August 18: The Cambridge Amateur Radio Club partnered with the Idea Exchange program at the Cambridge Public Library in Ontario, Canada to host an ARISS contact with Kjell Lindgren. An audience of 185 people watched at the outdoor contact site while Lindgren answered 9 student questions. 155 others watched via a live steam, and within a week, 684 people had watched a YouTube recording. Cambridge Amateur Radio Club members provided technical support for the ARISS contact. TV and newspaper reporters came to cover the action, and media hits are:
- Cambridge Today online news write up
- CTV News posting
- WAALI News posting
https://newswaali.com/its-very-rare-for-canada-cambridge-amateur-radio-club-contacts-iss-news-waali/
In preparation for the contact, local youth from kindergarten through sixth grade participated in a variety of STEAM activities sponsored by the Idea Exchange on subjects such as space, engineering, and various sciences.
August 20-21: About 5,000 ham radio operators and other radio enthusiasts gathered at the 2022 ARRL Southeastern Division Convention (the 3rd largest US ham event this year) at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, AL. ARISS showcased a large booth both days supported by Frank Bauer, Janet Bauer, Dave Jordan, and Martha Muir with over 300 stopping by to talk—10% were educators and over 10% were youth. They learned about the ARISS program and several ARISS education projects in development that will allow students to interact with robots and with sensor devices on the International Space Station. Several educators learned how to submit education proposals for an ARISS contact at their school. Frank presented a forum to a crowd of 60 people and reported high interest in the ARISS 2.0 effort, ARISS education programs, Kjell Lindgren’s radio activity, and future ARISS initiatives. Booth staff said that following the forum, many people stopped to say they appreciated hearing all about ARISS and to offer a thank you for ARISS activities. Before the convention, Frank met with four American Radio Relay League (ARRL) leaders about education ideas for ARISS and ARRL to consider collaborating on at facilities such as the US Space & Rocket Center.
July 5-29: ARISS volunteer Melissa Pore presented ARISS and ARISS-related STEM activities at youth workshops during four weeks of the Washington Community Fellowship DC STEM Camps in Washington DC. She led activities for 200 campers with lessons focused on satellites and Morse code, held demonstrations about radio antennas, and used STEM lesson resources from SCaN on the Deep Space Network and from the US Naval Academy. The youth worked with some satellite models, SCaN activity booklets, and Artemis activity books. The camp was free for underserved youth age 8 to 12.
ARISS Upcoming Events
TBD