ARISS News Release                                                                                                    No.22-63

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

aa4kn@amsat.org

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISSContact is Scheduled with Students at

West Ferris Intermediate Secondary School, NorthBay, Ontario, Canada

November26, 2022—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has receivedschedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between astronauts aboard theInternational Space Station (ISS) and students at the West Ferris IntermediateSecondary School located in ON, Canada. ARISS conducts 60-80 of these special amateur radio contacts each yearbetween students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboardthe ISS.

West Ferris Intermediate Secondary School (with about 1100students enrolled) is a grade 7 - 12 English public school located in NorthBay, Ontario about 350 kilometers north of Toronto on the shores of LakeNipissing. The school also serves several rural communities in the NipissingDistrict. Their curriculum offers innovative and diverse programming includingFrench immersion, competitive athletic teams, and fine arts, and is theresidence of the city’s STEAM program. West Ferris students at the intermediate level are supported in a creativescience program where problem solving and technological creativity is at thefore.

Amateur Radio is an important component of the school's NearSpace Program in which

students plan and execute stratospheric balloon launches underthe guidance of an amateur radio operator/teacher. Students explore the theoryand implementation of radio technology through

the use of the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) forpayload tracking. Students learn the concepts of wave propagation, polarity,wavelength and frequency and the applications of these concepts. The School’s NearSpace Program was started in 2018 with a stratospheric balloon launch inOctober, another on May 14, 2019, with plans to continue and expand theinitiative in coming years. Members of the North Bay Amateur Radio Club (VE3NBC)provide technical support for the launches, an APRS gateway for tracking, andparticipate in the payload retrieval in chase cars.

This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask theirquestions of Astronaut Koichi Wakata, amateur radio call sign KI5TMN. LocalCovid-19 protocols are adhered to as applicable for each ARISS contact. Thedownlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHZ and may be heard bylisteners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses thetelebridge station.

The ARISS amateur radio ground station(telebridge station) for this contact is in Aartselaar, Belgium. The amateurradio volunteer team at the ground station will use the callsign ON4ISS, toestablish and maintain the ISS connection.

TheARISS radio contact is scheduled for November 28, 2022 at 10:58:45 am EST (ON,CANADA) (15:58:45 UTC, 9:58 am CST, 8:58 am MST, 7:58 am PST).

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Astime allows, students will ask these questions:

1.Do you feel any changes when you return to Earth?

2.What do you do during your free time?

3.What is your favorite and least favorite food in space?

4.How long did it take to get into space?

5.Why did you decide to become an astronaut?

6.What does your sleep schedule look like?

7.How much food do you consume a day?

8.How do you clean the station?

9.Is it difficult to contact your family while there?

10.When first entering space, do you feel any differences inside your body? Forinstance, your organs moving?

11.What is the coolest thing you have seen while on station?

12.Are space suits uncomfortable?

13.How long have you been an astronaut?

14.How do you keep your bones from getting weaker in space and how do yourestrengthen them after returning?

15.Once in space, how long do you have to be there for?

16.Has there been anything that you weren’t prepared for that you thought youwere?

17.How do you deal with an illness in space and have no medication to help theperson who is ill?

About ARISS:

Amateur Radio on the InternationalSpace Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radiosocieties and the space agencies that support the International Space Station(ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur SatelliteCorporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS NationalLab-Space Station Explorers, Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) andNASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN). The primary goal ofARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts,and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts viaamateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before andduring these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities takepart in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, andamateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org

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MediaContact:

DaveJordan, AA4KN

ARISSPR

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