An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands on 06 Mar. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 13:11 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between OR4ISS and ON4ISS. The contact should be audible over Belgium and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in Dutch.

The questions are asked by children who won the Ruimteschip Aarde (Spaceship Earth) competition. In this competition André Kuipers challenged them to turn their class room into a spaceship and to think very good about what they and their class mates needed to survive in space for a very long time. They showed their results in videos. In some of the questions the children refer to inventions they made for this competition, such as the Poep Brandstof Generator (Poop fuel generator, Q4) and the Geur Vergeet Geheugen Machine (a machine that makes it possible to smell forgotten scents from earth, Q6)

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

Hello Andre, this is Jasper Wamsteker of the Netherlands Space Office and the Ruimteschip Aarde project. I am here together with the proud winners of the first special mission of Ruimteschip Aarde. I see a lot of delighted and excited faces around me. The children here have a lot of questions for you, but first I have a question myself.

1. We can hear you, but we cannot see you. Please could you describe to us

where you are at the moment?

2. Will it ever be possible that children go on a long space trip? Or would

this be too dangerous for the growth and the strength of their bones

and organs?

3. If you eat salt in space, does it affect your bone density?

4. For the competition we designed a PBG (Poop Fuel Generator). Poop is

converted into fuel and thus used for relocation in space by the

principle of action=reaction. Do you think the PBG can ever be made and

used by astronauts on a space mission that takes several years?

5. How long can you survive in space in case no new provisions are brought?

6. For the competition we came up with the idea of the GVGM (Forgotten

Scents Remembrance Machine). This helps you to smell and remember

smells from earth. Which 3 scents would you like the GVGM to be able to

reproduce?

7. You do a lot of experiments in the ISS. Which one has your preference?

8. Did you ever come up with an idea for an experiment yourself, that you

would like to conduct in space?

9. What do you do in case the oxygen falls out?

10. Now that you are in space, do you read a science fiction novel there, or

is that not necessary anymore?

11. Is there an experiment that you would like to conduct, but which you

cannot do because of lack of time?

12. Is there a game that you and your fellow astronauts play together in your

free time?

13. When you were launched, did you feel the high speed of the rocket?

14. Can you imagine what it would be like to be so far away that it is not

possible anymore to see earth?

15. You travel to the ISS in a very small capsule. How can you take all your

clothes with you?

16. Is there a device which can be used in the ISS that you would like to be

made?

17. What effects on your body do you experience now that you are in space?

18. Would you like to live in space forever together with your friends and

family?

19. Do you ever have stomach ache as a result of lack of gravity?

Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be found at http://www.ariss.org/upcoming.htm#NextContact.

Next planned event(s):

TBD

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