ARISS News Release No.24-22
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at
Mountain View Elementary, Marietta, Georgia, USA
April 15, 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 Mountain View Elementary located in Marietta, GA. 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.
Mountain View Elementary School is a K-5 public school that serves over 830 students. Students have been involved in many cross-curricular projects and activities that included: achieved World Space Week Champions after designing a self-sustaining space settlement, designed several mission patches, worked with bluShift Aerospace on a hot/cold engine test, worked with MaxIQ Space on a Suborbital Launch Test in conjunction with the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal in South Africa. The school also has an annual schoolwide water rocket contest called Launchapalooza. Students have worked with Citizen Science on the Monarch Butterfly Migration, designed a dog prosthetic for a dog name Lyla and have designed dog park equipment for special needs dogs. This year, students have also utilized ARISS SPARKI kits, the GeoChron system, learned about aquanaut training, participated in an amateur radio directional finding (fox hunt) event on campus, and have learned how Cube Satellites work. In preparation of the ARISS contact, students have tracked the ISS during ARISS/SSTV broadcasts resulting in them decoding seven images. The school is supported by the Cherokee Amateur Radio Society, North Fulton Amateur Radio League, Cobb County Library System, bluShift Aerospace, and Cobb EMC.
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 Marietta, Georgia. Amateur radio operators using call sign KQ4JVI, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for April 18, 2024 at 1:48:40 pm EDT (GA) (17:48:40 UTC, 12:48 pm CDT, 11:48 am MDT, 10:48 am PDT).
The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://youtube.com/live/lDjyV6P9x6I
_______________________________
As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. Since things float, is there physical friction in space?
2. What is the worst emergency to have on the ISS and what do you do?
3. Does zero gravity affect how your body processes food?
4. If you broke a bone in space, would you heal the same as you would on Earth?
5. Do you feel anxious thinking about returning to your home since time creates change?
6. What is the most high-tech item on the ISS not well-known by others?
7. What's the biggest problem about the ISS?
8. On the ISS, does the crew have full access or are there areas that are off limits?
9. Have you ever had to borrow parts from one item to fix a different item on the ISS?
10. If you were given the option to live on the ISS permanently, what would your reaction be and would you accept?
11. From your unique view in space, are there noticeable patterns that show how greenhouse gases might be impacting our planet?
12. Which is a better feeling: getting to space or living in space?
13. Are you your own doctor if you get sick?
14. When you sweat on the ISS from exercise, does the sweat fall off you like it does on Earth?
15. What kind of experiments do you choose to work on, and why?
16. How did it feel when you left the Earth’s gravitational pull?
17. Do you use robots on the ISS and what do they do?
18. Have you noticed an immediate change in your body after being in space?
19. Besides exercise, eat, play, and rest, are there any other things you need to do for your body while living in space?
20. How do you get dressed in space without floating away?
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
Find us on social media at:
X: ARISS_Intl
Facebook: facebook.com/ARISSIntl
Instagram: ariss_intl
Mastodon: [email protected]
Check out ARISS on Youtube.com.