Feb 13-14: Three ARISS-US Education Committee members gave presentations at the online 2021 Orlando HamCation. 

  • Melissa Pore and two of her high school students presented to 110 Zoom viewers on using ARISS and amateur radio in space to enhance school science and engineering classes. Another 103 people viewed the recording.
  • Alan Johnston’s presentation included two of Pore’s students and how they and she engaged with the AMSAT CubeSat simulator in class, and how other educators can. This device lets students experiment with operations and features of a typical ham radio CubeSat. Live views totaled 212. Another 211 people viewed the recording.
  • Neil Rapp, who won the convention’s 2021 educator award, was vetted for his STEM education efforts and he spoke about Young Operators on The Air (YOTA) and its tie to ARISS. YOTA is a nationwide group of young hams and has been selected for an ARISS contact in 2021. Rapp reported 67 live views and 10 watching the recording afterwards.

February 13: ARISS volunteer Melissa Pore teaches engineering at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA and she and her students took part in a Zoom meeting hosted by the University of Southern Maine (USM). The event kicked off the formal opening of the USM CubeSat Design Competition and Pore’s students want to compete. Meeting attendees included 10 high school teachers, 10 professors, and 10 industry professionals.  Students viewed the recorded session.

February 12: ARISS recently opened a window to accept ARISS Education Proposals from education institutions interested in hosting ARISS contacts. In addition to the ARISS team distributing a news release to many media outlets about the window opening, the NASA EXPRESS newsletter received a blurb from ARISS. The blurb was accepted. NASA EXPRESS went to 50,918 subscribers and was shared through the Office of STEM Engagement’s social media tools with 299,777 @NASASTEM Twitter followers, 90,413 NASA STEM Engagement Facebook followers, and 372,820 NASA STEM Pinterest followers. This means NASA EXPRESS content will be viewed by 813,928 followers.

February 15: Rosalie White gave a talk on “The ARISS Mission” to 14 amateur radio clubs associated with Boeing companies around the US.  Boeing sponsors two main types of clubs; they are called Boeing Employees Amateur Radio Society, a general-interest ham club and Boeing Auxiliary Communications Services, focused on ham radio emergency communications. Tying in were 29 members and 3 guests who were educators.  

February 19: Students at home from Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, NH, had an ARISS radio contact with Shannon Walker. Details will be available for next week’s report.

February 24-26: Two ARISS schools in Colorado received tentative schedules (due to the NG-15 launch) for an ARISS contact—Estes Park Elementary School and JFK High School.

Upcoming Events

  • Feb 19   Bishop Guertin High School, Nashua NH, ARISS contact
  • Feb 24  JFK High School, Denver CO, ARISS contact  
  • Feb 26 Estes Park Elementary School, Estes Park CO, ARISS contact