ARISS News Release No.24-37

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Participants at

Youth On the Air 2024, Mount Saint Vincent University, Nova Scotia, Canada

July 5, 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 youths at the Youth On the Air 2024 camp located in Mount Saint Vincent University, NS, Canada. 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.

Youth on the Air (YOTA) Summer Camp is a week-long event for young amateur radio operators ages 15 to 25 from North, Central, and South America, as well as other parts of the world. This year’s YOTA, (July 7-12, 2024) is their fourth year of operation, providing young amateur radio operators a camping experience in Halifax. While at camp, these young hams are also gaining experience operating on high frequency ham radio bands from portable and permanent stations, learning how to log their contacts, exploring software defined radio, launching pico balloons, exploring Morse Code, learning electronics from kits, learning antenna theory and building antennas, participating in ham radio foxhunts, and communicating through amateur radio satellites. YOTA is working in tandem with Mount Saint Vincent University and the Halifax Amateur Radio Club and have provided peer led workshops on ham satellite communication prior to this ARISS contact.

This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Jeanette Epps, amateur radio call sign KF5QNU. 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 Paardekraal, South Africa. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the callsign ZS6JON, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for July 9, 2024 at 12:06:38 pm/am ADT (Nova Scotia, CAN) (15:06:38 UTC, 11:06 am EDT, 10:06 am CDT, 9:06 am MDT, 8:06 am PDT).

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As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. Can you describe the view of Earth from your perspective?

2. What new technologies are being tested on the ISS that could be crucial for future space missions or have applications on Earth

3. How different is it to operate a radio in space then on earth?

4. What college degrees do you recommend for becoming an astronaut?

5. Are solar events like the northern lights visible and how do you study them from up there?

6. Will you keep doing amateur radio activity after your mission?

7. What's your favorite tool onboard the ISS?

8. How does space affect propagation?

9. How much does your space suit weigh?

10. How has your mindset and view of the world changed since going to space?

11. How often do you do amateur radio on the ISS?

12. If you were to take one thing special to you to the ISS, what would it be?

13. Have you talked to many countries from the ISS using amateur radio?

14. What are you doing on the ISS to prepare for putting people on the moon?

15. What studies have been done of the Earth’s surface from up there?

16. Do you think ham radio in space has a chance to expand to the moon?

17. If you could add a new module to the ISS, what would it contain?

18. Do you feel that being a ham operator has helped you while being on the ISS?

19. What experiment have you carried out aboard the ISS that you’ve liked the most?

20. What do you do when you get a runny nose in space?

21. What is the best part of being on the ISS?

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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