ARISS News Release No. 21-12
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARISS Contact Scheduled
for Students at John F. Kennedy High School, Denver, Colorado, USA
February 20, 2021—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact with astronauts. ARISS is the group that puts together special amateur radio contacts between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses on the International Space Station (ISS).
This will be a telebridge contact via amateur radio and students from John F. Kennedy High School in Denver, CO, following Covid guidelines. Students will take turns asking their questions of Astronaut Mike Hopkins, amateur radio call sign KF5LJG during the ARISS radio contact. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHZ.
ARISS team member David Payne, using call sign NA7V in Portland, OR will serve as the relay amateur radio station.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for February 24, 2021 at 11:41 am MST (Denver, CO), (18:41 UTC, 1:41 pm EST, 12:41 pm CST, and 10:41 am PST).
John F. Kennedy High School (about 900 students) is a public school in urban, southwest Denver. JFK HS offers Advanced Placement Courses and Concurrent Enrollment Courses that help students to earn college credit and industry certification in high school. During the 2019-20 year, the Engineering program at JFK HS was awarded a first-of-its-kind JFK Space Lab presented by Raytheon to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11. The Space Lab allowed students in the school’s Engineering program to explore the ISS-above cameras, observe real-time space walks, explore amateur radio, and engineering communications. The school’s partnership with Raytheon, and using the Space Lab materials, enabled JFK HS students to engage in a STEM curriculum that included activities/topics that were applicable to space engineering, specifically to the ISS. These activities included, building a solar and hydrogen fuel cell car (and how it could be applied to the ISS); Bioengineering (growing plants in space); and solar-system modeling. STEM courses also included hands-on kit-building activities related to amateur radio and antenna-building and radio direction-finding. The school also partnered with members of the Rocky Mountain Ham Radio group and the Cherry Creek Young Amateur Radio Club who instructed/mentored students on the use of radio communications using amateur radio.
The public is invited to watch the livestream at: https://youtu.be/1RgszX0npbQ
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. How do you find time to do personal hygiene when you are so busy doing research and experiments?
2. Does a carbonated beverage, once opened, on the ISS stay carbonated for the same amount of time as it does on earth?
3. We recently learned that each astronaut eagerly awaits a special package from earth, What is it that you look forward to most?
4. Are there any environmental sensors like weather, fire, soil, ocean that you monitor or track as part of your daily work?
5. What is the most physically demanding task you have to do in space?
6. What was going through your head when you first found out you were chosen for the mission to the ISS?
7. How comfortable are the new space suits. What is your favorite new feature of the space suit?
8. Do you have to monitor/ration your water while in space?
9. Have you ever had to perform a medical procedure or administer first aid to another astronaut?
10. How do you relieve stress when on the space station?
11. When you are sleeping in your bag do you feel like you are floating or do you anchor yourself down? Is this comfortable?
12. When in space, do you take special precautions regarding safety during a space walk?
13. Did your training accurately prepare you for the stresses of launch?
14. What is your preferred form of exercise on earth & is it something you can continue to do on the ISS?
15. How long did it take you to get used to the bathroom facilities and procedures on the ISS? What was the hardest part?
16. If there was one plant you could grow in the International Space Station what would it be and why?
17. Have you ever had a malfunction with your space suit? What did you do?
18. How has COVID-19 changed your space travel?
19. When will it be possible for astronauts to be able to live off of the food that they grow in space?
20. If you could create a more comfortable sleeping quarters what is the one thing you would change?
21. How much of the water on the ISS goes to the plants?
22. What was the most important thing you learned in school that has helped you as an astronaut?
23. Do the astronauts eat meals and do other non-work activities together?
24. Has there ever been a time when you collected data from a sensor that helped an emergency situation on Earth?
25. How does it feel to breathe while you are wearing your pressurized suit?
26. Are there any of your favorite foods that don’t do well in microgravity and you miss eating while you are in space?
ARISS – Celebrating 20 Years of Amateur Radio Continuous Operations 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 International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, and NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program. The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics 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 learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org
Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
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