Author: cmejackson500

April 7: An ARISS radio contact was hosted at Collège Saint-Anatoile in Salins-Les-Bains, a rural area in the Franche Comté region of France.  During the contact, Steve Bowen answered 20 student questions. 100 students, professors, parents, and city and regional officials attended the event or watched the livestream from other rooms, as did 60 students at a neighboring school.  Within two days’ time, 2,000 people had viewed the recording. The event was well covered by media—newspapers Le Progres and L’Est Républicain, TV station France3 (their short video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at8fGjEwXSY), and radio stations France Bleu and RCF.  The school had incorporated many STEM projects into the curriculum. Members of the area and regional amateur radio clubs sponsored workshops for students to introduce them to amateur radio communications, radio direction-finding, amateur radio satellites, wave propagation, and tracking the ISS.

April: Council Rock High School South in Holland, PA is scheduled for their ARISS contact early in May. Teachers prepared the students for the contact through special space-related curriculum and projects. The two photos below show part of the work students did to build and set up ham radio antennas with some of their teachers and members of the area’s Warminster Amateur Radio Club. Students also enjoyed getting on the air to make ham radio contacts.  ARISS learned last week that US Senator Bob Casey plans to attend the school’s ARISS contact.

April 8-15: ARISS-Russia carried out six ARISS radio contacts under the About Gagarin In Space education program. The schools scheduled by MCC-Moscow included Vologda College of Communications and Information Technologies in Vologda with crew member Dimitri Petelin; Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in Kaliningrad with crew member Sergey Prokopyev; Ural State University of Railway Engineering in Yekaterinburg with Sergey Prokopyev; Admiral D.N. Senyavin Marine Technical Academy in St. Petersburg with crew member Andrey Fedyaev; MBOU School #5 for Students with Disabilities in Shchelkovo with Sergey Prokopyev, and MBOU Secondary School #1 in Vyborg with Andrew Fedyaev.  Two of these contacts, those at Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg, took place on Cosmonautics Day.

March 31: ARISS educator Drew Deskur, director of the Kopernik Observatory and Science Center in Vestal, NY offers space education presentations and classes to area youth. He helped students listen on ham radio to an ARISS radio contact at Stone Magnet Middle School in Melbourne, FL.  His students heard Steve Bowen’s answers to students’ questions as the ISS passed over Vestal, then Vestal students discussed the questions and answers.  Meantime, ARISS educator Kathy Lamont did the same thing with her students at Belmont Elementary School in Prince William County, VA. She had her students read the Stone Magnet Middle School students’ questions, and then her kids listened to Bowen’s replies as the ISS passed overhead. She recorded her students in order to post a video on Twitter; the video got 202 Views!

ARISS Upcoming Events 
Apr 18: Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai, UAE – ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team

March 31: The Stone Magnet Middle School in Melbourne, FL hosted an ARISS radio contact between students and Steve Bowen; he answered 20 questions. The audience at school, students watching a livestream in classrooms, and the 71 people viewing a second livestream totaled 391. A week later, the second livestream listed 488 Views. Some visitors in the room included a school board member, a district science administrator, an educator from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a STEM coordinator from a Daytona Beach school, and a ham operator from Vero Beach who works with a school—the latter three want their schools to write ARISS Education Proposals to possibly earn an ARISS contact. Space Coast Daily ran an item at https://spacecoastdaily.com/2023/03/stone-magnet-middle-school-students-to-speak-with-astronaut-warren-hoburg-on-the-space-station-march-31/.  A WFTV reporter from Orlando aired a story about the event.  649 students had enjoyed a STEAM-based curriculum and special sessions of hands-on math and science courses. Lessons supported by the area Platinum Coast Amateur Radio Society included radio science.

March 30-31: The ARISS-Russia team supported two ARISS contacts in two days’ time. Students at Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk engaging in the About Gagarin in Space program enjoyed a successful ARISS contact with Andrey Fedyaev. 30 people were present for the event. The other ARISS contact involved the About Gagarin in Space program also; youth from Aznakayevo in the Republic of Tatarstan, including children with disabilities, talked with Sergey Prokopyev.  

April 5: ARISS leader Dave Taylor gave a presentation via Zoom to the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club (MARC) whose members are from the Montgomery County, MD area.  His talk featured an ARISS overview and 22 MARC members tuned in.

ARISS Social Media 

ARISS’ social media leader, Jim Reed reported these major highlights for March 2023:

• ARISS Twitter Followers surpassed 18,000!
• An experiment on Facebook and Twitter with a short video on an ARISS contact resulted in 441 Reached (42 minutes viewed) on Facebook and 678 video views on Twitter

March Social Media Top Posts and March Total Metrics and images 

• Top March Tweet–best handheld ham radio for space: Impressions 10,578, Interactions / Engagements 594
• Top March Facebook Post –ARISS’ radio frequencies: Reaches / Impressions 9,691,  Engagements 339
• Top March Instagram Post – NASA video of ARISS contact for St. Lucia & the Caribbean: Reach 203,  Interactions / Engagements 24
• Top March Mastodon Post – ARISS’ radio frequencies: Interactions 28

ARISS Total March Social Media Metrics:

• ARISS Twitter – Total Impressions / Views 167,245,  Interactions / Engagements 4,370  
• ARISS Facebook – Total Impressions 75,798,  Interactions / Engagements 2,174
• ARISS Instagram – Total Reach 3,397,  Interactions / Engagements 325
• Mastodon – Interactions / Engagements 138
• LinkedIn – 36 new followers,  69 Reactions
• ARISS YouTube – Total Subscribers 1.84k

ARISS Upcoming Events

Apr 12: Students in Yekaterinburg, Russia – ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team

March 23: Lana’i High and Elementary School in Lana’i City, on one of the smaller Hawaiian Islands, hosted an ARISS contact with Warren Hoburg who answered 20 student questions and one from their lead teacher.  1,285 people came to the school or saw the livestream, and as of now, 479 watched recordings.  The Hawai’i News Network posted a news story with a video and the Hawai’i Public Radio’s online publication, “The Conversation Post,” covered the event. The school’s 572 students engaged in curriculum enhanced with studies in earth and space science and research on astronomy, and lessons on radio communications from the area ham radio club.  The teacher wrote: “The students are still lit up and walking proud, which is the best feeling to see them enjoying themselves and their accomplishments.  We have opened doors for the children of Lana’i that they never knew were possible.” A volunteer ham operator (students had enjoyed her astronomy and radio lessons) said: “You could tell how excited the kids were when the astronaut started talking–you could see the moment they realized he was in space and they were going to talk to him!”

March 27: Excitement showed clearly on youthful faces at Valle de Camargo High School in Revilla de Camargo, Spain when students heard Steve Bowen’s voice from the ISS ham radio station. He answered 18 student questions during their ARISS radio contact. 150 people attended the event while an additional 855 viewed the livestream, which is at  https://www.youtube.com/live/zEf62O4o8pw?feature=share&t=4680. As of today, 3,000 people watched it. The school offered another livestream on its web site for more viewers. Media coverage included RTVE TV (national level and regional level), local Cantabria TV, newspapers—El Diario Montañés and Alerta, and two news agencies: Europapress and the statal agency “EFE.” The faculty wanted the ARISS contact to inspire students in their math, physics, sciences, and technology studies while also enjoying instruction in amateur radio technology. The Santander Amateur Radio Association led the radio technology lessons and had worked with students during the school’s Cultural Week the past 5 years.

March 23-25:  With funding help from the American Radio Relay League, ARISS supported a booth at the National Science Teachers Association National Conference in Atlanta, GA.  ARISS Educator Martha Muir and ARISS volunteer Jim Reed set up the booth and staffed it, reporting that about 300 teachers from elementary schools through colleges “flooded the booth.” They heard about ARISS and ARISS SPARKI—Space Pioneers Amateur Radio Kit Initiative. The kit’s components—Snap Circuits, Morse code key, etc., caught teachers’ eyes. So many people took ARISS flyers that Jim had to get more printed. On day 2 a teacher who stopped at the booth the day before, came back. She had already downloaded and begun filling out an ARISS Education Proposal to submit in hopes of being selected for a future ARISS contact!  ARISS educator Christiana Deeter from Canterbury School in Fort Myers, FL, gave a morning session talk titled “How Would You Like an Opportunity for Your Students to Talk with an Astronaut?” about her December 2022 ARISS contact.  Martha presented an afternoon session on aspects of ARISS. NASA SCaN gave out 250 ARISS flyers at their booth and ran out! Jim gave them more.  A lighter crowd on Saturday made for more in-depth conversations at the booth. One educator learned ideas for hosting an ARISS contact at a large gathering of youth next summer.  Another educator took 15 flyers to bring home for her colleagues.  A pair of teachers who had gotten excited at Martha’s Friday session came by to ask more questions.

March 24: ARISS Educator Melissa Pore and two other Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) ambassadors who have won AFA Teacher of the Year awards heavily supported the 2023 AFA STEM Showcase in Arlington, VA.  AFA President B. Orville Wright welcomed 48 first through twelfth grade educators who took part in the all-day STEM educator workshop. They came from schools in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC. Exhibitors from educational groups such as Civil Air Patrol and ARISS had set up display tables. Melissa presented a workshop on the ARISS program, showed a short video on her school’s 2018 ARISS radio contact, and spoke about the ISS National Lab Space Station Explorers and other great STEM programs.

March 26: ARISS Director of Engineering Randy Berger presented a forum titled “What’s New with Amateur Radio on the International Space Station” at the 2023 QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo. This annual exposition for ham radio enthusiasts from all over the world provided multiple simultaneous forums for viewers, resulting in a lot of competition for Randy.  But enthusiasm for ARISS showed through; in addition to a lively Q&A portion at the end of the talk, viewer statistics listed 294 viewers.  Frank Bauer and Jim Reed joined in the Q&A portion to assist Randy.    

ARISS Upcoming Events  
TBD

March 11-12: The ARISS team sponsored a two-day ARISS Educate the Educator pilot workshop – a teacher professional development workshop – in Roswell, Georgia at the Computer Museum of America. The purpose of this pilot workshop was to test the use of the ARISS SPARKI (Space Pioneers Amateur Radio Kit Initiative) Radio Kit by putting the kit’s components and instruction manual into teachers’ hands for real-time assessment of the kit’s usefulness and suitability for teaching STEM concepts in classroom environments. Ten educators came from six schools in Georgia and South Carolina. The first day they received instruction on the use of the kit components related to radio waves, radio frequency, basic electricity, and Morse code. They practiced with the kit’s devices and instructional tools such as Snap Circuits, springs, and a Morse code key. They were treated to a hands-on demonstration of a Tesla coil. On day two, teachers received an intro to software-defined radio (SDR) and then they each learned to hook up SDR equipment, being rewarded by getting a waterfall display (a graphic representation of radio signals) on their monitors. They learned to zoom in to see details about the waterfall display and to hear various radio signal transmissions. ARISS leader Diana Schuler, ARISS educators Martha Muir and Rachel Jones, and five members of the North Fulton (GA) Amateur Radio League mentored the teachers who each took home their own SPARKI kit.

March 13:  ARISS educator Micol Ivancic received a reward along with 31 other educators and education groups from Italy. The educators had to create an eight-minute video about lessons tied to space and Mic’s entry (1 of the 32 winners) depicted her ARISS classroom activities. The reward was getting to spend most of a day with Samantha Cristoforetti.  The National Da Vinci Science & Technology Museum in Milan, hosted the event titled Towards Space with Samantha Cristoforetti. 250 guests and VIPs filled the auditorium—35% being students—and Mic’s daughter and ARISS Mentor Gianpietro Ferrario were able to attend, too. Mic wrote that meeting Samantha was a dream come true and, “Samantha gave a lot to our students and to teachers today and during her ISS mission.” Other schools tied into the event via videoconference. Everyone saw Mic’s video on ARISS activities as well as the other 31 videos. All can be accessed on the ESERO-Italy web site.  Mic said, “I was very happy to see what other schools did; through sharing we can grow and learn!”

February 21 & March 2: ARISS educator Melissa Pore took part in two educational events supported for underserved girls and Title 1 schools.  On February 21, 20 students enrolled in Fairfax, VA, 4-H clubs and Title I Fairfax County Public Schools came to a STEM talk presented by ARISS educator Melissa Pore. She spoke to students and their parents on how astronauts keep healthy on the ISS, the Growing Beyond Earth program, and the ARISS program. On March 2, 70 girls from Title I high schools in Annapolis and Baltimore, MD, attended the High School Girls Space Day at the US Naval Academy’s STEM Center in Annapolis. The girls took part in hands-on activities led by STEM faculty and area educators and with support from midshipmen. During the day-long event, girls got involved in, among  other things, rocketry in the Aero lab, an ISS robotics simulation in the computer lab, and a workshop in the satellite lab—the latter included Melissa describing the ARISS program and ARISS Ops’ work with ARISS school contacts.

March 9: ARISS Technical Mentor Charlie Sufana gave an ARISS talk to 45 people at the Vero Beach (FL) Amateur Radio Club. The Indian River County Emergency Operations Center hosts the club for its monthly meetings and the four huge monitors on the walls made for an impressive presentation by Charlie.  He certainly captured members’ attention because at his Q&A, club members asked several dozen questions about ARISS.     

ARISS Upcoming Events 
Mar 30: Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia – ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team

February 13-17:  Kittredge Magnet School in Atlanta, GA, had students engaged in the ARRL’s (American Radio Relay League) School Club Roundup (SCR), an on-the-air operating event for US students throughout the third week of February.  Fifth grade science teacher Charamie DeMarco said her goal for students taking part in SCR wasn’t to win one of the competitive categories, but rather to introduce the kids to the fun of radio communications.  During the week all 478 fourth through sixth graders—24 classes—rotated through her classroom with its radio station. They enjoyed talking to ham radio operators while learning basic on-the-air radio communication skills. Charamie quipped, “When ‘cool’ sixth graders take the time to stop you the next day to say thank you and ask more questions about radio, that’s what I consider a success.”  She had led the school in hosting a 2020 ARISS contact, had also earned her ham radio license, and is on the ARISS-US Education Committee. 

March 7: Students at the Jumeirah College Dubai in Dubai, UAE spoke with Sultan AlNeyadi during their ARISS radio contact. He answered 17 questions before a crowd of 1,000 youth. Media reps attended and wrote stories—a Zawya.com item (also picked up by Gulf Today and MENAFN.com)and a Khaleej Times article.  See the stories with their nice photos at https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/people-in-the-news/astronaut-sultan-al-neyadi-connects-with-jumeirah-college-students-live-from-space-up1tpgh4 and https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/it-was-a-rollercoaster-ride-to-space-says-uae-astronaut-sultan-alneyadi-to-students-in-dubai.  Two story quotes follow, one from Acting Principal Robert Kesterton: “I am sure his [AlNeyadi] inspiration will serve to fuel the aspirations of students.”  The second quote was from student Omar Morsi, age 13, who said that listening to AlNeyadi in space talking to them [students] will live with him forever, adding, “I also want to become an astronaut someday.”  Prior to the ARISS contact, the school invited representatives from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, the Al Thuraya Astronomy Center, and the UAE Space Agency to give presentations to students. The college hosted a science week for all students, as well.  Science teacher Christopher Greenfield wrote the proposal to request the hosting of the ARISS contact; his early teaching years included being director of education at the International Space School in Houston, TX with student activities tied to NASA Johnson Space Center. 

February 15: Council Rock High School in Holland, PA will host an ARISS contact in May 2023. The student ham radio club set up an engineering team of youth and technical advisors with students helping build antennas and making ham radio contacts on the radios that will be utilized for the ARISS contact.  The school ham club formed another team to do marketing on the ARISS event to the student body and the public. Youth created their own news releases and social media posts. Freshman and radio club co-president Taylor Arnosky prepared the news release and the Bucks County Herald used it to run an article; see https://buckscountyherald.com/stories/council-rock-south-students-headed-out-of-this-world-on-ham-radio,23213.

January-March: Lana’i High & Elementary School in Lana’I City, HI will host an ARISS contact in late March. The school’s lead ARISS teacher guided students in a year of related STEM lessons. She took youth on field trips—one to the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference in Wailea where they met astronaut Scott Altman and also did hands-on activities tied to astronomy, aeronautics, and space exploration. The teacher set up the elementary school science club that hosted two stargazing events for youth and parents. She worked with Ohana Kilo Hoku, a native Hawaiian non-profit group supporting astronomy and space programs, to host two more star parties with Stargazers of Hawaii and the University of Hawaii. Two amateur radio operators came to the school to give presentations on radio communications and the importance ham radio plays in emergencies when all other communications fail.  The Hawaii News Now produced a feature story on the school’s ARISS contact and quoted the lead teacher talking about ham radio: “This is our lifeline for getting ahold of emergency services and making sure that people are safe.” The article quoted a fifth grader who plans to ask the astronaut:  “What was one of their most exciting discoveries that they have made?” The story is at https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/03/14/out-this-world-lanai-kids-get-picked-live-qa-with-astronauts-international-space-station/.

March 11:  ARRL-ARISS Committee Chair Mark Tharp set up an exhibit table and featured the ARISS program at the annual Mike & Key Amateur Radio Club Hamfest (an event for radio enthusiasts) in Puyallup, WA.  Attendance topped 1,500 with everyone walking by the exhibit as they came in the building. The ARISS roll-up banner caught people’s eyes and Tharp reported many folks stopped to ask questions about ARISS and to take handouts and business cards.   February 28–March 4: To help celebrate the National Day of India, Science Carnival 2023 was scheduled in Ahmedabad. An exhibit area at the show highlighted amateur radio satellite communications and ARISS, and ARISS supporters Rajesh Vagadia and his daughter Sakshi teamed up to promote these activities. Visitors included kids, college students, engineers, and scientists. The ARISS booth featured information about the ARISS Student Outreach Program and a prominently displayed QR code that allowed people to submit a question to be answered at a talk on ARISS at Science Carnival. A poster at the booth showed off the very popular ARISS SSTV events. Another poster touted ARISS radio contacts. Rajesh reported that 100,000 people attended the carnival over the five days. He said, “I am optimistic to see the next generation taking keen interest in amateur radio and satellites from VU Land [India].” 

ARISS Upcoming Events  
Mar 27: Valle de Camargo High School, Revilla de Camargo, Spain – ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team                                       

February 23: The Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore in Empoli, Italy hosted an ARISS radio contact for students with Koichi Wakata; he answered 15 questions. A large crowd of 360 attended the contact event, and the school livestreamed it for over 1,500 other students, parents, and the public who were watching. Media representatives came from TG3 Nazionale, La Nazione, Toscana Radio, Radio Lady, and Orme Radio. The school curriculum features Liceo Scientifico, a 5-year STEM program of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science and provides courses and instruction in lab facilities for applied sciences including computer science. The institute continues to partner with the Italian Radioamateur Association of Empoli.

February 24: ARISS educator Diane Warner and a colleague gave a presentation during the STEAM Live session at the Ohio Afterschool Network‘s (OAN) 6^th annual Best Foot Forward Conference in Powell, OH. The 83 session participants got the chance to try out STEAM materials that Diane’s group, Afterschool Programs of Lancaster (OH), utilizes with youth: Ozobots, Cubelets, 3D pens and more. Diane discussed the ARISS program and presented a portion of a video showing her group’s 2019 ARISS contact. All 300 OAN conference attendees received a booklet with details about each session, getting an introduction to ARISS. Additionally, Diane created an ARISS information sheet that she emailed to all participants. The statewide organization’s mission is “to promote high-quality afterschool and expanded learning opportunities for children and families.” 

March 7: NASA created a video for its social media platforms that tells the story of the ARISS contact on November 22, 2022 hosted by St. Joseph´s Convent Secondary School in Castries, Saint Lucia. The ARISS contact with Josh Cassada allowed students to join in the action from 63 schools in 12 nation states in the Caribbean and Central America. All schools had led educational activities promoted by the Disaster Fighters campaign, an initiative supported by the NASA Earth Science Applied Sciences Disaster program; the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (managed by the World Bank); and other organizations. The video features Cassada talking with students and links to the video at each platform are 

Johnson Space Center YouTube (home of space station content)

ISS Facebook

ISS Research Twitter (amplified by @Space_Station)

ISS Instagram (collab with @NASAEarth)

February 25: NASA invited ARISS’ social media leader, Jim Reed to attend a NASA Social Crew 6 launch event at Kennedy Space Center. During NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 Social Panel, Jim asked NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana and SpaceX Crew 3 NASA Commander Raja Chari if they would comment on their past experiences with SAREX and ARISS school radio contacts. Cabana said, “It allows us [astronauts] to reach a group of students and folks on the ground … it generates interest in science and engineering … that’s really cool!” Chari recognized the ARISS program as a “capstone project for students” and expressed his enjoyment of talking with Japanese students during an ARISS contact, stating it was “definitely a highlight!” He emphasized ARISS as an important backup communication system in case of a regular communication system failure. The URL of the video of the panel session is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aJb8YjwOk0 (Jim’s portion is at 14 minutes 15 seconds). In 11 days’ time the video garnered 1.3K views. 

February 26: At NASA’s Social Media event, ARISS social media leader Jim Reed was asked by the hosts of the YouTube Channel series “Keep Your Daydream” to do an interview.  He talked about ARISS in general and school radio contacts. One of the hosts showed her amazement about the program, saying, “That is the coolest thing ever!”  

February 23: ARISS thanks NASA EXPRESS for posting a blurb in its newsletter (going to 58,616 subscribers) about ARISS having opened a new window to accept ARISS Education proposals. NASA EXPRESS shares its information through the NASA Office of STEM Engagement’s social media to 399,720 Twitter followers, 105,093 Facebook flowers, and 495,116 Pinterest followers. The American Radio Relay ran the story in their online news platform for its 107,000 readers.

Feb. 21: ARISS leader Dave Taylor spoke via Zoom with members of the Skyview Radio Society in New Kensington, PA. He gave them a brief introduction to ARISS, then described development of the InterOperable Radio System, his part in development of the ARISS radio on the ISS, and what is involved in getting hardware approved to fly on the ISS. There were 29 attendees on Zoom and 26 in person at the clubhouse.

March 3-4-5: The ARISS Senior Leader Team traveled to Baltimore, MD or joined via GoToMeeting for a three-day meeting.  The team focus was strategic planning, and started off with a review and critique of the previous strategic plan that covered all aspects of ARISS. Next, the team listed items for the start of a draft of our future goals, talked about our great sponsors, and got an overview from Frank Bauer updating us on commercial space. Day two discussions included long-term goals for education, engineering and operations, back-up communications, and public relations. ARISS’s plans for our 40^th anniversary events were further developed.  Day three topics covered thoughts on business development and short and long term sources, and ended with a lengthy discussion on all items raised for the drafted new strategic plan, and ranking these.

ARISS Social Media 

ARISS’ social media leader, Jim Reed reported these major highlights for February 2023:

• surpassed 500,000 Impressions in a single month 
• a Twitter post on the Empoli, Italy ARISS school contact garnered record Engagements—received 103,244 Impressions thanks to Koichi Wakata’s Quote-Tweet
• post volume up 80% month to month due to the Orlando Hamcation convention and NASA Social events related to ARISS

February Social Media Top Posts and February Total Metrics and images 

• Top Tweet – on upcoming Italian school contact: Impressions 103,244, Interactions / Engagements 375

      *Koichi Wakata quote-tweeted, which resulted in the huge numbers of Impressions!

• Top Facebook Post – on part of ARISS’s display at Hamcation convention: Reaches / Impressions 11,962,  Engagements 495

• Top Instagram Post – on part of ARISS’s display at Hamcation convention: Reach 518,  Interactions / Engagements 55

• Top Mastodon Post – on the radio frequency to use to  listen to the ARISS radio: Interactions 21

Total Social Media Metrics for February 1-28, 2023:

• ARISS Twitter – Total Impressions / Views 407,563,  Interactions / Engagements 7,876  
• ARISS Facebook – Total Impressions 153,093,  Interactions / Engagements 9,623
• ARISS Instagram – Total Reach 6,947,  Interactions / Engagements 833
• Mastodon – Interactions / Engagements 248
• LinkedIn…being ramped up – Impressions 1,086,  Reactions 46
• ARISS YouTube – Total Subscribers 1.79k

ARISS Upcoming Events
Mar 23: Lana’I High & Elementary School, Lana’I HI – ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team

February 23: ARISS was honored to receive a request from SCaN to set up and staff a display table about ARISS for the National Space Council’s Users’ Advisory Group meeting at the Marriott in Washington DC.  It was the group’s first public meeting of this administration. Frank Bauer and Kathy Lamont staged the ARISS table in the lobby just outside the meeting room with five others (Challenger Center, Women in Aerospace, NASA SCaN, MAXAR Technologies, and Science Applications International Corporation). 31 committee members and 30 visitors viewed the ARISS table as they walked by; Frank and Kathy engaged at length with 30 of them.  

February 14: Students at Gymnasium Christian-Ernestinum (GCE) in Bayreuth, Germany enjoyed an ARISS radio contact with Koichi Wakata; he answered 23 student questions. The event drew 750 audience participants on site and 2,000 students watched the livestream YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH849NyUHM4. And 10 days later, viewer numbers topped 3,800!  A teacher wrote: “In the gym it became dead quiet with the first noise [from Koichi on the ARISS radio]. Everyone was spellbound listening to questions and answers.” During the contact, ARISS volunteer Stefan Dombrowski helped 50 students at The Hague to listen to the Q&A on his ham radio set. GCE students had participated in astronomy, physics, electronics, natural sciences and robotics programs and workshops. One parent thanked the school for all of the lessons teachers prepared, and said her two daughters “…are still really fired up by this and were incredibly excited and proud—and I can tell you even here at [my hospital palliative duties] care unit, some staff members were on the livestream following the action. We had goose bumps.”  GCE partnered with radio club DARC Ortsverband Bayreuth whose members provided students with technical workshops and hands-on radio activities.

February 15: Stella Maris College in Gzira, Malta hosted an ARISS contact with Josh Cassada who answered 13 of the students’ questions. The event was livestreamed to the public, and in 8 days’ time viewer count went to 2,400! The Times of Malta captured the event in a news story for the community. The college’s parent institution runs a second school, De La Salle College in Birgu; both colleges had students involved in STEM activities related to the ARISS contact.  The school had partnered with members of the Malta Amateur Radio League that provided hands-on radio communications lessons to students, such as tracking radio satellites and talking to other ham operators through these satellites. Other groups offering educational activities to students included University of Malta, Malta College for Science and Technology, Malta Council for Science and Technology, and Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology.

February 22: Details will be covered in next week’s report on the ARISS contact hosted at Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore Il Pontormo in Empoli, Italy. Students had prepared for it by engaging in lectures and projects such as an astrophysics seminar with presenter John Robert Brucato from the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory in Florence who discussed looking for signs of life beyond Earth.

ARISS Upcoming Events 
Mar 7: Jumeirah College Dubai, Dubai, UAE – ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team

February 9–11: The annual Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC) at Space Center Houston (TX) had six ARISS team members engaging teachers and youth at the ARISS table and two forums.  They handed out ARISS flyers, and answered questions about ARISS radio contacts and ARISS education programs, letting teachers try out some of the programs’ teaching tools. On day 2, ARISS educator Joanne Michael said, “We had 75 teachers engaged during my booth time and hundreds of students came by.”  Booth staff included Gina Kwid, Joanne, Dan Vasen, and ARISS team member Kenneth Ransom. They spoke to over 400 educators and 200 students and Melissa Pore at the CASIS table answered questions about ARISS and classroom STEM projects. Gina presented two forums that directly tied to ARISS. “Space Science Exploration Using STEM Tools” garnered 25 listeners, and the second forum, “Talk with an Astronaut via an ARISS Contact,” co-led by Beth Bivens, had 26 listeners. Melissa Pore gave three forums that included information about ARISS.

February 10-12: Eleven ARISS team members traveled to the Orlando (FL) HamCation, the 2nd largest gathering in the U.S. of ham operators, typically drawing 20,000 radio enthusiasts from around the world. The ARISS booth staff engaged with over 600 attendees; some were educators, some were youth, and all ages of people stopped by. The exhibit featured ARISS hardware, flyers about ARISS school contacts, and information and items from ARISS’ hands-on education programs being developed to spark student interest in STEM. The displayed program items allowed students and teachers to try out the ARISS education tools. ARISS held a forum, which was a panel session presenting current and future ARISS initiatives—hardware and education programs–to 56 listeners. Afterwards, many stopped by the booth to ask a lot of questions and commented happily that ARISS was developing wonderful STEM education opportunities of all types. One of the booth staff, new ARISS team member Diana Schuler, now the ARISS STEREO program manager (Student and Teacher Education via Radio Experimentation and Operations), got a good understanding of things people want to know about STEREO.

February 5: In the village of Dinskaya, in the Dinsky district in Russia, students from the Secondary School No. 2 named after A.V. Suvorov with the Center for Children’s Creativity took part in About Gagarin from Space lessons and carried out an ARISS contact. Mission Control Center-Moscow scheduled the contact and 20 students and teachers spoke with Anna Kikina.

February 8: Students at Colegio Diocesano Santa María Nuestra Señora in Écija, Spain took part in an ARISS contact with Josh Cassada who answered 16 student questions with an audience of 200.  Area schools that had engaged students in ARISS STEM activities, also, watched the livestream—10 Diocese schools and 9 public schools.  Media reps covering the event came from national TV1, regional Canal Sur TV, local TVC Écija Comarca TV, a press agency, and two online news services; the three TV stations claimed over 250,000 viewers. The school’s livestream garnered 900 views and after 6 days, the YouTube totaled 1,600; it is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nYFP7qzUtk.  The ARISS ground station in Italy livestreamed their action, too, with 318 views.  In preparing for the contact, students ages 3-16 researched space exploration, created models of planets, received radio communications instruction from the national Union of Spanish Radio Amateurs, and engaged in ESA/European Space Education Resource Office projects.

February 13: Youth from the GBOU secondary school No. 547 of the Krasnoselsky district of St. Petersburg, Russia engaged in lessons from the About Gagarin from Space initiative and then took part in an ARISS contact. During the event, which was supported by ARISS-Russia, 25 students spoke with crew member Sergey Prokopyev.

February 4: Students of Aznakayevo in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia participated in an ARISS radio contact under the About Gagarin from Space program. The contact allowed children of limited capabilities to be engaged, also. The youth contacted Dimitri Petelin.

ARISS Upcoming Events
Feb. 23:  Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore, Empoli, Italy-ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team                                    

January 30: Norwich Free Academy (NFA) in Norwich, CT hosted an ARISS contact for students with Josh Cassada. He answered 18 questions with a listening crowd of 1,200. The contact was livestreamed to the public at https://youtu.be/pTkaCtam8m0.  NFA’s Facebook and Twitter platforms offered the video, as well. Media reporters represented Fox TV News, Norwich Bulletin, and The Day.com. Fox ran 2 postings—a story with video, and just the video with a caption; Yahoo.com picked up The Day’s story. See https://news.yahoo.com/nfa-students-talk-astronaut-aboard-045900164.html. The faculty developed lessons on astrophysics; how gravitational differences affect gene expression/epigenetics, microbes, and pathogens; and whether a crew’s stay on the ISS impacts immunity upon returning home. Youth studied ISS research projects and the systems that keep astronauts healthy onboard. NFA Amateur Radio & Engineering Club students assembled an amateur radio ground station allowing youth to learn about amateur radio satellites and to use it for the ARISS contact; several students studied for and earned their ham radio licenses. Prior to the contact, students created a video describing their prep for the contact and facets about their ham radio station, and how students could submit questions that if chosen, allowed the youth to ask Cassada their question. The club advisor hopes to get a radio telescope installed as the club’s next big project. The Bulletin’s story reported students’ reactions. “Clark Dziavit, an NFA freshman member, said, ‘All of the students—we’ve done the research, it’s really a team effort.’ He and junior Julia Sujecki were intrigued and nervous about talking to Cassada. Both are enthusiastic newer members of the ham radio and engineering club. She said, ‘You get to learn Morse code … and learn how to build a robot. I’m very excited and I’d like to learn more about space and becoming an astronaut.’”  

February 3: ARISS educator Micol Ivancic in Italy entered a contest tied to the Minerva Mission carried out by Samantha Cristoforetti. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA) sponsored the competition, which asked educators to submit educational projects they used in class. After reviewing her project, the ASI Education Office, ESA Education Office, and European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO) sent a congratulatory letter to Micol as one of the winners. The letter said, “The work was highly appreciated for its educational value, for the quality of the proposed pathway, and for its ability to engage male and female students in space-themed STEM disciplines in a new, inclusive, and active way.” Micol will receive an autographed certificate from Cristoforetti and has the possibility of meeting the astronaut—a dream Micol “has had for a long time.”

February 7: Students from Ridgeline High School and Sky View High School, part of the Cache County School District that include Millville, UT engaged in an ARISS contact with Josh Cassada. 86 people watched at the contact site, Ridgeline High School, as he answered 16 of the students’ questions. Reporters from two radio stations and one newspaper covered the event. All 25 district schools could access the school’s livestream.  297 viewers watched a public live stream and three social media platforms continue to offer the recording. The ARISS YouTube URL is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxm5Ca2y0HD_NxXlZWXv11A and within three days’ time it garnered 1,100 viewers. Youth had studied recent space explorations, spacecraft, satellites, and Artemis. 150 students from both high schools attended the district’s 12-week high school astronomy course. The Bridgerland Amateur Radio Club introduced students to amateur radio and led them in on-the-air amateur radio activities—making radio satellite contacts and trying hidden transmitter hunts.  The Herald Journal (HJ) quoted the lead ARISS educator, Emma Smith, affectionately nicknamed “Super Smith” by students. “’It’s amazing that this happened—I just can’t get over it.’  Smith said making contact with the ISS was a childhood dream.” The district web site carried a number of ARISS stories and provided a podcast prior to the contact.

January 31: In its 2022 annual report, The ISS National Lab recognized just 5 of its 25 partner programs under the umbrella of Space Station Explorers.  ARISS was one of the five! The recognition cited ARISS having touched so many youth, educators, and the community through ARISS volunteers’ work in allowing students a once-in-a- lifetime experience to talk with an astronaut on the ISS. The report is at https://www.issnationallab.org/ar2022/?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ar&utm_content=2022  (click on section titled “Educational Outreach and Engagement.”

ARISS Upcoming Events
Feb 13: Youth in School No. 547, St. Petersburg, Russia-ARISS contact, ARISS Russia Team
Feb 14: Gymnasium Christian-Ernestinum, Bayreuth, Germany-ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team
Feb 15: Stella Maris College, Gzira, Malta-ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team