An International Space Station Expedition 15 ARISS school contact has been planned with students at the Maples Collegiate, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on 12 July. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:51 UTC.
The contact will be a direct between stations NA1SS and VE4NSA . The contact should be audible in southern portions of Canada and eastern portions of the United States. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.
The goal of the Manitoba Space Adventure Camp is to introduce Manitoba High School Students to a variety of aerospace-related subjects and activities to increase their awareness, appreciation, and motivation for science and technology in Manitoba. This year's camp (9-13 Jul 07), hosted at the Canadian Airforce 17 Wing in Winnipeg for the second straight year, will actually involve two separate camps: a first year camp similar to last year, plus an advanced camp for those students coming back and who have continued their participation in the Win-Cube project (Win-Cube is a multi-year project that has Manitoba High School Students involved in the planning, designing, building and eventual launching of a satellite). While most of the learning activities will take place at the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Studies in form of lectures and presentations, students will also have the opportunity to build and launch model rockets at a nearby range, operate satellite navigation devices, participate in a high altitude balloon launch, and communicate internationally through the use of amateur radio satellites.
Students will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. How do you ensure that all your software, technology, and equipment, are compatible with each other even though they are made by different countries? 2. How often do you exercise emergencies, like a fire, leak or evacuation and how quickly can you leave the station? 3. How is the time for use of the space station split between the different countries? 4. What happens to the carbon dioxide that astronauts exhale aboard the station? 5. How important do you believe the occupation of space will be in the future? 6. How will the space station being sustained after the shuttle is retired in 2010? 7. Financing the ISS is becoming more difficult. What do you think about having more tourists on the ISS or even a privately funded tourist module? 8. How does the ISS avoid being hit by objects and how much damage has the ISS already sustained from micrometeorites? 9. What was the biggest surprise for you so far being in space? 10. How often does the ISS orbit need to be adjusted? 11. What is the one thing you would like to do in space that is not part of your duties or schedule? 12. How important is it for the crew to have amateur radio on board and what do you like best about it? 13. What experiments are you currently conducting? 14. Are there any long-term psychological effects after living in a secluded environment in space for many months? 15. Is there any affect of zero gravity inside the ISS for the growth of your hair? 16. How do you think the occupation of space will affect certain industries such as mining and real estate? By this I mean how likely is it that we would start mining close bodies, and will areas in space become property like land on earth? 17. In comparison to down here, how much higher is your exposure to radiation and how do you protect yourself? 18. The purpose of the ISS is to study at zero gravity. Will there ever be a module with real gravity? 19. Can you see any satellites or man-made space objects other than the shuttle or the Soyuz spacecraft? 20. Why is the space station dumping water over board. Isn't that wasteful and potentially dangerous? 21. Suni Williams just set a record for female time-in-space endurance. Do you think one gender is more or better suited for long duration spaceflight missions? 22. When the ISS and a space shuttle dock together, do you feel any vibrations? 23. How can a Canadian school design an experiment for the space station and how long would it take to get it up there? 24. Do sun flares affect communications between the ISS and ground stations or any other systems?
Information about the next scheduled ARISS contact can be found at http://www.rac.ca/ariss/upcoming.htm#NextContact http://www.rac.ca/ariss/upcoming.htm#NextContact .
Next planned event(s): Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando, Florida, telebridge via W6SRJ Tue 2007-07-17, 18:20 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.rac.ca/ariss http://www.rac.ca/ariss (graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of Canada).
Thank you & 73, Kenneth - N5VHO