Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report February 7, 2011

1. Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Istituto Comprensivo Statale "E. Fermi - A. Oggioni," Villasanta, Monza Brianza, Italy on Thursday, February 10 at 08:31 UTC via telebridge station VK5ZAI in Australia. Forty 13 year olds will participate in this ESA Q&A session.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Lake Silver Elementary School in Orlando, Florida on February 10 at 15:51 UTC via station LU8YY in Argentina. In anticipation of the event, students have participated in many activities related to science lessons covering force and motion. They have learned how the ISS got into space, why it stays there, the speed at which it travels and its orbit. They have also studied sound waves and the atmosphere. The goal is not just to give the students one event, but to truly get them excited about space exploration.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Lillestrøm videregående skole, Lillestrøm, Norway on Friday, February 11 at 12:48 UTC. Station W5RRR in Houston, Texas will handle the radio connection. Lillestrom is an upper secondary school which emphasizes science and applied technology.

National Institute for Astrophysics - Astronomical Observatory of Bologna, Bologna, Italy has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, February 12 at 15:07 UTC via telebridge station LU8YY in Argentina. The contact will be held during the Bologna science festival called "Scienza in Piazza," held on February 3-13, 2011. Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli will participate.

2. Successful ARISS Contacts

On Monday, January 31, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact took place between astronaut Paolo Nespoli, IZØJPA on the ISS and Arsaniq School in Kangiqsujuaq, Wakeham Bay, Quebec, Canada. Radio station LU8YY in Argentina handled the telebridge connection, allowing Nespoli to answer 16 questions before the ISS went over the horizon. Four hundred people from a village of 800 attended the event, including nearly 200 students, from grades 1 - 12. The Makivik Corporation, a non-profit organization that promotes economic growth of Inuit businesses, sponsored the event.

Students from Collège Joseph Chassigneux in Vinay, France, participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Paolo Nespoli, IZØJPA on Tuesday, February 1. Students taking part in the contact came from mostly rural villages and due to the mountainous countryside, the contact was short with only six questions fielded. The event was the final activity of the school science program covering space and radio.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact took place between on-orbit astronaut Cady Coleman, KC5ZTH and youth attending Buehl-Realschule Dornstadt in Dornstadt, Germany on Wednesday, February 2. An audience of 130 gathered for the event and watched as the students posed their questions to Coleman. Media reporting on the event included two daily newspapers and a radio station, which did a 2 hour live coverage, and three monthly amateur radio magazines (Funkamateur/AATIS, CQDL, Funktelegramm). The contact news was also broadcasted from the highest 2m relay in Germany. The contact was the highlight of a wireless technology and space curriculum.

On Thursday, February 3, Adobe Bluffs Elementary School students in San Diego, California interacted with Cady Coleman, KC5ZTH on the ISS through an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. The event was the culmination of an education plan covering electromagnetic waves, astronomy and other space-related topics. The radio operator during the event was the 10 year old daughter of the lead teacher Jim McLaughlin and holds Technician license KJ6KDZ. The entire gym was filled with students and parents along with several media outlet representatives.

3. ARISSat-1 Educational Opportunities

ARISS-Europe posted a bulletin to its Web site about the educational opportunities presented through the use of the soon to be deployed spacecraft, ARISSat-1. See: http://www.ariss-eu.org/2011_02_01.htm

4. AMSAT Posts Status on ARISSat-1

On February 6, the AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) News Service bulletin (ANS-037) included a status report on ARISSat-1. The report talks about the upcoming deployment of the satellite on February 16. To view the update, see: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2011/000484.html

5. Amateur Radio Newsline on ARISS

On February 4, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1747 posted one ARISS related story. "Ham Radio in Space: ARISSat-1 Now on the ISS" may be viewed here: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt