February 4: Johannes Kepler Gymnasium (JKG) in Lebach, Germany hosted an ARISS radio contact with Matthias Maurer who answered 16 student questions. This K-12 school is one of only three in the Lebach area with a STEM department and partners with the global Bosch Homburg, Environmental Campus Birkenfeld, and Krämer-IT. JKG’s amateur radio station offers the students enjoyable learning activities on radio communications; teachers lead projects such as launching model rockets and high-altitude balloons with radio payloads that allow tracking and analyzing of the data. The livestream of the ARISS contact events garnered 2,994 views, and 6 days later, 4,646 views; the URL is https://youtu.be/S15MUGSvlQI (begin at 41 minutes).
February 2: Last week’s report listed a successful ARISS contact at the Amur Flight Control Center of Amur State University (AmSU) in Blagoveshchensk, Russia. ARISS has now received photos and details, including that 12 students came from several area schools to ask their questions during the radio contact. Supporting the contact were two cosmonauts, Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov; they answered 14 questions. Chief Specialist of RSC Energia, Sergey Samburov spoke to the students as did the senior lecturer of the AmSU Department of Physics. Also invited was the AmSU Deputy Dean for Career Guidance; she described STEM careers, encouraging students to consider these.
February 2: Last week’s report covered ARISS leaders attending the ISS National Lab Space Station Explorers’ (SSE) annual partner meeting at Space Center Houston (TX). ARISS now has details on the activity of ARISS educators Melissa Pore and Gina Kwid at the meeting. Melissa spoke during the ISS National Lab User Advisory Group’s presentation, showing a video and describing ARISS, including how ARISS and SSE lessons are an integral part of the resources for her high school’s STEM classes. Gina gave her perspective on her students’ STEAM experiences from the months of ARISS-related studies prior to her school hosting an ARISS contact.
February 4: Frank Bauer and Rosalie White tag-teamed for a multi-media presentation to members of the Dayton (OH) Amateur Radio Association. Attendees totaled 78 from Ohio; 3 were in other states. The hour-long talk covered all aspects of ARISS, including new education initiatives. Questions at the end showed the audience’s interest in helping youth take part in upcoming education programs. The club posted a recording of the talk on their web site for members who couldn’t watch due to shoveling snow.
ARISS Upcoming Events
February 11-13 ARRL National Convention, Orlando FL, ARISS booth & forum, ARISS-US Team
February 14 University of Applied Sciences, Aachen, Germany, ARISS contact,ARISS-Europe Team