ARISS News Release No.24-03
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at
Istituto Comprensivo “Anna Rita Sidoti”, Gioiosa Marea, Italy
January 22, 2024—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an Axiom Mission (Ax-3) astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Anna Rita Sidoti Institute located in Gioiosa Marea, Italy. 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.
The Gioiosa Marea’s Institute “Anna Rita Sidoti”, serves about 730 students in three school levels; nursery, primary and lower secondary. The school will engage all students in preparation for this ARISS contact and is supported by local radio amateur members of the Italian Radioamateur Associaion (ARI) who will provide practical and technical support for the event.
This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Walter Villadei, amateur radio call sign IUØRWB. Villadei is a colonel in the Italian Air Force (ItAF), and the pilot for Axiom Space’s Ax-3 mission to the ISS on the SpaceX Dragon. Villadei currently lives in Rome, Italy, and is honored to have this opportunity to not only achieve one of his greatest life’s dreams, but also to use the Ax-3 mission to ignite a passion for STEM education in teachers and students worldwide to each pursue their ambitions. 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 Gioiosa Marea, Italy. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the callsign IT9DBI, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for January 24, 2024 at 3:37:22 pm CET (Italy) (14:37:22 UTC, 9:37 am EST, 8:37 am CST, 7:37 am MST, 6:37 am PST).
The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://www.icgioiosa.edu.it/2-uncategorised/1604-axiom-social-news-eventi-comunicati
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
English Translation:
1. At what age did your passion for space begin?
2. In space can you surf the internet and use social media?
3. Can you cook hot food in the space or do you eat cold food from the refrigerator?
4. Which of an astronaut's five senses is most affected by microgravity?
5. How and how much do you sleep in space?
6. How did you feel before leaving on a mission?
7. Have you ever seen unidentified objects outside the spacecraft?
8. How do you take care of your daily hygiene?
9. How did you prepare before leaving for space?
10. Do you ever get bored?
11. Do you experience good or bad sensations in a state of microgravity? Is it annoying to be in a state of microgravity after a while?
12. During this mission what type of research will you carry out?
13. How do you contact family members from space?
14. How do you use the toilets in Space?
15. What is the thing you miss most about the Earth?
16. What do you do in your free time on the space station?
17. Do any of you write a logbook?
18. How is time perceived in space?
19. Even though you have chosen to go on a space mission, and even though you have been physically and psychologically prepared, do you ever feel afraid?
20. Do you astronauts always float inside the space station, or is there a room with Earth's gravity on board?
About Axiom Mission 3:
As the first all-European commercial astronaut mission to the ISS, Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) redefines the pathway to low-Earth orbit for nations around the globe. This mission marks a new era of opportunity for countries to join the international space community and access low-Earth orbit to advance exploration and research in microgravity.
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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