ARISS News Release No.23-22
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at
Fairview Elementary, Olathe, Kansas, USA
May 16, 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 Fairview Elementary located in Olathe, KS. 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.
Fairview Elementary is a Title 1 public elementary school with an enrollment of 250 students in grades Pre-K through 5th in Olathe, Kansas. Olathe is a city of 140,000 just outside Kansas City. Fairview Elementary has partnered with the Astronomical Society of Kansas City (ASKC) to provide an annual Astronomy Night for 3rd – 5th grade students and their families. Students and their families observed the night sky through 6-8 telescopes, experienced a STARLAB guided tour of the night sky, and were given a small piece of asteroid to take home. During the first year, approximately 100 people attended this event. Approximately 150 attended the second year, and for the 3rd annual Astronomy Night all students and their families will be invited. Some members of ASKC also hold active amateur radio licenses and are members of local HAM clubs (Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club-KS0KS and Johnson County Radio Amateurs Club-W0ERH). These members, as well as the organization AMSAT (Amateur Radio in Space) have provided support for this ARISS contact. Ham radio operators have also demonstrated radio technology and communications to students in the school’s Science Club. Students have also participated in demonstrations of digital and voice communications through satellites provided by members of the Johnson County Radio Amateurs Club. Through these STEM-related lessons, activities, and events that have led up to and that will follow this ARISS contact, the school hopes to show students how exciting, engaging, challenging, and most importantly, attainable a STEM career can be.
This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of Astronaut Warren Hoburg, amateur radio call sign KB3HTZ. 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 Andergrove, Mackay,
Queensland, Australia. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the callsign VK4ISS, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for May 19, 2023 at 1:58 pm CDT (Olathe) (18:58 UTC, 2:58 pm EDT, 12:58 pm MDT, 11:58 am PDT).
The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://youtube.com/live/7eSFpxe0Fro?feature=share
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. What is the most difficult thing about being an astronaut?
2. Has the ISS ever gotten close to a meteor and have you gotten any pictures of it?
3. How many languages are there on the ISS and are the controls only in English?
4. Is it easy to go to the bathroom in space?
5. Why do astronauts go to outer space?
6. What do the stars look like from the space station?
7. What would happen if you fell off the space station?
8. How much did it cost to build the SpaceX rocket ship and how much gas did you need to get to the ISS?
9. Have you seen an exoplanet like Kepler 22b?
10. What does the horizon look like from the space station?
11. What do you eat in space and where does it come from?
12. Have you ever done a backflip in space?
13. How can I be an astronaut?
14. How do you grow plants on the space station?
15. Has anything gone wrong after you went up to space?
16. What do you think of your job because sometimes you miss things like birthdays, funerals, and other important stuff?
17. In case of emergency and you have to abandon the space station, how will you be able to escape to earth safe and sound?
18. What do you do for fun on the space station?
19. How long does it take to get to the space station?
20. How do you know what time it is in space? Can you tell if it's day or night?
21. What is your favorite thing to do on the ISS and when you get home?
22. What is the longest amount of time you have spent in space?
23. What does it feel like to sit on top of a rocket when it blasts off?
24. How do you adjust from gravity on earth to no gravity in space?
25. How long do you stay on the space station?
26. What happens if you get sick on the space station?
27. Do you float while you sleep?
28. Do you exercise in space and do you shower?
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-Space Station Explorers, Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) and NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN). 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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