Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report October 5, 2009
1. Upcoming School Contacts
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Sint-Michielscollege Brasschaat vzw (SMCB) in Brasschaat, Belgium on Wednesday, October 7 at 10:20 UTC. Visits to space and science museums are among the science activities planned for the children. Guest speakers will include a representative from Verhaert Space Systems and Dirk Frimout, Belgium's first astronaut.
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled with the National Planetarium in Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia on Thursday, October 8 at 09:34 UTC. The contact will occur as part of the National Space Challenge, a program that was created in an effort to instill the talents and desire towards the understanding of space in primary school aged children. Sixteen schools will participate.
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Belmont Elementary School in Langley, British Columbia, Canada on Friday, October 9 at 20:20 UTC. Students are working on projects with a "Mission Control" theme and the Langley Amateur Radio Association (L.A.R.A.) is working with the school to organize this event.
2. Thirsk Participates in ARISS Contact with R.T. Alderman Students
Astronaut Bob Thirsk, VA3CSA participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with students attending R. T. Alderman School in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on Monday, September 28. An audience of 615 people gathered, watched and listened as Thirsk answered 15 questions posed to him by the students. Media coverage was provided by a local television station. After the contact, Thirsk changed the ISS radio beacon text to read, "Hello to RT Alderman School!"
3. De Winne Speaks with Lisbon, Portugal Students via ARISS
On Thursday, October 1 an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between the Ciência Viva Museum in Lisbon, Portugal and Frank De Winne, ON1DWN onboard the ISS. Ground station ON4ISS in Belgium provide the telebridge connection. An audience of 300 people gathered and watched as twenty-three questions were asked and answered. The ARISS contact at Ciencia Viva was a major event during the nationwide celebrated Space Week. The participating students have been working on space projects for two years and they were highly motivated to do this science-related activity.
4. ARISS Contact with University of Liege
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact took place on Friday, October 2 between the University of Liege in Belgium and on-orbit astronaut Frank De Winne, ON1DWN via telebridge station ON4ISS in Belgium. Eighteen questions were answered before losing contact with the ISS. The University of Liege offers the only aerospace engineering education program in the French part of Belgium. In the context of the OUFTI-1 project (www.oufti.ulg.ac.be) that aims at building a CubeSat featuring the amateur radio D-STAR technology, an amateur radio club was formed at the university.
5. Nicole Stott Participates in ARISS Contact with Italian Students
On Friday, October 2, students attending Scuola Secondaria 1° Grado "Alighieri - Trevigi" in Casale Monferrato, Prov. Alessandria, Italy participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. The youth asked Nicole Stott, KE5GJN 21 questions as an audience of 200 students, parents and teachers looked on. Local media provided news coverage. The event was streamed live on the internet and the audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW servers. The contact motivated the youth to study Science, History, Geography, Information Technology and English.
6. ARISS Contact with Boy Scouts of Canada
On Saturday, October 3, Scouts of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. Three hundred scouts and parents were present as Robert Thirsk VA3CSA answered questions about life and work in space. Thirsk turned over a few questions to Mr. Guy Laliberte, Circ De Soleil president and spaceflight participant. Audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW servers. The ARISS contact was held in conjunction with the Scout Science Badge Award system.
7. ARISS News on Amateur Radio Newsline
On October 2, Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1677 reported on Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) astronaut licensing. To view "Ham Radio in Space: New Ham Astronaut is KF5DBF," see: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt