ARISS News Release                                                                                               No.24-12

DaveJordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

aa4kn@amsat.org

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISSContact is Scheduled with Students at

Girl Scout Troop 1089, Sacramento, California, USA

February 19,2024—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has receivedschedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboardthe International Space Station (ISS) and youth members in Girl Scout Troop1089 located in Sacramento, CA.  ARISSconducts 60-100 of these special amateur radio contacts each year betweenstudents around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard theISS.

ThisGirl Scout Project with ARISS has been undertaken and implemented by Senior andAmbassador Scouts (high school) from various Troops within the greaterSacramento area. In preparation for this ARISS contact, Girl Scout Troop 1089conducted an educational program (Space and Stem Educational Activities andExperience) of seven sessions designed for Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts,representing ages 14-18, grades 9-12. By earning their “Space Science MasterBadge” and “STEM Career Exploration Badge” and participating in this ARISScontact, the Girl Scout leaders hope this will inspire an interest in science,technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) fields among the attendees. Sessionactivities allowed girls to build/tune a small radio, learn about web softwaredefined radio, research the experiments occurring on the ISS, and learn about careersin the space sciences. They also learned to work a ham radio station that willdownload Slow Scan TV images. Girl Scout Troop 1089 is actively working with membersof the River City Amateur Radio Communications Society (N6NA) who have providedlessons in radio communication, amateur radio, and STEM fields as part of theseven sessions.

This will be adirect contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask theirquestions of astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, amateur radio call sign KI5WSL. Thedownlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz and may be heard bylisteners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the relayground station.

The amateur radio ground station for this contact is in Sacramento,CA. Amateur radio operators using call sign N6NA, will operate the groundstation to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radiocontact is scheduled for February 22, 2024 at 10:26 am PST (CA) (18:26 UTC, 1:26 pm EST, 12:26 pm CST, 11:26 am MST).

The public isinvited to watch the livestream at: https://youtube.com/live/-pc-8FqHBTw%C2%A0- early entry 9:15 and https://fb.me/e/3xnJgypOa

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As time allows,students will ask these questions:

1. What is thestrangest thing to happen to you on the ISS?

2. What aresome of the experiments you are working on? What is your favorite?

3. What are youmost looking forward to when you return to Earth?

4. What aresome things you will miss about space once you are back on Earth?

5. What advicewould you give someone who wants to be where you are?

6. The firsttime you took off from Earth were you scared? What was it like?

7. Do you thinkwe will find evidence of life beyond Earth?

8. How do youget supplies from Earth?

9. Are yourexperiments mostly biological or technological?

10. How dosolar flares affect you and the Space Station?

11. Do youlisten to music or PodCasts in space? If so, what?

12. Do you haveany free time? If so, what do you do during it?

13. Do youreally eat astronaut ice cream? What is your favorite flavor?

14. Whathappens if there is an emergency with the Station itself?

15. What isyour deepest worry while on the ISS?

16. What is thehardest part of being an astronaut?

17. What is theaverage day on the ISS like for you?

18. Would you liveon Mars if you could?

19. What isyour favorite part of being an astronaut?

20. Do allastronauts perform experiments or do some focus on science while others focuson the maintenance of the space station or something else?

About ARISS:

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) isa cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the spaceagencies that support the ISS. In the United States, sponsors are the AmericanRadio Relay League (ARRL), Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), RadioAmateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), NASA’s Space Communications andNavigation program (SCaN) and the ISS National Lab—Space Station Explorers. Theprimary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering,the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduledcontacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students.Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, andcommunities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, spacetechnologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see http://www.ariss.org

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Media Contact:

Dave Jordan,AA4KN

ARISS PR

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