ARISS News Release No. 24-51

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at

Instituto de Aplicação Fernando Rodrigues da Silveira (CAp-UERJ) and The State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

September 11, 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 two schools in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 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.

Joint participation during this ARISS contact will involve students from the Instituto de Aplicação Fernando Rodrigues da Silveira (CAp-UERJ) and State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). The Instituto de Aplicação has 1100 students, ages 6 to 18 and is an academic unit of the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), focused on basic education and the training of future teachers. University graduates have the opportunity to experience the school's classroom environment as interns.

Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ) is a public research university with about 43,000 students, and 90 undergraduate programs, 63 master's degree programs, and 46 doctorate degree programs. This ARISS contact is supported by members of the Liga de Amateurs Brasileiros de Rádio Emissão (LABRE).

This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Sunita Williams, amateur radio call sign KD5PLB. 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 Rio de Janeiro. Amateur radio operators using call sign PY1AX, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for September 13, 2024 at 2:25:47 pm BRT (Rio de Janeiro) (17:25:47 UTC, 1:25 pm EDT, 12:25 pm CDT, 11:25 am MDT, 10:25 am PDT).

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As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. At what age did you become interested and decide to pursue the astronaut job? What were the first steps that you took in order to kickstart your career?

2. What are your guesses for the future space missions?

3. How do you think leaving Earth and seeing space in its real scope can alter someone's perspective about society and existence?

4. I want to know how someone adapts to gravity in space?

5. How many people can be on the ISS at the same time? When do you transfer to Earth? Do you have a time limit, get a radio call and just leave, or stay inside until you run out of resources, like food or water?

6. I would like to know what the routine is like on the ISS, how do you shower, sleep and eat?

7. After spending time in space, what are the main effects you have felt on Earth as a result of the difference in atmospheric pressure? Like, disorientation? headache?

8. What unexpected challenges or surprises have you encountered in microgravity that you didn't anticipate during your training on Earth?

9. What happens if an astronaut gets sick or has any medical emergency on board the space station?

10. How does an astronaut regulate their sleep in orbit? Does it take time in the station or is it previously trained on land?

11. Do you ever get a day off, like Saturday or Sunday? If so, what activities or hobbies do you do when you are not working?

12. What has been most challenging so far about becoming an astronaut?

13. On the ISS, is there the use of programming languages for image processing? Or the use of satellite image processing to analyze the weather conditions of other planets?

14. How is the flavor of the ISS food?

15. How do you repair damaged parts of the ISS? Do you have a 3D printer on board? If not, how do you machine a part?

16. Are Earth's climate changes noticeable by the space station crew? If so, how intense is it and what are astronauts' perceptions of climate change on our planet?

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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