*ARISS News Release No.24-43*

*Dave Jordan, AA4KN *

*ARISS PR*

*aa4kn@amsat.org aa4kn@amsat.org*

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

*ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at *

*SMPIT Nurul Ishlah, Banda Aceh, Indonesia*

July 30, 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 students at the various schools located in the Indian Ocean region. 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.

This ARISS contact is part of the Tsunami United initiative, an educational project with UNESCO, which is engaging students about tsunami risk and ocean resilience in the Indian Ocean region and as part of the 20th commemoration of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Participating students are from 12 countries in the Indian Ocean region which include the Maldives, Indonesia, South Africa, Bangladesh, Kenya, Madagascar, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Timor-Leste, Mauritius, and Myanmar.

This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Sunita Williams, amateur radio call sign KD5PLB. 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 Andergrove, Mackay, Queensland, Australia. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the callsign VK4ISS, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for August 2, 2024 at 7:43 pm WIB (Jakarta, Indonesia) (12:43:07 UTC,8:43 am EDT, 7:43 am CDT, 6:43 am MDT, 5:43 am PDT).

*_______________________________*

As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. What type of research do you conduct in space?

2. How do you monitor the ocean from space?

3. How are space and the ocean connected to each other?

4. Can you see disasters from space and did you witness any particular event?

5. Were the effects of the 2004 tsunami visible from space?

6. How can space monitoring help protect life and species in the ocean?

7. Do you study natural coastal barriers, like mangroves and coral reefs?

8. How do you cooperate with other astronauts in space?

9. What advice would you give to young people interested in science?

10. Can satellite technology help improve tsunami early warning systems?

11. How does living in space affect your body and mind?

12. What is it like to be an astronaut?

13. Have you seen a cyclone from space?

14. When you were my age, 15, did you dream of becoming an astronaut?

15. What training do astronauts undergo before going to space?

16. As an astronaut, which do you consider presents a greater risk: the ocean or outer space?

*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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