An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Space Jam 7 at the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum, Rantoul, IL on 03 Aug. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 20:46 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and LU8YY. The contact should be audible over Argentina and portions of S. America. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

We live in a fast-paced world impacted by evolving technology. Our event, Space Jam 7 is an attempt to catch up with the interests and needs of our youth involved in scouting. While scouting will always address camping and pioneer skills, we are here this weekend to teach STEM technology merit badges and skills required by tomorrow's pioneers, the astronauts. Three of our 44 major activities involve robotics. In addition to 2 Space Exploration classes we are teaching the Aviation merit badge (including actual flights), introduction to Scuba, Metal Work, Geology, Inventing, Electronics and Electricity. For the first time we are offering Cinematography merit badge and a class where Scouts and adults can earn their ham radio license.

We are attended by 2000 Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and leaders from 20 different states, who fly, drive and take the train from across the country. 350+ volunteers put this together because they love what they do. Of course our signature merit badge is again the Duck Tape merit badge that we do just for fun.

Our theme this year is the Future of Space Exploration and our answer to that implied question is not so much about going to the planet Mars but the education of these youth who will get us there and who are about to ask questions of the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows:

1. How old were you when you decided to become an astronaut?

2. How important is it to be physically fit in space?

3. What advice would you give to young people who want to be astronauts?

4. What craft is the most fun to fly in?

5. What is the most spectacular thing to see from space?

6. If a bird were on the space station, could it fly around?

7. What is the most important change to the space station in the last year?

8. When will be the next U.S. based flight to the space station?

9. Is it true that it will take over a year to get to Mars and back?

10. What vegetables can you grow on the way to Mars?

11. Do you think we should artificially isolate a test crew for a year?

12 During an automated flight to Mars how would you personally fight

boredom?

13. Will the crew on a Mars mission include both men and women?

14. How will spacesuits be different on Mars?

15. Is it true that dust devils on Mars create dangerous static electrical

charges?

16. Will we send machines to Mars ahead of a mission to make fuel for the

return trip?

17. Do you think we will find life on Mars and would that be dangerous?

18. Is there enough atmosphere on Mars to support flying machines?

19. Is radiation on Mars 100 times worse than on earth and how can we protect

people?

20. Are there lava tubes on Mars that could become living space for us?

21. How long would a message and answer take to get back and forth to a crew

on Mars?

22. Will we have a full time moon base soon or are we going to an asteroid

next?

23. Can we expect to see space explorers from another country on the Moon in

the next 10 years?

24. Is it true that sleep wake cycles in space tend to be 25 hours, similar

to what happens in cave exploration?

PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES:

Sign up for the SAREX maillist at

http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/sarex

Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the

International Space Station (ARISS).

To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status

Next planned event(s):

1. Epet Nº 2, Gral. Pico, Argentina, telebridge via LU8YY (***)

Tue, 06Aug2013, 11:48 UTC

2. Ecole Primaire Pasteur, Fleurance, France, telebridge via LU1CGB (***)

Wed, 07Aug2013, 11:01 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,

David - AA4KN