ARISS News Release                                                                                             No.24-28

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

aa4kn@amsat.org

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at

Wireless Institute of Australia / Bundaberg High School Amateur Radio Club, Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia

 

May 2, 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 Wireless Institute of Australia / Bundaberg High School Amateur Radio Club, Bundaberg in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia.  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.

 

Bundaberg State High School, operating since 1912, serves more than 1600 students in grades 7-12. The science faculty regularly collaborate with other local high schools, feeder primary schools, TAFE (Technical and further education training), local Universities and local community business and agencies to develop curricular and extra-curricular programs, including STEM and Science Ambassador programs. Science courses include physics courses on Forces, energy waves, and electromagnetic radiation, and Earth Science courses on the Solar System (the Big Bang Theory).

 

This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Mike Barratt, amateur radio call sign KD5MIJ. 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 telebridge station.

 

The ARISS amateur radio ground station (telebridge station) for this contact is in Meadow Spring, Australia. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the callsign VK6MJ, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

 

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for May 4, 2024 at 8:28 pm AEST (Queensland) (10:28:24 UTC, 6:28 am EDT, 5:28 am CDT, 4:28 am MDT, 3:28 am PDT).

 

 

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As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. What are the training requirements before going to space?

2. How fast do you have to travel to go through Earth’s atmosphere and how did you feel when you were first taking off into space?

3. How do you maneuver in and outside of the ISS given there is no gravity?

4. What generic things are surprisingly more difficult to do up there than down here on earth?

5. What do you have to eat in space and have you noted any changes in your digestive system since your arrival on ISS?

6. How many hours are you awake for in the international space station every day and how does the crew sleep at night with the very low gravity?

7. What is the current mission, tasks and research being completed on the ISS?

8. What’s the most profound revelation you’ve had while looking at the stars?

9. What tasks are you doing immediately after talking with us?

10. Can you describe the moment you first saw Earth from space?

11. Do you have sense of direction in space and do you look up or down at Earth?

12. How long have you been on the International Space Station and how much longer will you stay there, also do we know how long is it safe to be in space for?

13. What do you find most exhilarating about spacewalks?

14. What made you want to be an astronaut and when did you discover this?

 

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

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Media Contact:

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

                                                                              

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