An International Space Station Expedition 18 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants at the Humber College Institute of Technology & Higher Learning, Toronto, ON, Canada on 02 February. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 1734 UTC.
The contact will be a direct between stations NA1SS and VA3JUV. The contact should be audible over most of eastern N. America. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.
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The participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. How does the ISS defend itself from natural radiation such as the Van Allan belts, and does any cosmic radiation damage the electronics? 2. The ISS uses a Low Earth Orbit (LEO), however Earth has around it five Lagrangian points where objects remain stationary in those spaces. Why wasn’t the ISS placed on a Lagrangian point where people wouldn’t have to worry should a failure cause the ISS to go hurtling out of control into Earth? 3. This is the student’s professor Mark Rector. Since the radio is your lifeline for help, how many redundant backup radio transmitters do you have on the ISS, and more importantly in the unlikely event that all of them suffered a catastrophic failure how would you call for help? 4. Is the ISS structure secure enough to sustain impacts from space debris, like those from previous missions or natural threats like asteroids? 5. Do you feel that the ISS has brought different countries together? 6. As you may know in today’s society some people have given up hope because they can not see beyond what’s right in front of them. What would you say to anyone whose eyes have not beheld the vast wonders of the world that you have been so privileged to have seen. 7. Since I am a student in the Telecom Program and we know that interference can be a major problem for communication, how often are your transmissions affected by interference specifically from sun spots and how do you relieve this problem? 8. As an engineer can you describe the most basic and most advanced electronics skills you must have in one of your team members to operate safely on the ISS. 9. I read that the station uses S-band signals for voice and data file transmissions, UHF for space walks and ku-band for video communication. I'm curious as to what modulation techniques are used for the ku-band and what data speeds do guys achieve while moving at 27,000Kms per second 10. On behalf of the President, our Dean and Associate Deans, we would like to say that we here at Humber encourage our students to achieve their best and reach for the stars. Today though, these four students have proven that this is literally possible with superior academic training, excellence in instruction and fierce determination. Thank you for giving my students the thrill of a lifetime. Thank you NASA for giving this professor the chance to be so proud of these four young men and for the highlight of my teaching career. 11. As opposed to transporting soil to a giant space-based biosphere, could the soil of Mars or the Moon be converted for use to grow agricultural plants/food? 12. In light of the new movement towards energy conservation, approximately what is the total power consumption on board the ISS in a day (compared to about 9000kW/h per year for the avg home) and approximately what percentage of that comes from the solar panels? 13. What procedure would you deploy to get all the crew out of a damaged ISS? 14. I’ve heard even atomic-powered clocks in satellites orbiting the Earth, which were in synch with a reference clock before they left, have been out of synch upon return to the ground. Can you explain this loss of time? 15. Can you do any electronic repairs more complex than circuit board swapping, onboard the ISS in the event of a failure, and what challenges do those repairs present in zero g? 16. How long before you think we would have a full-fledged city or village on the Moon built? 17. How often do the solar panels need to be replaced or repaired, and what is the maximum life span of an ISS solar panel? 18. The ISS is a multibillion-dollar project sustained by multiple nations. Who is ultimately responsible in choosing the experiments and missions to be carried out onboard the spacecraft?
Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be found at http://www.ariss.org/upcoming.htm#NextContact .
Next planned event(s): 1. Pilton Bluecoat Junior School, Barnstaple, UK, Fri 2009-02-06 14:48 UTC 2. Städtisches Gymnasium Herzogenrath, Herzogenrath Germany, Sat 2009-02-07 10:32 UTC 3. College Of Agriculture, Central Agricultural Univ. (along with Maniput Univ.), Imphhal, Assam, India, via VK4KHZ Sun 2009-02-08 10:06:08 UTC
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, Kenneth - N5VHO