Author: Debbie Lebair

Call for Proposals New Proposal Window is January 13, 2025 – February 28, 2025

January 14, 2025 — The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS.  ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan.

The deadline to submit a proposal is February 28^th, 2025. Proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and the proposal form can be found at www.ariss.org. An ARISS Introductory Webinar session will be held on January 22^nd at 8 PM ET.  The Zoom link to sign up is:  https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/kznKuyHCRyKi8_j00JBd_g

The Opportunity

Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session.

An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in dates and times of the radio contact.

Amateur Radio organizations around the world with the support of NASA and space agencies in Canada, Japan, Europe and Russia present educational organizations with this opportunity. The ham radio organizations’ volunteer efforts provide the equipment and operational support to enable communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world using Amateur Radio.

Please direct any questions to education@ariss-usa.org .

 

January 13, 2025: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is pleased to announce the US schools/host organizations newly selected for 2025 ARISS contacts. A total of 3 of the submitted proposals during the recent proposal window have been accepted to move forward in the processes of planning to host a scheduled amateur radio contact with crew on the ISS. The primary goal of the ARISS program is to engage young people in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) activities and raise their awareness of space communications, radio communications, space exploration, and related areas of study and career possibilities.

The ARISS program anticipates that NASA will be able to provide scheduling opportunities for the 3 US host organizations during the July – December 2025 time period. They are now at work starting to implement their 4–6-month education plan which was outlined in their proposal.  These STEAM based educational activities help prepare students for their contact as well as create an on-going exploration and interest in aerospace and amateur radio topics. They are also completing an acceptable equipment plan that demonstrates their ability to execute the ham radio contact. Once their equipment plan is approved by ARISS, the final selected schools/organizations will be scheduled as their availability and flexibility match up with the scheduling opportunities offered by NASA.

The schools and host organizations are:

Paterson P-Tech High School	Paterson, NJ
Pinecrest Academy	Cumming, GA
Terre Haute Children’s Museum	Terre Haute, IN

December 22, 2024 — Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) announces an SSTV event to be heldnextweek. The event is currently scheduled to begin on Wednesday, December 25 at 14:55 UTC and to end Sunday, January 5 at 14:20 UTC. As always, radio enthusiasts around the world are invited to downlink the images at 145.800 MHz +/- 3 KHz Doppler shift and the transmission mode is PD 120. The images downlinked will follow the theme “Celebrating ARISS 2024” and as usual, there will be 12 images transmitted sequentially throughout the event. Those taking part in the event are encouraged to post their received images at our ARISS SSTV Gallery found at https://ariss-usa.org/ARISS_SSTV/ and also apply for an award certificate at the site.