ARISS News Release No. 24-25
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at
Pleasant Knoll Middle School, Ft. Mill, South Carolina, USA
April 20, 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 Pleasant Knoll Middle School located in Ft. Mill, SC. 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.
Pleasant Knoll Middle School is a suburban, public school with about 950 students in grades 6-8. In eighth grade science courses, students learn the differences between digital and analog by demonstrations with amateur radio, radio science and wave propagation. Space science is also taught throughout the school’s curriculum. The school has partnered with members of the York County Amateur Radio Society (K4YTZ) who have been providing students with various STEM activities/experiments that included: Stirling Engine, Tesla Ball, Grid Map and magnetic compass, CW (Morse code) with practice oscillators, Lenz's Law with copper tubing, Homo Polar motors, and using a multi-meter. In preparation for this ARISS contact students have also been listening to a recording of an amateur radio contact with ISS astronauts.
This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Matthew Dominick, amateur radio call sign KCØTOR. 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 Ft. Mill, SC. Amateur radio operators using call sign K4YTZ, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for April 22, 2024 at 12:10:29 pm EDT (SC) (16:10:29 UTC, 11:10 am CDT, 10:10 am MDT, 9:10 am PDT).
The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://youtube.com/live/L-7BmSktTNg?feature=share and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI1VxynMBmo
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. What is the most interesting thing you have seen up there?
2. What made you interested in being an astronaut?
3. How long did it take you to adjust to living in no gravity?
4. What is a typical day on the ISS like for you?
5. What is the consistency of your food and how does it taste?
6. Are the vegetables you grow there as tasty as the ones we grow on Earth?
7. What happens if you get sick?
8. How do you go to the bathroom?
9. If you can’t shower, how do you keep yourself clean?
10. What is the most unexpected thing you have learned during your time in space?
11. The main purpose of the ISS is to conduct scientific research. What are the main science experiments your crew is currently performing aboard the station?
12. What advice would you give someone who wants to be where you are?
13. Is Artificial Intelligence used on the ISS as of today?
14. What games do you play?
15. What are the long-term effects of being in space?
16. What is the first thing you plan to do when you return to Earth?
17. How do you communicate and maintain contact with your loved ones on Earth?
18. Could you tell us one everyday life thing that is easier to do in space than on Earth?
19. How do you recycle your water?
20. What is your opinion on space tourism?
21. How does the perception of time and space change during a prolonged space mission?
22. What is something that surprised you that you didn’t expect about living in space?
23. Do you think we will find evidence of life beyond Earth?
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
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