November 3: Walkerston State School in Walkerston, Queensland, Australia held an ARISS contact for its students with Loral O’Hara. Great radio signals resulted in 16 students’ questions being answered. With a few minutes left at the end of the ISS’ pass, students sent up a big thanks and applause to Loral. A crowd of over 70 people watched the action. The school serves 320 students for grade levels 1-6 and had integrated space-related topics and technology into the yearly plan. The administration had partnered with the Mackay Astronomy Club and set up several star-gazing nights for all students.
November 6: Halls Head College youth in Mandurah, Western Australia, Australia enjoyed watching 13 fellow students talk with Loral O’Hara on the ISS. She answered 14 of their questions. The school’s 1,400 students in grade levels 7-12 viewed a YouTube the school had set up. In addition to traditional curriculum that includes a cross-curricular STEM approach, students can select vocational and training courses offered both on and off campus. The school developed partnerships with area professional and university subject matter experts in the fields of space exploration.
October 14-15: The 2023 AMSAT-UK Colloquium took place in Milton Keynes, UK. The event is held each year at the same time and place as the Radio Society of Great Britain’s (RSGB—the UK national amateur radio society) annual meeting. Both offer subject matter experts presenting papers and forum talks for amateur radio enthusiasts. Ciaran Morgan, ARISS lead for the UK and an RSGB representative, gave a forum on the newest ARISS projects and school radio contacts. Also presenting a forum was John Hislop who told all about the recent ARISS contact he had assisted with at St Peter Junior School in Broadstairs. Both talks drew 30 attendees. The livestream of the forums each garnered 65 viewers.
November 4: ARISS educator Martha Muir and ARISS social media guru Jim Reed shared the platform, presenting a forum on ARISS, at the annual Stone Mountain HamFest (a gathering of ham radio enthusiasts) in Lawrenceville, GA. They spoke on the latest news about ARISS projects, touched on recent ARISS contacts held at Georgia schools, and announced the 40th Anniversary Conference: Celebrating the Positive Impact of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight to be held in February 2024.
October 28: Frank Bauer gave a talk to youth who belong to the East Coast Chapter of the Youth in Education program, the student arm of the Tuskegee Airmen. The 15 high school youth and some of their informal educators met in the chapter’s College Park, MD instructional room to listen Frank describe some of the latest ARISS educational activities.
November 3: Nearly a month after the Valley Stream (NY) South High School ARISS contact, a reporter from the online news source LIHerald.com posted her story all about being impressed with the thought-provoking questions students had asked Andreas Mogensen. The 8th through 12th graders’ questions had resulted from studies taught in preparation for the contact covering astronomy and satellites, physics of rocket launches and orbital mechanics, and how amateur radio communications is used on the ISS. The reporter’s story, titled “A look at the questions Valley Stream South students sent to the International Space Station,” also quoted the principal who said, “The stories of astronauts like Andreas Mogensen, and the images of distant planets inspire us all to dream big and aim for the stars motivating the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers.”
ARISS Upcoming Events
November 17: New Heights School-Learning Service, Calgary AB—ARISS contact, ARISS-Canada Team
Feb 22 – 24, 2024: Human Spaceflight Amateur Radio: 40th Anniversary Celebration—ARISS conference and gala, ARISS-I Team