ARISS News Release                                                                                               No.24-10

DaveJordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

aa4kn@amsat.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISSContact is Scheduled with Students at

School of Telecommunications Engineering, ETSITValencia (Universitat Politecnica de Valencia), Valencia, Spain

February 8,2024 —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 students at the School ofTelecommunications Engineering located in Valencia, Spain.  ARISS conducts 60-100 ofthese special amateur radio contacts each year between students around theglobe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.

TheSchool of Telecommunications Engineering, ETSIT Valencia, of the UniversitatPolitecnica de Valencia (UPV), is coordinating this ARISS contact, which willbe a milestone in the two-year course “Spacefor Kids, How to Design and Build a Nanosatellite” for teachers from 8secondary and high schools. About 160students, 14-17 years old, are also involved in this space hands-on project,which has been integrated into various courses such as; Access to space andspace environment, Satellite communication, Satellite mission design, andTesting our mission in Earth (how to analyze data). The Earth station that willbe used for this ARISS contact is located at UPV (School of Telecommunications)and has been built specifically for this contact providing the studentstechnical experience in ham satellite communications. Members of theUniversity’s Radio Club and school faculty will be supporting this contact andhave been helping with activities for high school students such as antennaworkshops and satellite receiver workshops.

This will be adirect contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask theirquestions of astronaut Loral O’Hara, amateur radio call sign KI5TOM. Thedownlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz and may be heard bylisteners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the relay groundstation.

The amateur radio ground station for this contact is in Valencia,Spain. Amateur radio operators using call sign EA5RKP, will operate the groundstation to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radiocontact is scheduled for February 9, 2024 at 9:12:46 am CET (Valencia, Spain) (8:12:46 UTC,3:12 am EST, 2:12 am CST, 1:12 am MST, 12:12am PST).

The public isinvited to watch the live stream at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IMdKcM2Fw8

_______________________________

As time allows,students will ask these questions:

1. Whatexperiment are you working on?

2. Has yourperspective on life changed after being on the ISS?

3. What wouldyou like to achieve by working as an astronaut?

4. How do youcommunicate and maintain contact with your loved ones on Earth?

5. If a biological virus is detected, what is the protocol tofollow? Can a biological virus be detected on the spacecraft?

6. How do youmaintain your fitness in space? How does the state of weightlessness mainly affect you?

7. What is your area of study and expertise? And how did youtrain for the space station program?

8. How did you feel when you experienced zero gravity for thefirst time?

9. What is themost complicated part of launching into space?

10. What arethe safety measures implemented to protect the space station against possiblespace debris impacts?

11. Are the laws that govern the ISS like maritime laws or thelaws of the country that owns the module?

12. What is dayto day like on the ISS? Is there an established routine?

13. How do youmanage the temperature in the space station?

14. What advicewould you give to those who want to become astronauts?

15. How do you manage to navigate the ship so easily when allthe modules appear uniform?

16. How doesmicrogravity impact the effectiveness of the scientific experiments beingcarried out on the space station and what notable discoveries have emerged sofar?

17. What are the best and worst aspects of your mission?

18. What wasyour motivation to be an astronaut? When was it clear?

19. What was the hardest part of your training?

20. What has been your most amazing moment in space?

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 organizingscheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS andstudents. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents,and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, spacetechnologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see http://www.ariss.org

.

Media Contact:

Dave Jordan,AA4KN

ARISS PR

Find us onsocial media at:

X (formerlyTwitter): ARISS_Intl

Facebook:facebook.com/ARISSIntl

Instagram:ariss_intl

Mastodon:ariss_intl@mastodon.hams.social

Check out ARISSon Youtube.com.