Dinner conversation the other evening.
Dad: "Suzie, what did you do in school today?"
"Science class was pretty cool today. We have been teaching our robot, Robbie, to move through a maze.last week my group was the first to make it through the maze without hitting the sides. So today, Ms. Smith allowed us to send the commands we made up to move Robbie through the maze up to the International Space Station and back down to Robbie. We used ham radio to do it. I got to push the computer key that actually send the commands! There was some raspy sounds from the radio speaker, a delay, like a hundred hours.well it seemed like a long time. and then Robbie started to go through the maze!"
"Wow, that's pretty amazing."
"Yes it is. We listen for radio signals from the ISS all the time, but this is the first time that we ever sent our own radio signal to the ISS from the radio in our classroom. And I know that our radio waves were heard in space because the signals came right back down to Robbie and we watched him move through the maze.just like Mission Control does to make Curiosity move on Mars."
Dad: "Well I didn't know you were an astronaut."
"Ah Dad, not yet, but I will be some day." ".I'm sure you will Suzie."
Interested how you can help your school do this? Ask me, mspencer@arrl.org.
Mark Spencer, WA8SME
Education and Technology Program Director
ARRL, the national association for Amateur RadioTM
43 Pinelock Dr.
Gales Ferry, CT 06335
860-381-5335
860-460-1139 (cell)
mspencer@arrl.org