ARISS News Release No.23-63
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at
Harbor Creek School, Harborcreek, Pennsylvania, USA
December 8, 2023—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 Harbor Creek School in Harborcreek, PA. ARISS conducts 60-80 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
Harbor Creek Senior High School provides students STEM-related learning activities that include the opportunity to join/participate in the school’s amateur radio and STEM club - Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) (KC3SGV). About 30 of ATG’s student club members (grades 7-12) have been preparing for this ARISS contact - having built the antennas, and learning the various systems and skills needed to make a successful ISS contact, with many of these students having earned their FCC ham licenses. For this ARISS contact, students will be using ATG’s radio station. ATG’s past activities have included high-altitude balloon launches, amateur radio competitions, fox hunting, and Geocaching. Earlier this year, students launched a high-altitude balloon that had live APRS tracking, weather data collection instruments, GPS tracking, and live HD video broadcast for most of the flight. Other 2023 club projects allowed students to learn astrophotography using a tracking mount and software, discover how to map the universe’s hydrogen levels through radio astronomy, and receive images of the Earth from the NOAA GOES satellite. The school has also partnered with members of the Wattsburg Wireless Association, Amateur Radio Club (K3WWA), who have provided, and continues to provide students very helpful support.
This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of Astronaut Andreas Mogensen, amateur radio call sign KG5GCZ. 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 Harborcreek, PA. Amateur radio operators using call sign KC3SGV, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for December 11, 2023 at 8:45 am EST (PA, USA) (13:45 UTC, 7:45 am CST, 6:45 am MST, 5:45 am PST).
The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTechnologiesGroup
_______________________________
As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. How will the work astronauts are doing today help humanity in the future?
2. How soon do you see living in space as a possibility in the future?
3. Do you believe we are alone in the universe, and why?
4. What is the hardest thing to acclimate to on the ISS?
5. What is the most fun or interesting thing about living in space that you would not be able to do on earth?
6. What is the first thing you plan to do when you get back to Earth? (Not required NASA stuff.)
7. What is the biggest challenge in future space exploration?
8. What other professions were you interested in prior to NASA, and are you still interested in them?
9. What or who inspired you to become an astronaut?
10. What was the biggest challenge you had to face in order to become an astronaut, and why?
11. Why do you think that space exploration is important?
12. How long did it take you to adapt to zero G?
13. What tasks do you enjoy doing the most and least on the ISS?
14. What do you see as the future of space flight?
15. What is something you didn't expect to miss about living on Earth, after being on board the ISS?
16. How do you see private companies and NASA working together in the future?
17. What was your most challenging experience in space? What made the experience so challenging?
18. Did you have any concerns about your travel when you first went into space, and do you still have these concerns?
19. Were there any times where you felt it was never possible to become an astronaut, and why?
20. Can you describe the diversity of the crew on ISS, and how you work together to accomplish the mission?
21. How do you stay in touch with your family while onboard the ISS?
22. What was the first thing you missed about Earth, and why?
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 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:
Twitter: ARISS_Intl
Facebook: facebook.com/ARISSIntl
Instagram: ariss_intl
Mastodon: ariss_intl@mastodon.hams.social
Check out ARISS on Youtube.com.