Category: Weekly Reports

June 14-15: ARISS leaders Frank Bauer and Marty Schulman and ARISS volunteer Alan Johnston mentored ARISS’ new NASA interns at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Undergrads Nitin Vegesna and Ashish Dhanalakota and high school student Unsh Rawal received indoctrination introducing them to ARISS, communications, wireless radio, and two of ARISS’ new education programs. But the colossal hit was when they got to speak with Kjell Lindgren on the ISS using the ARISS radio system! It happened while they toured the ARISS radio ground station at GSFC. As each young man spoke with Kjell, they said, “I’m a NASA intern!” The students will be working on tasks tied to two ARISS education programs, STEREO (Student and Teacher Education via Radio Experimentation and Operations) and ARISS *STAR* (Space Telerobotics using Amateur Radio). The interns had already taken part in a June 2 kick-off telecon.

June 14: Istituto Tecnico Industrile Alessandro Rossi (ITIS) in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy had invited two schools—Don Bosco Comprehensive Institute in Monticello Conte Otto and Antonio Barolini Comprehensive Institute in Vicenza—to take part in an ARISS contact and a variety of STEM activities. Samantha Cristoforetti supported the ARISS contact and answered 15 student questions. 143 people were on hand with the live stream garnering 250 views. Three days later, 2,581 people had viewed a YouTube recording of the contact. Reporters from a TV station and some newspaper services provided coverage. ITIS was founded in order to import the model of German technical schools to Italy for students age 14 to 19. The curriculum covers electrical technology, computer science, telecommunications, mechanics, artificial intelligence, introductory robotics and chemistry. The telecommunications students, supported by an area company, built the radio antenna for this ARISS contact.   

June 13-17: The Eaton (CO) Public Library partnered with area school students when planning to host its upcoming ARISS contact. This summer, library programs included their “Space Storytime” and star shows. A week-long Space Camp was put on, featuring hands-on STEM activities that engaged kids in space, communications, and radio topics, and they learned about the ISS and astronauts on board. The Eaton Library team conducted with students a full-dress rehearsal of their ARISS contact with ARISS Technical Mentor Fred Kemmerer. He wrote: “The kids and parents are showing high excitement and interest as they anticipate their upcoming ARISS contact.”

June 24 -26: Drawing worldwide amateur radio operators and enthusiasts, Ham Radio, a conference in Friedrichshafen, Germany is back after two years of COVID restrictions. This is one of the largest amateur radio events in the world. The ARISS-Europe team will staff an ARISS booth and present forums; details will be in next week’s report.

June 6: The online space news group, SPACEREF, ran the NASA Space Station Status Report, which included a paragraph on an ARISS contact supported by Samantha Cristoforetti.  The posting, about the Scuola media S.Pietro in Sardegna, Italy, reported some questions students asked—about solar systems and life forms and if the crew would like to live or visit other planets. The report cited ARISS’ mission of providing amateur radio opportunities with astronauts to engage and educate students, teachers, parents and members of the community.

June 11-12: ARRL-ARISS Committee Chair Mark Tharp set up an ARISS exhibit at the Apple City Amateur Radio Club Hamfest held in East Wenatchee, WA.  The display area showcased an ARISS roll-up and handouts for 109 of the ham radio operators to see.      

ARISS Upcoming Events 

June 22: Eaton Public Library, Eaton CO  ARISS contact, ARISS-US team
June 24-25 Ham Radio, Friedrichshafen Germany  ARISS exhibit/talks, ARISS-Europe team

June 4: Boy and girl scouts of BSA Matinecock District in Suffolk County in Medford, NY took part in an ARISS radio contact with Kjell Lindgren who answered 18 questions. A reported 395 people, including the media, attended the event. 70 people watched two live streams, and a week later, 311 people had viewed the recording.  The URL is (begin at 41:42): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4epvt4cGtc. The scouts had done Radio Merit Badge activities and learned about radio communications, launched rockets, and examined Moon rocks. They participated in a STEM Fair sponsored by Camp Upton Army-Brookhaven National Lab, which included First Robotics activities.

June 2: The Moscow Autonomous Education Institution at Lyceum-Engineering Center in Kazan, Russia hosted an ARISS contact for students. Cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov supported the activity and the ARISS-Russia team set up the radio station for it.  

June 6: Students at Scuola Media S.Pietro, Nuoro in Sardegna, Italy spoke with Samantha Cristoforetti with 200 people watching; she handled 11 questions. The event was live streamed and a few days later the recording had 311 views. The school partnered with Nuorese Astronomical Association that had students utilizing its digital planetarium facilities. Students studied older and new data weather recordings from probes launched to 100,000 feet monitoring Earth’s stratosphere–helping students see some climate change. They studied the solar cycle, Earth’s electromagnetic field, radio communications, and learned about ISS research being conducted.

June 6: Students at Bauman Moscow State Technical University in Moscow, Russia had an ARISS contact with Denis Matveet that was reported to be successful. The youth learned about the ARISS program and how the radio contacts are performed.    

June 4: Students at the Istituto Comprensivo Losapio-S.F. Neri in Gioia del Colle in Puglia, Italy shared an ARISS session with Samantha Cristoforetti; she answered 20 questions. An audience of 80 people came and Radio Norba TV covered the event. The contact was live streamed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmfI6IhajshGME8jZTdjBrA (begin at 52:12).  In a week’s time, 1,220 had viewed the recording. The primary-secondary school of 1435 students recently partnered with Cittadella Mediterranea della Scienza and Gioia del Colle Air Force base. Students took field trips to both and learned about space-related communication, radio communication, and radio equipment.

June 8: ARISS volunteer David Jordan, AA4KN presented the ARISS program to 21 members of the Sun City Center Amateur Radio Club (SCCARC) in Sun City Center, FL.  David shared ARISS’ historical accomplishments that reveal to students the possibilities of STEM careers. He covered ARISS’ new educational initiatives and invited attendees to become ARISS volunteers. Sun City Center is a retirement area near Ruskin and one of their activities for residents is the ham club, which is well-recognized for recreation and support during storm season.

June 4-5: ARRL-ARISS Committee Chair Mark Tharp set up an ARISS exhibit at the entryway to the floor of the ARRL Northwestern Division Convention held in Seaside, OR for 2,000 ham radio operators to view walking in and out.  At the ARRL Forum (120 attendees), Mark reminded people to stop at the exhibit to read the materials and pick up a flyer. ARRL staffer Bob Inderbitzen also had a portion of the forum, and he discussed ARISS and its tie to youth STEM and radio activities.      

June 8-9: A Moscow Aviation Institute MAI-75 SSTV (picture downlink) event was held for space enthusiasts, students, educators, members of the public, and amateur radio operators. Cosmonauts downlinked the images. Thus far, 143 were posted at the ARISS SSTV Gallery (https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/) by 80 people for the public to view.  

ARISS Upcoming Events 

June 14 Istituto Tecnico Industrile Allesandro Rossi, Veneto Italy ARISS contact ARISS-Europe team

May 31: Old St. Mary’s School (OSM) students in Chicago, IL connected with Bob Hines via an ARISS radio contact. He replied to 12 students’ questions. Time remained before loss of signal over the horizon, so 2 teachers related 3 questions other students had asked during STEM studies. 500 students and faculty in classrooms watched the livestream, which was offered on two platforms. Before the contact, a teacher explained how the radio link would work and showed two short ARISS videos.An OSM teacher had attended Microgravity University for Educators at Johnson Space Center in 2017 and learned about ARISS; in 2021 she submitted an ARISS Education Proposal. OSM partners with the Museum of Science and Industry’s Science Leadership School Partners Program. It provided a framework that inspired teachers to enhance science curriculum and whole-school projects like the ARISS contact, and also widen communications with families and area stakeholders.

May 28: The Mindshub Association partnered with the Istituto Comprensivo Avio in Trento, Italy (337 students) to host an ARISS contact with Samantha Cristoforetti who answered 21 questions. 128 students and faculty watched the livestream; a week later another 160 people had viewed the recording. Mindshub was founded to create a “2.0 laboratory” for secondary, high school, and college students to experiment in electronics, 3-D printing, robotics, and information technology.  Mindshub volunteers sponsored STEAM-related activities and workshops on astronomical observing and model rocket building based on youths’ study of the Vega rocket. Students took part in the Problem Solving Olympics where they used computational thinking.

May 28: Youth involved in activities at the Voskresensky Children’s Center in the city of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia participated in an ARISS radio contact.  Cosmonaut Denis Matveev supported the activity and the ARISS-Russia team set up the radio station for it.  

May 27:  A big group of students from Ben Davis Aerospace Technical High School (DATHS) in Detroit, MI enjoyed a bus trip to the 2022 annual fly-in at Coleman Young International Airport. They got up close to aircraft from the Selfridge Air National Guard and the Coast Guard. Members of the Hazel Park Amateur Radio Club set up a demonstration ham radio station for students to try out amateur radio contacts and engage with the ARISS radio.  DATHS students look forward to an ARISS contact in the second half of 2022.

June 1: ARISS Director of Education Kathy Lamont and ARISS Technical Mentor Fred Kemmerer along with Frank Bauer led an ARISS Orientation Webinar with 28 attendees. This webinar focused on next steps for the nine newest educational institutions selected to host ARISS radio contacts. The educators and informal educators will plan when to move forward with their education plans and have ARISS Technical Mentors assigned who will give assistance with equipment plans. The ARISS radio contacts would be scheduled between January and June 2023.  

May 26: An ARISS InterOperable Radio System was installed in the Service Module by cosmonauts after Russia had launched it recently to the ISS.  The additional radio system, identical to the system in the Columbus Module, allows for more onboard amateur radio capabilities. While one radio system is in use by crew members to support ARISS radio contacts for students at educational institutions, the other system can be engaged with by individuals on the ground making ARISS cross band repeater or automatic packet reporting system (APRS) radio contacts.

May 29: Students and employees of SWGU in Kursk, Russia took part in an ARISS radio contact after learning about the ARISS program and how the radio contacts are performed. Oleg Artemyev used the newly installed ARISS radio system to speak with participants.  

May 31: The Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk, Russia hosted an ARISS contact for students who have participated in the Gagarin from Space program. Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev supported the radio contact.  

May-June:  ARISS contacts took place recently at these locations; more details will be available in time for next week’s report:

• June 2: Moscow Autonomous Education Inst. at Lyceum-Engineering Ctr., Kazan, Russia
• June 4: Istituto Comprensivo Losapio-SF Neri, Gioia del Colle, Puglia, Italy
• June 4: Matinecock District, Suffolk County Boy Scouts, Medford, NY 

ARISS Social Media

May 2022 Top ARISS Facebook Reach:  a poster a school made for a Cristoforetti ARISS contact

May 2022 Top Tweet – 3.4K impressions for a post about the next 9 ARISS schools

As of May 31, 2022, slight gains were made over April on each ARISS social media platform; total followers were:  

• ARISS Twitter—16,703
• ARISS Facebook—7,563
• ARISS Instagram—423
• ARISS YouTube—1.67K

May 2022 Facebook

ARISS Upcoming Events 

June 6: Scuola Media S.Pietro, Nuoro, Sardegna, Italy  ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe team
June 6 Bauman Moscow State Technical U., Moscow, Russia ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia team

May 13: ARISS announced the nine educational institutions selected to host ARISS radio contacts between January and June 2023 for students and a crew member on the ISS.  The groups were chosen based on the high-quality ARISS education proposals they each submitted. The institutions will now move forward with ARISS mentors who will assist with an equipment plan, and teachers will determine when to initiate their education plan.

Table: schools selected for ARISS radio contacts in January through June 2023

May 17:  The Virginia state chapters of the Air and Space Forces Association recognized ARISS’s Melissa Pore as 2022 Virginia State Teacher of the Year.  The group cited her for “achievements in advancing and motivating students and young people toward STEM disciplines.” It association vetted her for encouraging students at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA to “explore new frontiers beyond classrooms, leading the Engineering Club, Amateur Radio Club, Aviation Club, SeaPerch Underwater Robotics Club, and Astrobotany Club.” Besides teaching high school engineering and technology classes, she is on the ARISS Ops Team that works out of Goddard Space Flight Center to support ARISS contacts and she’s an ARISS-US Education Committee member.

May 19-20:  ARISS volunteers from multiple states pulled together an outstanding presence for ARISS at Hamvention 2022, the largest amateur radio convention in the US, which is in Xenia, OH each year. The ARISS team staffed its constantly-busy exhibit area, presented an ARISS Forum to 150 listeners, had a portion of an education forum, did multiple interviews with podcasters, networked with many VIPs in the field, interacted with three of its sponsors and several of its larger donors, gave a remembrance at the AMSAT dinner of a special ARISS volunteer on his passing, and was honored at the Hamvention Annual Banquet where ARISS team member Kerry Banke was vetted for being chosen by Hamvention for the nationwide annual 2022 Special Achievement Award.  The booth took up two exhibit spaces in order to display to the crowds three of ARISS’ education programs including items from ARISS’ educational radio kits, a monitor with a video loop of photos from ARISS school contacts and STEM activities, and a model of the ARISS InterOperable Radio System on the ISS.  Convention attendance reached 30,000.

May 20: An ARISS radio contact was hosted by the Forum Accademico Italiano e.V. (FAI) in Köln, Germany for students in three German schools and one Italian school: Am Zugweg School and Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in Cologne, Herkunft Sprache Unterricht in Bedburg/Elsdorf and Istituto San Giuseppe in Firenze. Samantha Cristoforetti supported the contact. Due to a sudden storm alert in the city, FAI sent students home but the ARISS team quickly pivoted and got the youth engaged in the ARISS contact via Zoom using the ARISS multipoint telebridge radio contact system. The live stream URL is:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otZcANd1vXo. FAI aims to encourage interaction of Italian scientists in Germany with scientists in Italy to engage Italian youth attending German schools. For the ARISS contact, FAI involved students in human spaceflight-related STEM activities so that youth could see the role of space exploration and what it means to be an astronaut.  Staff at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne shared their expertise in human spaceflight with the youth.

May 21 & May 28: Students taking part in activities tied to the All-Russian Traveler Festival in Zadonsk, Lipetsk in Russia were part of two ARISS radio contacts.  For the first day’s radio contact, youth asked questions of Sergey Korsakov.  During the second radio contact, youth at the festival spoke to Oleg Artemyev.  The ARISS-Russia team set up the radio contacts.

May 14: Micol Ivancic, an educator on the ARISS team in Italy presented a talk to the Photo-Amateurs Club in Garlasco in Pavia, Italy.  50 people heard her presentation, which covered the ARISS program along with a discussion about the ISS and its systems.   

May 27: Youth in the city of Aznakayevo in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, who have been studying communications through the Gagarin from Space program, engaged in an ARISS contact.  Sergey Korsakov supported the activity and the ARISS-Russia team set up the radio station for it.

May: The following ARISS radio contacts took place recently, and more details about the events will be available for next week’s report.

• MINDSHUB APS & I.C. Avio in Ala, Trento, Italy
• Voskresensky Children’s Center in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
• Students and employees of SWGU in Kursk, Russia

ARISS Upcoming Events 

May 31 Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia  ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team
May 31 Old St. Mary’s School, Chicago, Illinois  ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team
June 2 Moscow Autonomous Education Inst. Engineering Ctr., Kazan, Russia, ARISS-Russia team

May 11: The online publication, Interesting Engineering, ran a story about Dhruv Rebba, an ARISS volunteer who specializes in computer science as a senior at Normal Community High School in Bloomington, IL.  He’s been chosen for the national 2022 4-H Youth in Action Award for STEM. Here’s why. He’s the lead of the Illinois 4-H in Space Mission Command. The 4-H in Space program will potentially allow 10,000 Illinois youth over three years to collect data from satellites in space. He works with Illinois 4-H, the Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois, and the University of Illinois Department of Aerospace in developing a program to enable youth to build and program microsatellites that will launch in third quarter 2022. He’s CEO of Universal Health Foundation, an international non-profit dedicated to improving the quality of life for the underprivileged, providing such things as supplies to the needy–19 schools and 250 families during the pandemic.  In 2017 he wrote an ARISS Education Proposal with teachers, which won his school an ARISS contact. 

April 7: An ARISS educator at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Houston, TX engaged Kindergarten through 8^th grade students in STEM by getting their hands-on help in assembling the pieces of a ham radio station at the school. The school will host an ARISS contact later in 2022. Earlier, students had assisted in installing the antenna and the antenna rotator on a mast. Recently, adults set up the antenna on the school roof. Students now proudly “have ownership” of the antenna. 

May 12: An ARISS contact was hosted by the Scuola Secondaria Leopardi in the Macherio, Monza and Brianza Provence of the Lombardia region of Italy.  150 students filled the big auditorium and 100 others in classrooms and outside of the school watched the livestream at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duoy5ArXFFw.  Macherio’s mayor, the school principal and teachers, and news reporters also watched the action. After the contact, students showed off some of their educational achievements and talents to the audience.  By evening, 1,527 viewers had watched the recording of the contact. In previous months, 240 elementary and middle school students learned many aspects of space exploration and took part in events related to astrophysics, archaeology, electrical engineering, space medicine, environmental science, and amateur radio.

May 5: NASA’s web pages carried a feature titled, “The Scientific Journey of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 Aboard the ISS.”  The story highlighted “scientific milestones” from the six-month mission, including that Raja Chari supported an ARISS radio contact with school students in Chile.  The story is at: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/scientific-journey-on-ISS-crew-3

May 11: The May/June 2022 issue of On the Air magazine contains an article penned by Rosalie White; it included a section on ARISS.  The magazine, published by the American Radio Relay League, goes to 45,000 of its members in print or digital format. Her item, titled “Don’t Hesitate to Ask,” encourages readers not to worry that asking questions makes them sound “green.” She cited examples of not hesitating to ask how to make ARISS packet and cross band repeater contacts and to learn about ARISS SSTV (picture link) sessions.

ARISS Upcoming Events
 May 19-20 Hamvention, US-wide large amateur radio convention: booth, forum, ARISS-US team
May 20 Forum Accademico Italiano eV, Koln Germany  ARISS school contact, ARISS-Europe team
May 21 All-Russian Traveler Festival, Lipetsk, Russia  ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia team
May 27 Aznakayevo youth, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia  ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia team

April 29: Students at Istituto Comprensivo 1 Chieti in Abruzzo, Italy conducted an ARISS contact with Samantha Cristoforetti, who answered 15 of their questions. As the ISS pass ended, the principal and the school gave Cristoforetti greetings and best wishes.  300 students in their classrooms watched the action via livestream (within a week, viewers of the recording totaled 715). After the contact, an ARISS Technical Mentor presented a talk to everyone about the ARISS program.  TV stations RAI3 and RETE8 covered the activities. A few ARISS Italy team members who were on standby at their ARISS ground station, livestreamed that activity with the contact’s audio; they garnered 47 views. Other European space-enthusiast hams provided YouTube videos of the ARISS radio transmissions for 88 viewers. A practice session before the contact gave students a lesson on radio communications and that session was livestreamed with 278 watching. This urban school enrolls 1,000 students ages 4-14. STEAM lessons and projects offered at every grade level cover things such as robotics and coding. Students participated in ESA’s “Zero Mission-Astro Pi” project, and in 2021 met Astronaut Luca Parmitano. Members of the amateur radio team from Pescara instructed students on the installation and types of ham radio equipment and antennas they would be using to make the ARISS radio contact.

April 21: Ben Davis Aerospace Technical High School (DATHS) in Detroit, MI hosted an ARISS Watch Party for students at Coleman Young International Airport. Hazel Park Amateur Radio Club members brought and set up a ham radio station so youth could listen to Kayla Barron answering Bellefontaine (OH) High School students’ questions during an ARISS contact. ARISS Technical Mentor Larry Koziel brought monitors so DATHS students could watch the Ohio livestream.  The mix of attendees included the DATHS Advisory Board and principal, a teacher, members of the area Tuskegee Airmen Chapter, and airport administrators. DATHS has an ARISS contact in the second half of 2022.

April 30: Istituto Comprensivo Tolfa in Lazio, Italy hosted an ARISS radio contact with Samantha Cristoforetti; she replied to 17 student questions.  24 students, a number of staff, TV representatives (RAI3, RAI Gulp, TGR Lazio, Canale10) and an Il Messaggero newspaper reporter were in the room.  2,036 others in school classrooms watched the livestream, which is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKlOwjvTpt8—begin viewing at 37 minutes 10 seconds (you could’ve heard a pin drop!).  Within a week, 3,709 viewers had watched the recording. This urban primary and middle school’s curriculum focuses on language skills and STEM. Students have taken part in ESA’s “Send your Drawing into space with Cheops,” Italian Space Agency’s “Send ARTEMIS-inspired Drawings to the Moon,” Institute of National Astrophysics’ “Learning about Light Pollution,” and NASA lessons on space exploration and the ISS. The area amateur radio club led student activities on radio science and demos of the radio equipment needed for the ARISS contact. 

May 3: ARISS educator Micol Ivancic presented a talk titled “Space—the Ultimate Frontier” to 80 engineering students at Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy.  She covered a little space history, Meteo weather satellites, and the ARISS Program.  Ivancic is a 5^th grade teacher and this was her first talk to a university audience; she was thrilled to be invited to do so.

ARISS Social Media for April 2022

ARISS Facebook – April

Twitter: On April 30, 2022, ARISS Twitter followers totaled 16,580, a gain of 1.6% over March.
Facebook: Followers for April 2022 increased to 7,517.
Instagram: Followers at the end of April 2022 grew to 421.
ARISS YouTube: At the end of April, subscribers increased to 1.66k.

ARISS Upcoming Events 
May 12 Scuola Secondaria G Leopardi & Macherio, Lombardia Italy ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe team
May 19-20 Hamvention, a US-wide big amateur radio convention: booth, forum, ARISS-US team
May 20 Forum Accademico Italiano eV, Koln Germany  ARISS school contact, ARISS-Europe team

April 21:  Bellefontaine (OH) High School hosted an ARISS contact with Kayla Barron for all students enrolled in the city’s elementary, intermediate, middle, and high schools. A 9^th grader who had earned his amateur radio license, sounded like an adult handling the introduction and managing the mic for students from all 4 schools asking the questions. Two of the high school’s graduates gave inspiring talks on studying hard and their engineering careers at SpaceX and NASA Glenn Research Center.  2,316 K-12 students, 234 educators, and 49 administrators, parents and professionals watched the livestream. From Michigan, ARISS Technical Mentor Gordon Scannell and ARRL Great Lakes Director Dale Williams drove to Ohio for the day. Other VIPs attending were the mayor and school superintendent, school board members, a rep from Armstrong Air & Space Museum, and ARISS Education Ambassador Diane Warner. 315 members of the public and a Michigan school class of 30 watched live via a YouTube video; see https://youtu.be/6t5ZQOw2j68.  In a week’s time, 1,538 had watched the recording.

The Bellefontaine School District posted this teacher comment:  “It [ARISS lessons] plants a seed in students. It’s creating experiences for students so they can find their path in life. Even with needing to lead a year of lessons on space and communications, I would do it all again.”  A high school math teacher wrote, “Ms. Barron’s answers were so well phrased. She restated students’ names, showing she loved talking to them. I truly thank her for showing so much compassion to our youth!”  A fourth grade teacher said: “My whole class is inspired to become astronauts!”

Last year, students established the Bellefontaine High School Amateur Radio Club and through the months, classes took part in lessons on wireless communication and space communication.

Media–pre-contact:

1. Springfield News Sun   

https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/bellefontaine-school-students-to-talk-to-astronaut-at-international-space-station/NDZMBXWJSFDNBIWFQHDVKZI4QM/

2. Peak of Ohio 

https://www.peakofohio.com/news/details.cfm?clientid=5&id=339129

3. Bellefontaine Examiner 

https://www.examiner.org/bhs-amateur-radio-club-prepping-for-international-space-station-contact-thursday/

Media—post-contact:

1. WHIO-TV  
   https://www.whio.com/news/local/local-school-set-talk-with-astronauts-later-this-month/6VDGG4VLYNC4NIKFSFWYIAZERE/
2. Peak of Ohio
   https://www.peakofohio.com/news/details.cfm?clientid=5&id=339305

April 14: An ARISS contact held for students at the Rakia-Herzliya Science Center (HSC) in Herzliya, Israel was supported by Axiom crew member Etyan Stibbe. He answered 9 questions. 341 people attended the event and 315 viewers watched the livestream, which is at https://youtu.be/pCf-Spm5R6c?t=2013. In a week’s time, the recording had 1,339 views. Stibbe collaborated with HSC and is aligned with The Rakia Mission, which inspires the Israeli population about space and its opportunities. HSC is an educational institute promoting STEM to 1,500 K-12 students. Its enrichment programs cover technology and science including space, robotics, physics, computer sciences, and life sciences. One of those programs included their ARISS project, which gave 200 high school students a variety of related educational activities over several months on how to operate HSC’s amateur radio satellite station in its Space Laboratory. The Israel Amateur Radio Club helped students track and operate through LEO satellites and learn how to handle radio communications for the ARISS contact.  

April 5-6: Engineering students and radio enthusiasts gathered at Pandit Deendayal Energy University in Gandhinagar, India for the “Two Day Workshop on Amateur Radio Technologies.” Rajesh Vagadia, who had assisted as an ARISS volunteer for 2012 and 2019 ARISS contacts in India, conducted sessions with help from ham radio leaders—six men and one woman. 40 students took part in the workshop for eight hours each day; some of the university’s faculty attended. Sessions provided many demos of the newest technologies used in ham radio, some educational aspects of ARISS, and basic radio concepts, i.e., signal propagation and modulation. Students enjoyed the demo on how to receive ARISS SSTV transmissions (picture downlinks) using a simple software-defined radio dongle and a home-built handheld antenna. Also, leaders set up two ham radio stations for students to do ham radio SSTV contacts with one other from room to room—students enjoyed transmitting and receiving their own images and audio to each other. A YouTube summarizing workshop events is at: https://youtu.be/lFf4g4Ubm1k and 160 people have viewed it.  Vagadia wrote: “For several years, I’ve run an ARISS awareness campaign for Gujarat schools—top-class metro ones to small underprivileged-village ones. I believe knowledge should be for all, equally. Right now, I’m assisting a school in a very tiny village with their ARISS education proposal.”

ARISS Upcoming Events 

May 13 Scuola Secondaria G Leopardi & Macherio, Lombardia Italy ARISS contact, ARISS Europe team

April 13:  Students at École Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville in St. Albert, AB, Canada held an ARISS radio contact Q&A session with Axiom crew member Mary Pathy on the ISS. He answered 12 questions and then thanked the students.  The YouTube livestream had 240 students viewing the action along with a team of 17 others.  Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporters were on site and posted a story. After the contact, one teacher reported, “The ARISS contact was ‘all the talk’ in the hallways for the rest of the day.” The school provides education to grades 7-9 and its optional class program allows students to participate in STEAM-oriented activities including; robotics, multimedia, and enterprise and innovation.

April 13: Dr. David R. Williams School in Oakville, ON, Canada was the site of an ARISS radio contact with Axiom Astronaut Mark Pathy; he answered 13 students’ questions and one from a teacher. All 1000 students listened to the livestream and were excited that retired CSA Astronaut David R. Williams was online listening, too.  The school’s name comes from him, a Canadian physician and CEO who served as mission specialist on two space shuttle missions (1998 and 2007).  Viewers of the recording posted on the school Facebook page totaled 115. The faculty provides opportunities to over 1000 junior kindergarten through grade eight students who have a major interest in science. They learned about all Canadian astronauts and the contribution Canada makes to the international space effort. Through the year, the science curriculum led students in discovering ISS research conducted as related to humans’ response to Earth’s environmental conditions, living and working on the ISS, and social aspects of that.

April 11-13: ARISS sponsored another very popular Slow Scan Television (SSTV) session (picture downlink event), this one featuring women in space and recognizing Cosmonautics Day. For about 60 hours, 12 images were downlinked. Space and radio enthusiasts, students, educators, parents, and shortwave listeners throughout the world enjoyed trying to collect all 12 space history images.  1,182 participants posted 3,339 images to the ARISS SSTV Gallery at https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/.  Nearly all enthusiasts requested the handsome ARISS SSTV diploma. Many left comments and here are two:

• 5th grade teacher: “I worked with my students to receive SSTV. They were very interested!” 
• “These SSTV images were received as part of our 4th grade science activity at Horizon Science Academy.”

April 14:  École Elementaire Ste. Jean D’Arc in London, ON, Canada held an ARISS contact for its students and Axiom Astronaut Mark Pathy, who answered 15 questions. Western University (WU) researcher Eric Pilles worked with the school and attended the ARISS contact. He reported: “When the radio kicked in, you could feel the energy in the room as everyone got excited to hear what the astronaut had to say.”  The school collaborated with WU’s outreach program at the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, which allowed students to participate in extra activities such as visits to an observatory. The EESJD faculty involved all 400 students (junior-kindergarten to 6^th grade) throughout the year in studies related to the ARISS contact. For example, sixth graders focused on space-related sciences, effects on the body in space, and what impacts space exploration has on society and Earth’s environment. All students learned about Canadian astronauts and contributions of Canada to the international space effort. CBC posted an online story about the ARISS contact at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-students-over-the-moon-after-chat-with-astronau-aboard-the-iss-1.6420312

April 14:  Students at École Marie Poburan in St. Albert, AB, Canada held an ARISS contact with Axion Astronaut Mark Pathy; he answered 13 of the students’ questions. The school’s 300 students are in Kindergarten to 6th grade. In preparation for this ARISS contact, the faculty developed science program activities for all grades activities such as designing a space shuttle, planning a Mars outpost, learning to do orbital tracking of the ISS, and learning about basic electrical circuits. The 3rd graders found out things about sound and communications. The 5th graders tied together connections between Earth’s ecosystem and weather science. The 6th graders designed space-related inventions and discovered the impact Canadian innovations have had on space science.

April 21: Bellefontaine (OH) High School’s ARISS contact will be reported next week.

ARISS Upcoming Events 

Next ARISS contacts — TBD

April 7: Members of the Space Hardware Club (SHC) of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) sponsored an ARISS contact and related educational activities for 800 students in 4 of the region’s schools, Buckhorn Middle School, Mountain Gap Middle School, New Hope Elementary School, and Sparkman Middle School. Undergrads invited a few students from each school to come to UAH ask questions during the radio contact with Thomas Marshburn. People watching the day’s events totaled 108. The livestream is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyl-ekn612M&t=1603s. Undergrads are sending the recording to the four schools for all students to watch. WAAY-TV was on hand to record the event and broadcasted a video report in a newscast; it is at https://www.waaytv.com/community/uah-space-hardware-club-organizes-event-for-students-to-connect-with-the-international-space-station/article_29e8600c-b6be-11ec-abec-abd991289912.html. In preparation for the contact SHC engaged the 800 students in model rocket launches, high altitude balloon launches with radio payloads, and other hands-on STEM activities.  SHC Outreach Manager Rebekah Clark said, “All of the schools specifically requested the recording be sent to them to add to their curriculum.”   

April 11: École Secondaire St. Albert Catholic High School in St. Albert, AB, Canada hosted an ARISS contact with Axiom Astronaut Mark Pathy, who answered 13 student questions. 50 people came to watch students while all 758 students and staff watched the livestream. A second livestream connection was provided and it got a reported 67 views. The school’s Facebook page posted a YouTube video that garnered 244 views. The St. Albert Gazette ran an article on April 12 at https://www.stalberttoday.ca/local-news/sachs-students-call-spaceman-in-space-pathy-ariss-gabelmann-groves-5254868. Two other media outlets picked up the story, RMOToday.com (Rocky Mountain Outlook) and StAlbert TODAY.  100% of the latter’s readers rated the story as “important to their community.” The writer quoted a young lady student saying: “I feel like every kid has that dream of going into space. The opportunity to talk to someone who is not only an astronaut but currently in space was really cool.” Students had formed a space club, researched space science, and launched a weather balloon as STEM preparation before the ARISS contact.

This was the first of six ARISS contacts carried out by a civilian crew during this first Axiom Space mission to the ISS. More details on the other contacts will be in hand to provide in next week’s report.

April 7: Bellefontaine High School in Bellefontaine, OH, will host an ARISS contact on April 21 and invited students from the area elementary, intermediate, and middle schools to participate in related STEM activities and the upcoming ARISS contact.  Seventh graders created STEM-related artwork, designed a KWL table of facts about the ISS, and brainstormed on ways people communicate—from body language to computer coding. Fifth graders used math equations to investigate Aurora in space; analyzed items at NASA News Live, applying that knowledge to other areas; and made models of the Solar System, comparing and contrasting each planet and other galaxies. Lower grade students experimented with communications using cans and string, reporting the impact on sound quality when changing the size of cans and type of string. Students from the three lower-grade schools composed questions they want to ask Astronaut Kayla Barron during the ARISS contact that the high school is sponsoring. High school students have learned a variety of wireless radio lessons and some have earned their ham radio license. They will put that knowledge to use when they operate the ham station during the ARISS contact with the help of the area ham club.

April 11: Students at DLR School Lab TU Dresden in Dresden, Germany engaged in an ARISS contact with Matthias Maurer, who answered 18 student questions. 100 people were on hand for the event; they heard DLR Mission Manager Volker Schmid describe the students’ space- and technology-related educational activities and competitions that the youth enjoyed in preparation for the ARISS contact, including the German CanSat Competition 2020/21, a German-Polish summer science camp „Völlig Schwerelos“ 2021, and „Moon Camp Challenge“ 2022. The contact livestream is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LKjD2QlisM. Within 3 days, it garnered 726 views.

April 8: The NASA.gov’s YouTube online weekly news source, titled “Space to Ground,” highlighted ARISS in its video. A good chunk of the segment introduced viewers to the ARISS program, noting its accomplishments in providing two-way ham radio communication between students and astronauts on the ISS. The host of the show stated the ARISS mission, promoting STEM initiatives to students. Within a week, the video saw 4,079 views and is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IiWyrPygfA. NASA made the story into a Twitter post, as well, with it grabbing 20.9K views within 5 days.  Even better, NASA staff did the stories in Spanish and posted both the YouTube and the Tweet in Spanish.

April 15: The About Gagarin From Space program hosted an ARISS contact for students at Southwest State University in Kursk, Russia.  They spoke with Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev. Students had built satellites that will be released during a spacewalk; they prepared circuit board diagrams of the satellites for other students who might want to get involved in similar projects.

April 8: ARISS Education Ambassador Martha Muir received an update from the teacher she worked with at Sussex County Charter School for Technology in Sparta, NJ.  The teacher reported that she is leading some of the STEM hands-on activities that she had not had time to finish prior to the school’s ARISS contact in late February.  The activities were listed in the ARISS Education Proposal, which is what school selections for ARISS contacts are based on. She invited a professor of astronomy to visit and do a demonstration titled, “Sunspots and Space Weather.”  The next guest speaker she scheduled is a fluid systems design engineer for Blue Origins. The teacher wrote: “Gotta keep inspiring these kids!” ARISS totally agrees.

April 7: ARISS Technical Mentor Dave Jordan gave a multimedia presentation on new ARISS initiatives to the Lake Monroe Amateur Radio Society club members in the Winter Springs, FL area. He related updates on many aspects of ARISS. Of the 42 listening, a few were informal educators;, a Q&A followed the talk.

April 7-8: A Slow Scan TV (SSTV) picture downlink event was sponsored by the Moscow Aviation Institute. Space enthusiasts, students, educators, members of the public, and amateur radio operators captured the images and many posted them for public viewing at the ARISS SSTV Gallery at https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/.  Total number of images that fans posted as of April 14:  885 images from a total of 372 people.  The ARISS Facebook page post proved how popular the SSTV events are; the Reach was 15,287.

April 9: At the Tampa Amateur Radio Club TARCFest (a regional gathering of ham radio operators), ARISS Director of Public Engagement Rita DeHart and ARISS volunteers Lou McFadin and Elizabeth Mueller set up and staffed a table exhibit that featured the technical side of ARISS and a continuously running video about aspects of ARISS. The team had material for interested teachers and students, too.  Those stopping by included 3 youth, 1 of whom took material to give to his schoolteacher, and 15 adults, one of whom asked Rita to speak about ARISS at a future meeting of his ham club.

ARISS Upcoming Events 
April 21: Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine OH ARISS contact, ARISS-US team

April 6: For their ARISS radio contact, students from Leonardo Da Vinci-Nauen Campus in Nauen, Germany traveled to the German Aerospace Center (DLR). They talked via radio to Matthias Maurer who answered 20 questions and reminded them to study hard so they too can become astronauts. An audience following Covid guidelines consisted of 20 students, 3 teachers, and 10 community members including the amateur radio mentor team.  123 viewers watched the livestream; these youth, teachers, and community members used the Chat function to cheer on the student questioners. In 48 hours, views totaled 1,585. DLR said viewer numbers would climb as soon as its staff posted video and details about student STEM activities on its web site and social media and distributed releases to newspapers. In the hour before establishing the ARISS contact with Maurer, a Q&A session allowed students to pose questions to space agency experts. At the end of the day, the ARISS-Europe mentor said, “Students were very excited beforehand, and afterwards they were all the happier and content!”

April 5: The About Gagarin From Space program hosted an ARISS contact and sessions on space and amateur radio communications for Lyceum students at Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk, Russia. Students spoke with Oleg Artemyev and the radio contact was coordinated by staff at the Mission Control Center-Moscow.

April 4:  ARISS Technical Mentor Dave Jordan learned of an article featuring the Space Hardware Club (SHC) at University of Alabama (UAH) in Huntsville, AL and its ARISS contact. The write-up ran in a UAH online web site; it was titled “UAH Space Hardware Club team will connect area students with the International Space Station.” SHC made the ARISS events a main part of its 2022 outreach initiative, engaging students at three schools (two middle schools, one elementary school). Some of these youths asked the questions during the ARISS contact. SHC Outreach Manager Rebekah Clark said, “During our educational visits to the schools, the UAH SHC ARISS team was able to teach approximately 800 students about STEM topics such as rocketry, high altitude ballooning, ham radio, and the ISS.” The article can be found  at:  https://www.uah.edu/news/items/uah-space-hardware-club-team-will-connect-area-students-with-international-space-station.

April 5: ARISS Director of Education Kathy Lamont told 12 educators attending the ARISS-US Education Committee about the campaign NASA is doing with Artemis I to publicize its launch this summer and the STEM Learning Pathway.  ARISS educators were interested in the STEM Learning Pathway add-on with its eight weeks of curated content for students. One teacher said he’d sign up as soon as the committee meeting ended and others were going to share the news with their school faculty.

April 5-6-7 ARISS team member Randy Berger attended the 37^th Space Symposium Conference in Colorado Springs, CO and had time to network with SCaN Policy & Strategic Communications Specialist Angela Peura. Students came on one of the conference days and Angela had ARISS handouts and NASA materials for them—ARISS thanks her for this. 

April 5: ARISS Technical Mentor Charlie Sufana spoke via Zoom to 12 Metro Amateur Radio Club members in the Skokie, IL area.  His presentation included a video of Tim Peake talking about ARISS, some ARISS history, and how ARISS school contacts work. He showed a video of an ARISS school contact he had mentored. Then during the Q&A portion, Charlie answered questions for 30 minutes. 

April 7: The ARISS-US team supported an ARISS contact for area schools mentored by the Space Hardware Club at University of Alabama in Huntsville; details will be in next week’s report.

ARISS Social Media for March 2022

ARISS Facebook – March

Twitter: On March 31, 2022, ARISS Twitter followers totaled 16,327, a gain of 1.8% over the end of February.
Facebook: Followers for March 2022 increased to 7,365.
Instagram: Followers at the end of March 2022 grew to 410; Post Count is 29.
ARISS YouTube: At the end of March, subscribers increased to 1.65k.

ARISS Upcoming Events 

April 13 Dr. David R Williams School, Oakville ON, ARISS Axiom contact, ARISS-Canada team
April 13 École Secondaire Ste. Marguerite d’Youville, St. Albert AB Canada, Axiom contact, ARISS-Canada team
April 14 Herzliya Science Center Israel, Herzliya, Israel, ARISS Axiom contact, ARISS-Europe team
April 14 École Secondaire Ste. Jean D’Arc, London ON Canada, ARISS Axiom contact, ARISS-Canada team
April 14 École Marie Poburan, St. Albert AB Canada, ARISS Axiom contact, ARISS-Canada team