Author: cmejackson500

November 29: Students, ages 6 to 17, at Colegio Pumahue Temuco in Temuco, Chile held an ARISS radio contact with Raja Chari who answered their questions. This contact played to a social-distanced live audience of 495 people and livestream viewers numbered 401. Within 2 days 2,400 people had watched the recording. Media on hand for the event were Radio Bío-Bio, Radio Mirador, Canal 13, TVN, Mega, CNN–Chile, Diario Austral and Diario El Mercurio. A Chilean spectator said, “Everyone watching was surprised of the impact this activity had on the students. It was a tidal wave of emotions for everyone.” The teaching staff had integrated space science and ISS topics into curricula for all grades. Primary and secondary students learned about radio communication and its practical applications and antenna building as a science course activity.

November 20: The Sparta Independent, a newspaper in Sparta, NJ featured recent STEM activities at Sussex County (NJ) Charter School for Technology. The article covered the school’s upcoming ARISS contact and outstanding efforts of area ham radio operators in educating students on radio technology and space communications. The reporter informed area schools how they might submit an ARISS education proposal to possibly host their own ARISS contact school.

December 1-2:  The Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) had cosmonauts downlink images for a new SSTV session.  440 ham radio operators and shortwave enthusiasts engaged in the activity, downloading 1,023 images that have been posted on the ARISS SSTV Gallery at: https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php

November 29: The ARISS-Russia team led the program, About Gagarin from Space for students at Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk, Russia. The program included conducting a successful ARISS contact for students with Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.

Facebook November 2021

ARISS Facebook: As of November 30, 2021, ARISS Facebook followers totaled 7,094, a slight increase over October.  
ARISS Twitter:  As of November 30, 2021, ARISS Twitter followers totaled 15,567, a gain of close to 1% over October. 
ARISS Instagram: As of November 30, 2021, ARISS Instagram followers totaled 366, a gain of 3% over October.
ARISS YouTube: As of November 30, 2021, ARISS YouTube Channel subscribers totaled 1.58k, a slight gain over October.

November Highest Performing ARISS Facebook Post—posted on the 19^th
This popular ARISS Facebook post featured an upcoming SSTV session; the post garnered 6,836 Reaches and 650 Engagements.

ARISS Upcoming Events
Dec 7 South West State University, Kursk, Russia, ARISS-Russia team
Dec 9 Notre Dame Jogakuin Junior and Senior High School, Kyoto, Japan, ARISS-Japan team
Dec 10 DLR School Lab Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany, ARISS-Europe team
Dec 13 Wolfgang-Kubelka-Realschule, Schondorf am Ammersee, Germany, ARISS-Europe team
Dec 16 Technisches Bildungszentrum Mitte & Carl Prueter Obserschule, Germany, ARISS-Europe team

November  9: South Yarra Primary School students in South Yarra, Victoria, Australia spoke with Mark Vande Hei who answered 20 questions during their ARISS radio contact. A young boy ended his question with: “Happy Birthday!”  Mark needed a couple of seconds to compose himself before replying, “Thank you. You have choked me up.”  The on-site audience included 52 students, teachers and school council members plus 34 parents, a member of the Australian Space Agency Advisory Board (Frank Roberts), and 2 news reporters.  136 individuals took part via Teams and 36 via Echolink.  For the first time in 18 months of Covid restrictions, the Goddard Amateur Radio Club supported radio telebridge operations. Another first: club members were successful in their attempt at transmitting, joining the school’s Teams live stream, the live video of their ARISS radio activity. ARISS educator Melissa Pore celebrated her first time assisting with telebridge operations at the Goddard radio station. Victoria TV9 tweeted about the contact and the video clip garnered over 2,000 views in less than a week. 

November 9: ARISS distributed a news release about winning a five-year nearly $1.3 million grant from the Amateur Radio Digital Communications group. The grant, called “Student and Teacher Education via Radio Experimentation and Operations,” gives ARISS a huge boost in three distinct initiatives that will enable sustainment and improvement of STEAM educational outcomes. The first initiative gives ARISS the ability to sponsor educator workshops (and help pay travel costs) for teachers to learn how to guide students in activities tied to a wireless technology kit called “SPARKI,” (“Space-Pioneers Amateur Radio Kit Initiative”). The second initiative will take SPARKI from prototype to operational and then deploy these kits into a selected set of ARISS formal and informal education organizations (middle-school and high-school level) planning a scheduled ARISS radio contact. The third initiative will support some of the costs of ARISS contact operations between students and astronauts aboard the ISS over the five-year grant period. Frank Bauer called the grant “a game-changer that represents a key element of our ARISS 2.0 vision.”

November 11: ARISS educator Melissa Pore gave a forum talk at the National Science Teachers Association’s Area Conference on Science in Baltimore, MD.  40 educators listened to her presentation titled “Making Space for All in STEM,” which focused on ARISS. Melissa also shared details on education opportunities available through the ISS National Lab Space Station Explorers program and some NASA programs her high school students enjoy.

November 11: The ARISS-Russia team has led STEM activities for students at the Ural State University of Railways and Communications (UrGUPS) in Yekaterinburg, Russia. UrGUPS is described as “the only higher education institute in the Ural Federal District supporting BS and MS degrees in transport and related communications for today’s complex demands.” Youth took part in lessons on About Gagarin from Space and then were excited to talk to cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov during an ARISS contact.

November 18: NASA invited ARISS to join in a session of “Explore Your Possibilities with NASA”—its all-day program for 2021 STEM-A-Thon. The online event presented activities for teachers and students to spark interest in space and space careers and communications. The early morning program for the day was prepared by ARISS educators Joanne Michael and Kathy Lamont and was titled “Speaking with Spacecraft: Exploring Space Communications.” The two taught the basics of radio waves and how they carry communications into space and back to Earth. They offered an online worksheet and as Joanne and Kathy drew different radio waves depending on the radio frequencies, participants could follow along and draw, as well.  Live-view metrics showed 10 educators and 90 others participated.

November 19: As part of their preps for an upcoming ARISS contact, 80 pre-K to 8^th grade students at Savannah River Academy in Grovetown, GA went outdoors to learn how to do a radio transmitter hunt. Educators set up teams of five to seven students paired with two radio mentors from the Amateur Radio Club of Columbia County.  Students used special directional antennas to sniff out weak signals from radio transmitters hidden under leaves and other things, and disguised. At the end of the day, kids found three hidden around the school grounds.

October 31: Frank Bauer gave a Zoom presentation to the East Coast Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Youth & Aerospace Program. He spoke about ARISS and space communications, a topic that inspired the audience. Ten youth and three informal educators attended the meeting.  

November 16: The English Estates Elementary School in Fern Park, FL included an amateur radio Teach-In as part of the faculty’s participation in Seminole County’s Career Day. ARISS volunteer Dave Jordan guided the Lake Monroe Amateur Radio Society (LMARS) Education Committee in sponsoring this event—LMARS does its Teach-in at one area school each year. This year, 6 club members mentored 116 students during three 30-minute sessions for 4 classes of 3rd graders. Teach-In topics included space communications, ARISS, and electromagnetic waves and how they are used in communicating. In one of the three sessions, LMARS introduced students to Morse code, and with a little help, youth transmitted their names in code using a code key and oscillator. Several students made amateur radio contacts with an area ham operator.

November 5-6: Diane Warner, a member of the ARISS-US Education Committee, helped set up and staff an exhibit booth that her area ham club sponsored at a Lancaster, OH event honoring military veterans. The booth featured amateur radio emergency communications and ARISS. She prominently displayed photographs from her school’s ARISS radio contact and 75 passersby asked her about the photos; she enjoyed explaining!

October 17: ARISS educator Melissa Pore spun up teachers from the DC-Maryland-Virginia area to attend Teacher Fly Day hosted by the Flying Circus Aerodrome in Bealeton, VA.  The all-day event saw 25 teachers, some from Title I schools enjoying STEM activities, especially on space, navigation, and aviation, and flights in the aerodrome’s classic airplanes. Melissa had invited NASA, the Air and Space Museum, Civil Air Patrol and the US Naval Academy to set up exhibits or do presentations. Melissa gave a talk on ARISS. The ISS National Lab contributed items for teachers to take to their classrooms.

November 20 & 22: The Italian RAI 2 TV station sponsors a show called “Your Business,” and a reporter led an interview with ARISS Italian volunteer and educator Micol Ivancic and one of her students. They talked about ARISS and its effect on students and she described the volunteer radio work she handles at an ARISS telebridge station. They discussed what they’ve learned about life on the ISS. The show features stories that are of a general interest to the public.  Two days earlier, Micol’s area newspaper, Milano, ran a story about her ARISS work with students. 

November 20: ARISS Technical Mentor Fred Kemmerer from Hollis, NH, won the majority of votes in an election for director of American Radio Relay League’s (ARRL) New England Division. The territory covered in the division is all five New England states. He joins a team of 14 other directors in making decisions about ARRL’s future direction. He had become well known because he regularly gives talks about ARISS to ham groups.

November 16: At the November ARISS-International Working Group teleconference meeting, Frank Bauer led attendees in celebrating 25 years of having the ARISS Team established. On November 4-5, 1996, Johnson Space Center hosted the inaugural meeting in Houston, TX. Ham radio operators traveled there from around the globe, and some of the US team members are still volunteering for ARISS today.

 ARISS Upcoming Events   

Nov 29 Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia, ARISS-Russia team
Nov 29 Colegio Pumahue Temuco, Temuco, Chile, ARISS-Canada team
Dec 2 Berufliche Schule Direktorat 1 Nurnberg, Nuremberg, Germany, ARISS-Europe team
Dec 2 Wolfgang-Kubelka-Realschule, Schondorf am Ammersee, Germany, ARISS-Europe team
Dec 3 Hino Elementary School and Canna School, Suzaka, Japan, ARISS-Japan team
Dec 4 Aznakaev students, district of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, ARISS-Russia team

October 27: Students at Tarwater Elementary School in Chandler, AZ talked with Shane Kimbrough as the ISS passed overhead. In the school’s open-air stage venue, students asked 14 questions while 35 visitors watched. Forty-four educators and 755 other students engaged via the livestream seen in each classroom.  US Senator and Astronaut Mark Kelly and Chandler School District Administrator “Commander” Frank Narducci, wearing a Space Camp jumpsuit, gave rousing greetings in a pre-recorded school video shown just before the ARISS contact began. The livestream at the event garnered 252 views; a recording got 754 views within a week. The fifth grade curriculum focused on space and space exploration. All other classes engaged in hands-on NASA and amateur radio lessons in the STEM Lab with assistance from the area NXP Amateur Radio Club. 

November 8: Astronaut Eileen Collins gave ARISS a shout-out in her new memoir, Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars. Here’s the quote:

“Astronauts love SAREX, the Space Amateur Radio Experiment program. (We call it ARISS these days, for Amateur Radio on the ISS.) We use ham radio technology to communicate with school students on Earth. It’s highly motivational for the astronauts, as we get to take a break from our other tasks and talk with children from across the country who are interested in space. And, of course, the students enjoy speaking with astronauts in space! The sessions have to be tightly scheduled, as we are only within communications range of a participating school for about ten minutes.

“When we reached the appropriate time in our schedule for my first session, I called down to the school. (My call sign was KD5EDS.) Despite repeated calls, my voice wasn’t going through. Ten minutes came and went without my being able to connect, and then we were out of range. I knew the students on the ground were disappointed they couldn’t talk to us. I went back over the checklist. I discovered that I’d missed a step and left a circuit breaker open.”

Collins then wrote that NASA was able to re-schedule the school contact not long afterward and it was a huge success!

October 28: ARISS teacher Joanne Michael from Wiseburn Unified School District in El Segundo, CA presented a talk tied to ARISS at the 2021 National Science Teachers Association’s Area Conference on Science in Portland, OR.  Her topic, titled “Capturing Students’ Wonder & Curiosity Using Amateur Radio,” introduced 40 educators to how aspects of amateur radio can enhance STEM curriculum. During her presentation, Joanne, wearing the perfect outfit…printed with Morse code dots and dashes, gave examples of what excites her students and described her ARISS school contact. Near the end of the forum, she led educators in building small electronic kits to take home—their own Morse code keys for students to try in class. One educator wrote:  “I’m inspired to research radio opportunities in my local area. For inquiry lesson ideas in engineering, code, and the science behind high altitude balloons I am excited to hopefully get a MAB opportunity going for my middle school students.” 

November 2-6: ARISS educator Melissa Pore participated in the 2021 American Society for Gravitational and Space Research Meeting in Baltimore, MD.  She helped staff the ISS National Lab exhibit booth, who sponsored her attendance.  As visitors came by, including many aerospace professionals, Melissa told them about ARISS and other ISS National Lab programs. She networked with exhibitors, including NASA SCaN, and took part in two education committee meetings.

October 29-30: On Friday, ARISS-US Delegate Dave Taylor reported to the AMSAT-North America (AMSAT-NA) Board of Directors on the status of the ARISS program. At the 2021 AMSAT-NA Symposium the following day, he presented an overview to the general membership and attendees from around the world, of the myriad of 2021 ARISS activities and plans for the future. Both meetings were held via Zoom and shared with additional viewers on YouTube (within a week, 620 views).  Also on Saturday, Frank Bauer presented a Symposium presentation.  He spoke about new ARISS education initiatives and hardware. He described two grants that ARISS won recently for major educational activities, and also a grant proposal that ARISS has submitted for even more educational activities to sponsor. A Q&A for Dave and Frank followed their talks.

September 11: The chair of the ARRL-ARISS Committee Mark Tharp from Washington state and AMSAT volunteer Craig Bledsoe from Alaska gave a talk on ARISS and satellites at the Matanuska 2021 Hamfest, in Big Lake, Alaska. Fifteen informal educators attended. The presentation covered ARISS activities, how to track ham satellites, and the ISS’s ARISS radio. The audience moved outdoors for a demonstration of actually making satellite ham radio contacts using a handheld radio and antenna.

Social Media

Facebook October 2021

ARISS Facebook: As of October 30, 2021, Facebook followers totaled 7,055, a slightly increase over September.   
ARISS Twitter: As of October 30, 2021, Twitter followers totaled 15,459, a gain over September.
ARISS Instagram: As of October 30, 2021, Instagram Followers totaled 354.
ARISS YouTube: As of October 30, 2021, YouTube subscribers totaled 1.57k, a slight gain over September.

October’s Highest Performing ARISS Facebook Post—the week of 8^th-14^th

This popular ARISS Facebook post featured a successful ARISS contact for three collaborating French schools and featured a photo from one, Institut Universitaire de Technologie in Carquefou. 

ARISS Upcoming Events   

TBD

October 20: The ARISS educator at Tecumseh (OK) High School who led students in STEM projects that culminated in a December 4, 2020 ARISS contact has a new set of students for 2021. His Electronics and Amateur Radio Class completed an electrical project that depicts the ISS’s track as it traveled over Tecumseh the day of the ARISS contact. LEDs light up following acquisition of signal to loss of signal.  Students did the entire project except for the instructor programming the Arduino unit controlling LEDs.  Students divided into three teams with set responsibilities: 1) build the box in the correct size/shape; 2) build the circuit—design placement of wires, LEDs, on-off switch, power supply, and solder them together without use of a breadboard; and 3) lay out everything to put together and where—LEDs, switch, Arduino, map—and how to secure them. A student manager coordinated everything and wrote a report. The instructor said: “They dreamed up fantastic ideas and put it all together. They’ve learned how to build circuit boards to turn into projects and are studying for their amateur radio license.”   

October 24: Teacher Ravi Davis at Estes Park Middle School, CO had co-led STEM activities leading up to her ARISS contact in February, and this summer, several students earned their ham licenses.  Recently, she wrote: “We are setting up an amateur radio contact between our ham students and four girls in the UK! They’re the same age and it will be awesome for them to talk to each other.” The UK computer science instructor said the girls call themselves “The STEAMettes” and are interested in studying for their ham license. The two teachers share ideas, lately, about Micro:bit electronic projects. Estes Valley Amateur Radio Club is assisting Ravi in teaching her Estes Park students how to use Digital Mobile Radio.

October 23: ARISS volunteers Bob and Jann Koepke gave a 30-minute presentation on ARISS to attendees at the AIAA Orange County District’s (CA) 18th Annual Aerospace Systems & Technology Conference on Zoom. The sub-title of the ARISS talk was “10 Minutes to Change a Student’s Life.”  About 100 attendees included formal and informal educators, seasoned and new engineers, area aerospace managers, and students. The talk included a clip of Mill Springs Academy (in Alpharetta, GA) students and ARISS volunteer Martha Muir who taught there, describing the good effects ARISS had on teachers and students. 

October 27: Tarwater Elementary School in Chandler, AZ, hosted an ARISS contact, and details will be forthcoming.

ARISS Upcoming Events   

Nov 9  South Yarra Primary School, S. Yarra, Victoria, Australia, ARISS-Japan team

Nov 11 Ural State U. of Railways & Communications, Yekaterinburg, Russia, ARISS-Russia team

August: Sussex County Charter School for Technology (Sparta, NJ) sponsored “Making Connections,” its first week-long amateur radio camp. This was a STEM education program as part of preparations for the school’s February 2022 ARISS contact. The STEM teacher, a Society of Women Engineers Advisor, said, “…best of all [at the camp], students did hands-on electronic activities.” The 6th through 8th graders discovered electronic basics and learned to make Morse code radio contacts mentored by Sussex County Amateur Radio Club members. ARISS volunteer Fred Kemmerer drove from New Hampshire to show students how to remotely operate his home radio station, making voice radio contacts with youth in London and elsewhere. He taught students to make amateur radio satellite contacts and led students in a direction-finding hunt to locate a hidden transmitter.  An ARRL Director for New York and New Jersey taught students how she uses radio-control drones. Students’ parents came to camp the last day to watch their children showcase activities they’d mastered. Teachers will now begin infusing classes with activities on communications and space exploration. The school formed an amateur radio club dedicated to enriching students’ physical science learning experiences by having them set up a ham radio station to make more local and worldwide radio contacts.

October 18: Students at Jean Alloitteau School in Vinça, France listened intently as Thomas Pesquet said he was ready for their questions and answered 20.  Media on hand, along with 60 other attendees, included France-3 TV, TV4, radio stations France-Bleu and Pyrenees FM, and the newspaper, L’independent. The ARISS radio contact was live streamed for 486 viewers and within two days’ time, 1,094 people had viewed it. The URL is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVxz4RFLVE. The school integrated space and communications lessons related to ARISS in an interdisciplinary curriculum (French, biology, mathematics, physics, technology, visual arts, music).

October 2: People enjoying a beach day during the 2021 Artevento International Kite Festival in Cervia, Italy got an extra bonus when an Italian ARISS volunteer brought a handheld ham radio and antenna to the beach. Passersby were able to listen as he recorded Thomas Pesquet answering CUST University Space Center (Toulouse, France) students’ questions. A group of beach-goers watched and listened. The ARISS volunteer posted a video online later that day and 33 people watched it.

October 12: The next ARISS SSTV (picture downlink) session is tentatively planned for mid-November.  The downlinks will include historical Lunar missions—robotic and human spaceflight.  When this idea was suggested by the ARISS-USA team, ARISS-Russia team member Sergey Samburov presented a photo showing Cosmonaut Oleg Artemiev in the ISS Cupola reading On the Moon, the writings by Sergey’s great-grandfather Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a space visionary and philosopher. Tsiolkovsky developed the rocket equation used by rocket scientists the world over and in the 1800s made predictions on future Lunar operations. The photo also shows off one of the ARISS CubeSat satellites built by the South West State University (SWSU) students in Kursk, Russia.  Artemiev deployed some of the CubeSats in 2018.

October 13:  Last week’s report stated that 633 French students viewed the ARISS radio contact livestream for two schools in Carquefou (Ecole Louis Armand and Institut Universitaire de Technologie-IUT) and one school in Thouare Sur Loire (Collège Les Sables D’Or). The ARISS team learned that IUT streamed the ARISS contact to all of its classes, garnering nearly 5,000 views!  

ARISS Upcoming Events   

Oct 28  Tarwater Elementary School, Chandler AZ, ARISS contact, ARISS-US team

October 12:  Students at the Mary Hare School for the deaf in Newbury, UK took part in an ARISS radio contact with Mark Vande Hei; he answered all 10 of the students’ questions. This was the first time an ARISS contact has been carried out with hearing impaired students. The school used special equipment and software and Vande Hei’s words were transcribed and posted on a screen. The UK Space Agency’s Susan Buckles and ARISS volunteer Chris Bridges from University of Surrey Science Centre both gave presentations that included possible careers in aerospace. Afterwards, a young girl told a reporter the “ARISS contact changed her life, that she’s interested in a space career” now. About 80 students and faculty witnessed the event while 232 watched the live stream, and another 125 viewed it within a week’s time. The link is (begin at 49 minutes): https://youtu.be/wmI3qKZgjJ4.  Three media outlets covered the event: BBC South, ITV, and a Newbury newspaper. In previous months, among other things related to STEAM, the youth worked with model rockets and made astronomy observations.

October 13:  Three schools in France–Ecole Louis Armand and Institut Universitaire de Technologie in Carquefou, along with Collège Les Sables D’Or in Thouare Sur Loire–hosted an ARISS contact with Thomas Pesquet. He answered 18 questions. The livestream captured 633 live viewers at the host school, and the stream was viewed by nearly 5,000 at the other schools of the academy.  Media outlets included TV France-3, Radio Franc Bleu, and newspapers Ouest-France and Presse Ocean.  France-3’s video summary garnered 3,949 views; and the link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjtSg3Qb2Ws.  University undergrads built much of the antenna system, the structural parts and electrical control system, and they proudly stated that this link is why “the three schools’ students and Pesquet will be linked together for life.”  Young students were introduced to satellite radio contacts and Morse code, built yagi antennas, and took part in radio direction-finding quests.

September 24: All 115 of Savannah River Academy’s students in Grovetown, GA enjoyed a “Get on the Air” event, a preparation for the school’s late-2021 ARISS contact. 30 teachers, informal educators, and administrators got engaged, too. Students rotated between getting on the air at a 2-meter radio station with EchoLink and two HF radio stations—one for Morse code radio contacts and one for voice contacts. North Fulton Amateur Radio League (NFARL) members at home in metro Atlanta listened for and talked to the youth. Other ham operators around the US and ones in the Philippines, Belgium, and Italy (an ARISS volunteer) spoke with students. Kids really liked Morse code contacts; it took special nudging to get them to move on from there. While students weren’t on the air, an area scientist led STEM demos, popular as well. The school principal got on the air and when asked what she thought of the ARISS activities, she said she loves it and the students love it! Near the end of the event, staff brought in Pre-K and K students and the Amateur Radio Club of Columbia County president, who was on site, helped them say all together, a hi and goodbye to listening hams. 

October 7:  Twenty-one formal and informal educators tied into a virtual ARISS Proposal Webinar hosted by ARISS-US Education Committee Chair Kathy Lamont with a big assist from ARISS Mentor Lead John Kludt. Educators asked questions related to submitting an ARISS Education & Contact Proposal to be considered for ARISS contacts in second-half 2022. The webinar spelled out education expectations and timetables for deliverables from groups to be selected. The window to submit proposals opened October 1. The webinar was recorded and was made available to interested parties until the window closes on November 24.  

September 25: Two young ham operators and ARISS educator Neil Rapp, the coordinator of the Youth on the Air-Americas (YOTA) project, gave a Zoom talk to the YOTA team that is forming in Japan.  The presentation explained about the ARISS contact and related hands-on STEM activities at the YOTA camp in Ohio in late summer. The 12 Japanese listeners got an understanding of the effect these had on the young people when hearing the enthusiasm in the campers’ voices.  

October 9:  ARISS volunteer Charlie Sufana presented a forum on the ARISS program at the annual Melbourne (FL) Hamfest. He discussed what an ARISS contact is, how it is carried out and how schools can submit education proposals to host a contact.  After the Q&A he ended with a video of one of the many successful ARISS school contacts he has supported through the years as an ARISS Technical Mentor.

September 25: A young ham operator who took part in the ARISS contact at the Youth on the Air (YOTA) camp in late summer gave a presentation to a ham radio conference audience in Pigeon Fork, TN. The forum talk covered the ARISS contact and related technical hands-on activities such as tracking satellites, and the YOTA camp itself; 161 people attended the conference.   

ARISS Upcoming Events   

Oct 28  Tarwater Elementary School, Chandler AZ, ARISS contact, ARISS-US team

October 2: An ARISS radio contact took place between Thomas Pesquet and two French schools’ students—Lycée Pierre Paul Riquet in St Orens De Gameville and CSUT University Space Center of Toulouse. The schools’ students took turns and got 13 questions answered. They were masked when not speaking and staff limited crowd size on site to 180.  The contact was streamed with 460 live viewers and 6 days later garnered 2,086 viewers; the URL is:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgl8lELDcgA. Media representatives present included Regional TV France-3, Radio station France-Bleu Occitanie and the newspaper La Depeche de Midi, which livestreamed the event. Students featured many of the hands-on STEM activities and projects they were proud of.

October 5: The Prescott (AZ) Unified School District sponsored an ARISS contact for 5 district elementary through middle schools with Mark Vande Hei; he answered 22 questions. The event featured talks by the superintendent, staff, and students followed by the ARRL video with youth describing how the radio contact occurs between the ISS and schools. The district livestreamed the action from the Mile High Middle School (MHMS)—the URL (begin at 16 minutes) is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hESAlh7Wkg4—to the following: 3,000 district students, 200 staff, 70 parents, and 70 area citizens.   98 others saw (live) a second YouTube video and afterwards, another 999 viewed it. The Daily Courier newspaper published a great story and a livestream. A boy expressed his excitement to the reporter, saying, “It was really cool seeing kids get to talk to an astronaut.” The superintendent described Assistant Superintendent Mardi Read as “Mission Commander” and admitted to the reporter that they both got tears in their eyes listening to the contact. World Genesis Foundation President Heather Anderson, whose group, along with the Yavapai County Amateur Radio Club, assisted with STEM activities, was quoted: “It was absolutely incredible to watch these kids ask their questions, sparking curiosity that will last a lifetime.” Pre-publicity stories came from AZ-TV.com, Newsbreak.com, and The Prometheism. Students engaged in many space science and radio lessons beginning in summer school and then throughout the quarter. MHMS sponsors a student amateur radio club.

September 30: The ARISS-US Education Committee distributed a news release to media outlets and a short piece to NASA EXPRESS about opening a window October 1 to accept the ARISS Education and Contact Proposal forms from US education groups. NASA EXPRESS’s e-newsletter went to 55,039 subscribers and was shared through NASA Office of STEM Engagement’s social media with: 335,974 @NASASTEM Twitter followers, 93567 NASA STEM Engagement Facebook followers, and 410,387 NASA STEM Pinterest followers. The committee will consider proposals and select the best for ARISS contacts that education groups would host in second-half 2022.

August & September: ARISS volunteer Fred Kemmerer gave 14 presentations on ARISS youth radio activities for ham radio clubs and education groups in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.  A total of 245 people, including ham operators and educators heard him describe how he uses his ARISS radio ground station for school contacts. He spoke how he, his wife, and their ham club (Nashua Area Radio Society) helped two area schools the past several years with hosting ARISS school contacts. His talk included details on more activities and programs his club supports to interest youth and adults in STEM.  

August 15: ARISS educator Neil Rapp and two young ham operators gave a presentation at the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo (QTVHE). Their forum featured the ARISS contact and STEM activities at the Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) summer camp for the Americas in July; Neil was camp director. 8000 people registered for QTVHE and they could choose between several simultaneous forums. All presentations were recorded and now open to the public to view.

September 27: ARISS student officers called to order the first meeting of the school year for Dennis J. O’Connell School Amateur Radio Club in Arlington, VA. Club members took part in an ARISS contact previously, and do satellite communications activities. These make the club a popular group to join; 89 students showed up. Student officers described last spring’s STEAM activities undertaken, and discussed plans for this semester.

August 30: University Institute of Technology (IUT Nantes) students in Carquefou, France enjoy mentoring Carquefou’s Louis Armand Elementary School and Collège les Sables d’Or Junior High in Thouaré sur Loire students. The three schools have been collaborating for their upcoming ARISS contact. During the past year, IUT Nantes mechanical engineering students designed and built the required azimuth-elevation mount and telescopic tilting support that is now on the IUT Nantes building’s roof. Electrical engineering students designed and built the control system and position servo-control. They tested the system before holding an IUT Nantes Radio Demo Day where they helped elementary and junior high students download ARISS SSTV images. Undergrads described to students all the design and finalization stages of the antenna mount, making it a common tie they all share–the link allowing them to communicate with Thomas Pesquet. An IUT professor said, “During the contact, all students will see the mount tracking the ISS while hearing Pesquet answer their questions, creating wonder and curiosity, revealing the magic of the radio link from the ISS to students without wire support.”

ARISS Social Media

Facebook September 2021

ARISS Twitter:  As of September 30, 2021, Twitter followers totaled 15,354, a 1% gain over August.

ARISS Instagram: As of September 30, 2021, Instagram Followers totaled 354.

ARISS YouTube: As of September 30, 2021, YouTube subscribers totaled 1.56k, a slight gain over August.

Top Performing September Tweet and Facebook Posts
Both platforms’ top performing posts described upcoming ARISS school contacts and featured a photo of astronauts Walker and Noguchi at the ARISS mike. Results garnered:
1,953 Facebook Reaches, 100 Engagements
13.7k Tweet Impressions

ARISS Upcoming Events

Oct 12: Mary Hare School, Newbury UK, ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe team

Oct 13:  3 French schools in/near Carquefou: Ecole Louis Armand, Collège Les Sables D’Or, Institut Universitaire de Technologie, ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe team