ARISS News Release                                                                                               No.24-15

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

aa4kn@amsat.org

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at

St. John’s School Authority, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada

 

March 25, 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 St. John’s School Authority located in St. John's, NL.  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.

 

Newfoundland (NL) Schools is an entity of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador which teaches English-speaking students in K to 12 public schools in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Currently NL Schools includes over 63,000 students, over 250 schools, and over 10,000 employees. This ARISS contact directly links to the school’s Science 9 curriculum as students complete a full unit on space, including classes specific to the ISS. There are 4 schools (and associated Science 9 classes) involved in this ARISS contact: Leary's Brook Junior High, St. Paul's Junior High, Mount Pearl Intermediate, and Amalgamated Academy.

 

This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Loral O’Hara, amateur radio call sign KI5TOM. 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 Aartselaar, Belgium. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the callsign ON4ISS, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

 

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for March 27, 2024 at 1:55:27 pm NDT (Newfoundland) (16:25 UTC, 12:25 pm EDT, 11:25 am CDT, 10:25 am MDT, 9:25 am PDT).

 

The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://www.youtube.com/@fidlerville

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As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. Can you describe what Earth looks like from your view? 

2. Did you learn anything in Junior High that is useful to your life as an astronaut?

3. How do you respond to serious injury or illness while in space?

4. What kinds of experiments are being carried out on board the ISS these days?

5. How long did it take to become an astronaut?  What was your path/education that led to this career?

6. Does being on the ISS give you the same feeling as pulling out of your driveway to go on a trip, or is there a different sense of homesickness?

7. Do you believe there could be life on another planet? 

8. Is there anything that surprised you about space?

9. What is more uncomfortable on your journey into space - ascending into space or descending back to Earth?

10. How do you keep a daily routine without a single sunrise/sunset?

11. What is the travel time to the space station?

12. How does being on the ISS change your appreciation for planet Earth?

13. How do you use the bathroom in space? 

14. What advice do you have for students who are interested in pursuing space science as a potential career?

15. How does the ISS protect itself from space debris?

16. Does your physical view and perspective on space change while you are on station? 

17. How many people are in the space station right now? How big is the station itself?

 

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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