An International Space Station Expedition 18 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants at Scuola Elementare Faleriense "Gianni Rodari", Porto S. Elpidio, Italy on 18 December. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 1210 UTC.
The contact will be a direct between stations OR4ISS and I6KZR. The contact should be audible over most of Europe. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.
The school "Gianni Rodari" is located in Porto Sant'Elpidio, a small town in Southern Italy. It is situated on the shore of the Adriatic Sea, 50 km away from Ancona and 30 km from the beautiful city of San Benedetto del Tronto. "Gianni Rodari" is a big primary school including a kindergarten. The school offers practical courses and projects such as the radio contact with the International Space Station.
Another important and exciting project for the pupils is the construction and test of the "coherer", the primitive radio signal detector. It was invented by Temistocle Calzecchi Onesti, who demonstrated in experiments in 1884 through 1886 that iron filings contained in an insulating tube will conduct an electrical current under the action of an electromagnetic wave. This discovery was important for the later work of Sir Oliver Lodge, Edouard Branly and Guglielmo Marconi in the development of the radio. Onesti lived in Monterubbiano, a small village near the city of Porto Sant'Elpidio.
Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows:
1. How are you? 2. What's your name and how old are you? 3. How long are you already onboard the ISS on this mission? 4. What do you feel during takeoff? 5. Are you afraid of anything during your stay onboard the ISS? 6. When did you decide to become an astronaut? 7. Did you have good marks at school? 8. What do you see right now when you look through the window of your spaceship? 9. What exactly is a black hole? 10. Do you see any planet from the spaceship? 11. What does the spaceship inside look like? 12. Is it your first time in the spaceship? 13. What is the total size of the spaceship? 14. Do you sleep in a bed with sheets and blanket? 15. What do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? 16. How many hours do you sleep per day? Do you sleep well? 17. What's your daily routine onboard up there? 18. Are you bored sometimes? 19. Are you homesick? What do you do when you feel like that? 20. Have you children? 21. Is it very hard living without gravity?
Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be found at http://www.ariss.org/upcoming.htm#NextContact .
Next planned event(s): Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Sat 2008-12-27 15:53 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