An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at St George's International School, Luxembourg on 08 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 10:47 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be telebridge between NA1SS and W6SRJ. The contact should be audible over portions of the western U.S. and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.
St George's International School was founded 20 years ago by a group of mothers. It has since then expanded to comprise a Primary and Secondary section. There are approximately 680 students, of which 2/3 are in Primary education ranging from Early Years (2 1/2) to Year 6 (11 yrs old). There are 40 different nationalities represented, comprising some 20 different native language speakers other than English.
As the school year only began a few days ago, the children have not yet benefited from all the planned conference and activities. A satellite engineer, who works for the EuroSpace will be visiting to speak to the children this coming Friday (28th Sept). There are other speakers lined up: someone to explain the importance of radios; a space enthusiast and engineer is to give a talk about the Moon Buggie as well as a visit to the European Space Interactive Museum in Belgium. The school was recently offered a scaled model of the ISS which will be displayed and used for teaching purposes.
Besides the talks, the whole of Primary is engaging in learning about the various aspects of "Space". While some year groups are learning about light and dark, others are doing the planets and space travel, while others still are learning about sound and light. And the Secondary science teachers have incorporated the ISS project into their curriculum.
As all the children cannot be accommodated in the hall at one time due to security issues, it has been decided that less than half will actually see the children asking their questions. However, a link to the various classrooms will allow the other children in the school to attend 'via satellite'.
Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows:
1. What is it like to see Earth from up there?
2. What planet do you come from?
3. Can you see the sunlight hitting Earth when in space?
4. Why do you have to wear space suits?
5. How many people can be on the ISS at once?
6. How does being in space affect your body?
7. How do you entertain yourselves?
8. Is it hard to fall asleep?
9. How do you cope with weightlessness?
10. Are you bringing anything back from Space?
11. If someone gets sick, what do you do?
12. How did you get chosen for this mission?
13. What is your job on the ISS?
14. Is there anything you are not allowed to eat?
15. How do you protect the ISS from asteroids and meteorites?
16. Where do you get rid of your waste?
17. What kind of science experiments do you do?
18. How do you repair the space station if something breaks?
19. How do you manage to stay going around the Earth at that speed?
20. Why do you think it's necessary to spend millions on space exploration?
Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be found at http://www.ariss.org/upcoming.htm#NextContact.
Next planned event(s):
1. Liceo Statale Adelaide Cairoli, Pavia, Italy, telebridge via W6SRJ
Tue 09Oct12 10:00 UTC
Watch for live streaming at http://www.livestream.com/AMSAT_Italia
ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries.
ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers on-board the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, technology, and learning. Further information on the ARISS program is available on the website http://www.ariss.org/ (graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of Canada).
Thank you & 73,
David - AA4KN