Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report January 30, 2012

1. Upcoming School Contact

Zespol Szkol nr 8, Walbrzych, Poland has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, February 4 at 12:40 UTC via telebridge station W6SRJ in California. The school has a Walbrzych Robotics Club and operates an amateur radio club, SP6PBA. The club has been running for 60 years and its operators have established communications with several radio amateurs from all continents. The contact will be integrated into the curriculum covering electronics, microprocessor systems and English and will be held as part of the XXIII Lower Silesian Science Festival.

2. Successful ARISS Contact with El Dorado County Students

On Tuesday, January 24, on-orbit astronaut Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX participated in an ARISS contact with students from El Dorado County in Placerville, California. The students, who came from several schools within the county, were able to get answers to many of their questions about space. Approximately 250 people were in attendance and another 160 watched as the contact was streamed over the internet. The radio connection was provided by telebridge station W6SRJ in California. The station, located on the campus of Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC), hosted another 15 observers. In addition, the college sent a reporter and photographer from its newspaper, The Oak Leaf, to cover the event. The ARISS contact was part of a comprehensive education plan used to pique students' interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). More on the event, including video and photos may be found on the El Dorado County Web site. See: http://general.edcoe.org/nasaqa/default.html

3. AMSAT News Service on ARISS

The January 29 AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) News Service bulletin (ANS-029) included an item about ARISSat-1 and its greetings and voice messages, as well as their English translations. To hear the messages, go to "ARISSat-1/KEDR Legacy Lives on in the DK3WN SatBlog" at: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2012/000587.html .