go places you want without floating
in the opposite direction?
8. How do you conduct experiments that test how physical laws are
different in a low gravity state?
9. Do you have any way to know where you are in space such as
landmarks?
10. What improvements have you made in biotech engineering on making a
sustainable environment?
11. Do microgravity tests and examines on astronauts play a key role in
shaping longer and safer future missions?(Astronauts from the ISS
get examined to see if the insides of their bodies have changed or
how the body works while they are in microgravity.)
12. Has being on the ISS changed your perspective on earth?
13. When did you develop your passion for science and career as an
astronaut?
14. What is the most important and current experiment you are working
on in space right now?
15. How often do you have to make repairs on the International Space
Station?
16. How the images of unknown areas differ based on the camera angle
and how do you identify the type of organisms and other new-found
things?
17. Does space radiation affect you in any way?
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Next planned event(s):
TBD
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 International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org.
Thank you & 73,
David - AA4KN
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