*ARISS News Release No.24-33*

*Dave Jordan, AA4KN *

*ARISS PR*

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

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

*ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at *

*Moroccan School of Engineering Sciences, Casablanca, Morocco*

June 29, 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 Moroccan School of Engineering Sciences located in Casablanca, Morocco. 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.

Moroccan School of Engineering Sciences (EMSI) operates 18 campuses in five Moroccan cities, (Casablanca, Fez, Marrakech, Rabat, and Tangiers) with about 13,000 students and 750 faculty.

EMSI provides a comprehensive foundation in core engineering disciplines and skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, design thinking, system thinking, and leadership. Their engineering programs include Computer Science, Civil Engineering, Automation and Industrial Computing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Financial Engineering. EMSI is also affiliated with the private higher education network in Africa, Honoris United Universities, which allows for international collaboration, and student exchange programs.

This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Jeanette Epps, amateur radio call sign KF5QNU. 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 Meadow Spring, Australia. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the call sign VK6MJ, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for July 1, 2024 at 1:02 pm WEST (Morocco) (12:02 UTC, 8:02 am EDT, 7:02 am CDT, 6:02 am MDT, 5:02 am PDT).

*_______________________________*

As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. If you had the choice, which planet would you choose to discover?

2. If there's a damage or a problem on the ISS that can't be fixed, what would you do in that case?

3. If you could send a message back to yourself on Earth before you embarked on this mission, what would you say to yourself?

4. How does NASA benefit from software and computer systems to support astronauts during missions?

5. Before going to space what preparations should every astronaut make to cope with the Space Environment?

6. Are there any effects on the astronauts’ health after being in space for a long time?

7. How did you decide to become an astronaut?

8. Does time work differently in Space, and how do astronauts keep track of their ages?

9. What is the last thing you did before going into space?

10. What advice would you give to someone passionate about astronomy and wants to make a career out of it?

11. Could financial experts and space agencies like NASA team up to manage resources better for space missions?

12. What is the nature of dark matter and dark energy, and how do they influence the universe’s structure and expansion?

13. Is there any evidence for the existence of other universes beyond our own, and what do the latest Nasa discoveries say about the multiverse theory?

14. Astronauts often come from different academic backgrounds, so what did you study to become an astronaut?

15. What is the recent experiment you conducted in space that may have an impact on scientific research or daily life on Earth?

16. How does AI contribute to the success of space missions?

17. How do you manage daily tasks in a zero-gravity environment?

18. How does a SAFER work if you become detached from the ISS during an EVA?

19. What are the physical conditions and requirements that astronauts must meet?

20. What's first thing you want to do after landing on Earth and coming back home?

*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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