Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report March 5, 2012

1. Upcoming School Contacts

Dilworth Elementary School in San Jose, California has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Monday, March 5 at 18:33 UTC. The ARISS contact is part of a comprehensive education plan which will pique students' interest in Science Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for ESA ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands on Tuesday, March 6 at 13:11 UTC via station ON4ISS in Belgium. The radio activity will be part of an educational program around André Kuipers' mission Spaceship Earth which targets children who are 10-14 years of age. Part of this program consists of mission assignments Kuipers gives to Dutch schoolchildren. The winners of each challenge will be invited to the radio contact. Other activities include lessons and experiments.

2. ESA Awards ARISS Contact to Winners of Competition

Students from three schools, the American School of the Hague, the International School of Amsterdam and the British School in the Netherlands, took part in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Monday, February 27 via station IK1SLD in Italy. This ARISS contact with astronaut André Kuipers was offered as a prize by the European Space Agency (ESA) to those schools who submitted the best suggestions for experiments or demonstrations that could be performed in microgravity on board the ISS using common everyday items. The youth were given lessons on radio signals and communications which involved local radio ham experts.

3. Atlanta, Georgia Youth Radio ISS Astronaut

On Friday, March 2, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between astronaut Don Pettit, KD5MDT on the ISS and Parkside Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia. The radio link was provided by station K6DUE in Greenbelt, Maryland. Questions were asked concerning the education and training needed to become an astronaut and about how space affects one's appetite and sleep. The contact was part of a comprehensive education plan using NASA related activities to pique students' interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Audio was carried live on the NASA TV hour. East Atlanta Patch posted an article on the contact. http://eastatlanta.patch.com/articles/parkside-elementary-to-international-s...

4. Pettit Chats with Greek Students via ARISS

Students attending the 5th Geniko Lykeio Katerinis in Katerini, Greece experienced a successful Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, March 2. The youth spoke with Don Pettit about the experiments onboard the ISS and asked how he communicates with his family during his mission. The contact complemented lessons covering astronomy and amateur radio with special attention given to the ISS regarding its role in humanity and science, its orbit and the every day life of the astronaut. ISS courses were based on ESA's education tool "ISS Education Kit." Five hundred were in attendance and another hundred connected to the internet to view the streaming video. Media coverage included two television stations.

5. Amateur Radio Newsline Covers ARISS

On March 2, Amateur Radio Newsline report #1803 carried an article about the recent ARISS contact held during the John Glenn Event in Perth, Australia. The event celebrated the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's orbit of the Earth, when the population of Perth turned on its lights and Glenn observed the city was visible from space, leading to Perth's nickname, "City of Lights." To view, "Ham Radio in Space: Amateur Radio Celebrates John Glenn over Perth Australia," see: http://www.arnewsline.org/storage/scripts/nsln1803.txt