Category: Weekly Reports

September 21:  ARISS is honored to learn that the weekly NASA SPACE UPDATE ran a segment highlighting the Augusta (GA) Prep School ARISS contact supported by Steve Bowen in late August. The blurb described high points of the ARISS contact and some of the school’s STEM activity, and featured two photos of students talking on the mic to Bowen.  ARISS learned that everyone at the Space Operations Mission Directorate and the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate received the report.    

August 31: ARISS-USA selected Tanya Anderson as the new ARISS Director of Education. She teaches junior high science at St. Joan of Arc School, a Pre-K-8 institution in Lisle, IL. For 18 years, Tanya has focused on teaching earth and space science, life science, and physical science. Some of her STEM activity included NASA HEAT 2022, helping create curriculum in heliophysics and system science; NASA Airborne Astronomy Ambassador; and Space Foundation International Teacher Liaison. She was chosen as 2015 Civil Air Patrol Aerospace Educator of the Year. Tanya said, “I am excited to be part of ARISS and cannot wait to see what the future holds for amateur radio as commercial space stations are built and lunar exploration evolves.”

September 20: ARISS was asked by NASA for a quick reply for the White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Austin Bonner, who needed a fact-check on a statement about ham radio and ARISS.  Bonner, the Keynote 2 speaker on September 26 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Las Vegas, NV plans to use the statement, which ARISS confirmed was correct: “Over 100 different ISS crew members have used amateur radio and ARISS to talk to youth around the globe.  And 3 of the 4 Artemis Astronauts that will soon circle the moon are certified amateur radio operators.” MWC’s publicity lists her keynote speech as being titled “Everything Policy Program.”  Also, MWC claims that tens of thousands of professionals in the international mobile technology communications industry and connectivity sector attend their annual congress.   

September 21: The ARISS-US Education Committee begins accepting ARISS Education Proposals on October 1 from formal and informal educational institutions and organizations wanting to compete for an ARISS radio contact. Educators need to submit proposals between October 1 and November 10, 2023 for ARISS contacts scheduled in the second half of 2024. ARISS’s Proposal Webinar on October 5 will answer educators’ questions on submitting a proposal. ARISS states that education organizations’ proposals should describe a well-developed education plan that will build youths’ excitement for STEM and an ARISS radio contact, and capture the interest of the community.

September 1: ARISS educator Melissa Pore at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA and two of her seniors traveled to St. Anthony of Padua School in Falls Church, VA to work with over 190 students.  The school’s K-8 youth engaged in hands-on activities such as building straw rockets and models of TDRS satellites and satellite dishes. Students liked NASA activity pads, mission patches, and Artemis stickers provided by SCaN. Astronaut Dan Tani gave a talk to inspire the youth.  Melissa’s senior students enjoyed doing the STEM service and learned some things, too, while helping younger students learn.

ARISS Upcoming Events  
Sept 25: Colegio Educacion delTalento, Yerba Buena, Argentina – ARISS contact, ARISS-Canada Team
Sept 28: Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia – ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team

September 12: Prior to the recent Bowman Middle School ARISS contact in Bakersville, NC, Principal Amber Young invited US Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, and she went! Afterward, Foxx sent Amber a letter of thanks and compliments to the STEM teacher and students on their contact and STEM lessons. Returning to the US Capitol Building, she reported details on the House floor. Her words were read into the Congressional Record—HOUSE H4237—as follows.
   “Madam Speaker, I recently had the pleasure of visiting Bowman Middle School in Mitchell County to view the school’s International Space Station, ISS, contact project. Thanks to the diligent work of Dan Hopson, a STEM teacher at the school who has a penchant for securing these kinds of opportunities, this project was able to come to fruition. Students were able to ask a variety of questions in real time via ham radio to Warren Hoburg, a NASA astronaut who successfully traveled to the ISS on March 3 of this year. 

   This impressive event was one that these students will surely remember as they continue their educational journeys. Hopefully, some will be inspired to engage in careers in STEM areas. Congratulations to Dan Hopson, Principal extraordinaire Amber Young, and dedicated staff at Bowman Middle School who made this event and this learning opportunity such a success.”

September 6: After being accepted for an ARISS contact a few months ago, Egemen Yildiz Secondary School teachers in İzmir, Turkey, with help from an area amateur radio club, moved students through a curriculum covering space and radio. The project, titled “Turkish Children in Space in the 100th Year of the Republic,” prepared them for the ARISS contact. Students talked with Jasmin Moghbeli, who answered 20 questions. The event was live streamed, and 15 days later had garnered over 800 views.  130 people attended, including reporters from several TV stations and the Hurriyet Daily News (HDN). The HDN story (https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-students-chat-with-astronaut-via-radio-186101) stated that an 8th grade girl told her teachers about writing a proposal in hopes of being selected for the ARISS contact. A group of students had enjoyed a space camp in June.

September 12: Undergrads from the IEEE ESPRIT Student Branch and ESPRIT University in Little Ariana, Tunisia engaged in an ARISS contact (some on-site and some tied in virtually) with Andreas Mogensen. He answered 14 of the ESPRIT students’ questions and had time afterwards to hear students’ applause and goodbyes. Two livestreams captured 854 views and several days later, totals climbed to 2.2k views.  The lead educator complimented ARISS, writing: “On behalf of IEEE ESPRIT Student Branch & ESPRIT University, I wholeheartedly thank you for efforts; we greatly appreciate and admire the ARISS team.”  The school supports a varied curriculum including civil engineering, electromechanics, and business.  

September 5:  ISS National Lab (INL) honored ARISS by including ARISS school contacts in a photo story on the INL website that summarized accomplishments of the Crew 6 astronauts.

September 1: Axiom-2 crew members John Shoffner and Peggy Whitson, who flew in May 2023, filmed onboard scenes that demonstrated many aspects of life on the ISS in microgravity. They made the footage into a series (titled “Habitat Space”) of short educational videos. One is on ARISS and amateur radio; the URL is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZy97_VbbDM (3 minutes and 20 seconds in length).  The Perseid Foundation supported and posted the free lessons.

September 14: ARISS sponsor ARRL (American Radio Relay League) held a Zoom town hall meeting for ARRL members in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Part of the hour-long program included a talk on North Carolina’s Bowman Middle School ARISS contact and similar contacts in other states.  267 people tied into the ARRL Zoom meeting and each of the 4 states streamed the meeting on their own Facebook platforms, with one state also streaming a YouTube—for a total of over 700 viewers.  More ARRL members will view the recordings.  

ARISS Upcoming Events  
Sept 22: Escuela Preparatoria LaSalle, Torreon Coah, Mexico – ARISS contact, ARISS-Canada Team
Sept 28: Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia – ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team

August 31: The day after dodging a near hit from Hurricane Idalia, Augusta (GA) Preparatory Day School carried out an ARISS contact with Steve Bowen. 500 students and faculty packed the school gym to watch and to hear Bowen answer 18 student questions such as how holidays are celebrated there to what are your mission-driven goals on board. The school livestreamed the contact on Facebook: https://youtu.be/y_Yu0ddYF60?si=GgIqNK2luNIAR4im&t=1562.  In 7 days’ time, the YouTube garnered 220 views. Media covered the event—WJBF ABC TV (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wha2Ej8jZw), WRDW CBS TV, and Augusta Good News. ARISS Education Ambassador Martha Muir helped mentor the school contact and her quote in an interview by WJBF was: “That’s something they’re never going to forget. I love the smiles.” The rest of the day saw all students doing hands-on activities during their STEAM Fair. Weeks earlier, students prepared for the contact by engaging in the NASA Growing Beyond Earth program, and middle- and upper-school students researched how to the design and launch a small research satellite.

September 5: Valley Stream South High School (VSS) students in Valley Stream, NY look forward to their ARISS contact in October. ARISS educator Kathy Lamont reported that with school opening up for fall classes, VSS teachers created poster boards and set up a display case to remind students of an exciting new school year that will bring them the ARISS contact and many space-related STEM lessons.  

July & August: The Euro Space Centre sponsors STEM camps in Libin, Belgium and each year, ARISS team members mentor girls and boys at Satellite Camp, Robot Camp, and Telecom-Ham Camp. While guiding youth in hands-on activities, ARISS volunteer Stefan Dombrowski never misses an opportunity to describe ARISS school contacts, and brings his radio for youth to listen to these. At Sat Camps, 13 kids made their own 3-D printed satellite and built in an Arduino unit, sensors, and an RF (radio frequency) module to take home. At Telecom-Ham Camps, 8 youth used software defined radios, built a ham radio antenna, and enjoyed hidden radio transmitter hunts. At Robotics Camp, 36 youth built an Arduino-based robot that “sees” where they program it to travel and avoid obstacles. The camp that the most girls (21%) were interested in was the Robotics Camp. All youth enjoyed listening to ARISS contacts.

ARISS Social Media for August

ARISS social media leader Jim Reed reported August 2023 highlights:

• Growth in Followers stayed steady at over 1% per month. At this rate, ARISS should pass 30K aggregate Followers in September.
• X continues to be tops (62%) in Followers and Impressions, but ARISS will keep diversifying with posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Mastodon.

ARISS Total August Social Media Metrics:

• ARISS X – Total Impressions / Views 142,128,  Interactions / Engagements 4,556 
• ARISS Facebook – Total Impressions 79,693,  Interactions / Engagements 2,235
• ARISS Instagram – Total Reach 5,659,  Interactions / Engagements 593
• ARISS Mastodon – Interactions / Engagements 182
• ARISS LinkedIn – 6 New Followers,  145 Reactions     
• ARISS YouTube – Total Subscribers 1.95k

August Social Media Top Posts

The top post on X and Mastodon featured young Isabella holding a portable ham radio and aiming a satellite antenna to listen to an ARISS contact–her school has a late-October ARISS contact. The top Instagram post highlighted the STEMforGIRLS ARISS contact with Steve Bowen and the top Facebook post listed ARISS radio frequencies.

• Top X post: Impressions 6,859, Interactions / Engagements 316
• Top Facebook post: Impressions 7,233,  Interactions / Engagements 227
• Top Instagram post: Impressions 259, Interactions / Engagements 25
• Top Mastodon post: Interactions / Engagements 26

ARISS Upcoming Events  
Sept 12: Private Higher School of Engineering & Technology, Little Ariana, Tunisia, ARISS-Europe Team

August 28: Students at Bowman Middle School in Bakersville, NC experienced a day they’ll not forget after speaking to Steve Bowen during an ARISS contact.  285 people (189 youth) in the auditorium watched the students ask 13 questions. VIPs present included US Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, ARRL North Carolina Section Manager Marv Hoffman, ARISS Technical Mentor Bob Koepke of South Carolina, a Mitchell County Board of Education leader, and two Mitchell County Commissioners. Hoffman presented the school with an award for supporting STEM. Media reps came from WJHL Tri-Cities TV (Johnson City-Bristol-Kingsport, TN) and two newspapers, the Queen City News and Mitchell News Journal. The Mitchell County Schools’ Facebook livestream had 116 viewers. The WJHL reporter said the ARISS contact sparked an interest in young minds, and quoted a 7^th grader: “It felt amazing, I loved every moment. After this, I would like to be an astronaut to experience space and what it looks like, the galaxies and stuff like that.”  The TV item (which on contact day, provided video) is at https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/north-carolina-students-speak-with-astronaut-in-space/.

August 23: An ARISS contact highlighted the virtual 2023 STEM Summer Summit for the STEMforGIRLS program in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The non-profit Women in Resource Development Corporation (WRDC) sponsors the program. The summit featured presentations by women in STEM careers—geologists, an avionics instructor, and more. During the ARISS contact, Steve Bowen answered 17 girls’ questions. A post with video on X showed 893 views, and 24 hours later, 1,997 views. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation covered the event, which was livestreamed. WRDC offers girls “hands-on learning experiences, provides opportunities to interact with role models, and instills knowledge and confidence required to make informed career choices in STEM and skilled trades.”

August 25: The Australian Air League (AAL) in Salisbury, South Australia, Australia hosted an ARISS contact in the Australian Space Discovery Centre and cadets talked to Warren Hoburg. He answered 20 questions while 90 people watched the cadets. AAL livestreamed the contact on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AustralianAirLeague/) and another AAL squadron (mostly girls) tuned in. In a week’s time the stream garnered 1.2k views. The ARISS radio telebridge station supporting this contact from Italy offered a livestream of their actions, attracting 92 viewers. Another 27 people listened to the audio on two reflectors, Echolink and IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project). Meantime, at the Euro Space Centre STEM Camps in Belgium, ARISS informal instructor Stefan Dombrowski provided the livestream to 40 girls and boys. Before the contact, a commercial radio reporter had done a livestreamed interview with the AAL squadron commander and 18 cadets with the Adelaide Airport manager and 80 community members in the audience.     

August 30:  Next week’s report will cover the Augusta (GA) Prep School’s ARISS contact. A day prior to the contact, the school posted a very cute short video “promo” on Facebook of kids excited about their upcoming contact (https://www.facebook.com/augustaprep). The last shot of the video is below. 

ARISS Upcoming Events
Sept 12: Private Higher School of Engineering & Technology, Little Ariana, Tunisia, ARISS-Europe Team

July 31–August 4: ARISS educator Mic Ivancic and astrophysicist Elisa Gastaldi planned a week-long Space Day Camp at the latter’s farm resort in Castelnuovo Scrivia, Italy that features a planetarium. Elisa led 14 campers in daily planetarium shows on constellations and planets. Mic guided them in researching the ISS, how it stays in orbit, and what life is like onboard. Youth divided into four teams of three “crewmembers” and used teamwork to accomplish fun tasks. An example: built and launched yeast and sugar rockets and vinegar and baking soda rockets, recording notes on failures and successes, and comparing launches.  On “astro-egg day” each team received two boiled eggs and a few items to design and build a protective vehicle to “land” the egg safely after a launch from an upstairs room. Kids saw the ISS pass overhead while watching Mic manipulate her ham radio and antenna to listen to ARISS cross-band repeater radio contacts. Also, a few days after camp ended, Mic and the astrophysicist organized a walk for 80 people to watch Perseids meteors and a planetarium show and to see Mic’s presentation about the ISS and ARISS.

August 10: ARISS volunteer Stefan Dombroswki and area ham operators set up four outreach stations related to ARISS for people attending “Night of the Stars” hosted at the Euro Space Centre in Libin, Belgium. The Centre widely advertised the free mega-STEM event; 2,200 people came, each walking by the first ARISS exhibit station where Stefan and team had youth doing multiple hands-on activities that demonstrated radio waves. At the second ARISS station, youth (with a parent) built an FM radio receiver and electrical kits. The third station offered a QO-100 satellite radio station that kids experimented with. The fourth station featured a pulsar hunt, a hidden transmitter hunt with a space twist. At all stations, people heard about ARISS and radio.

ARISS Upcoming Events  
Aug 31: Augusta Preparatory Day School, Augusta GA – ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team

August 10: Two ARISS SIP interns, Sruthi Sankararaman and Bryce Lanese, gave their final presentations at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.  Sruthi titled hers, “SPARKI: Workshopping Amateur Radio Education Resources.” Her internship work dealt with enhancing and finalizing lessons for the ARISS Educate the Educator workshops that utilize the SPARKI kit (Space Pioneers Amateur Radio Kit Initiative). She also helped ARISS coordinate and lead a workshop held in conjunction with an educator conference at Kennedy Space Center.  Bryce Lanese titled his presentation “Prototyping Educational Activities for Amateur Radio on the International Space Station.” He had plotted patterns of ARISS’s L- and S-band antennas, built satellite simulator units, and used software to process telemetry signals transmitted from the simulator units. Frank Bauer wrote compliments to the interns: “I could feel positive energy from the audience through their questions and glowing comments.  Note that these came from our very important NASA leaders and sponsors. I have never experienced such excitement and enthusiasm from the audience on an intern presentation or one related to our ARISS program.“

May 5-6: The Luxembourg Space Agency in Neimënster organized a “Space Summer Festival” inviting youths of all ages, including university students, young professionals, and parents to learn about careers in space and science sectors. ARISS team member Stefan Dombrowski and six volunteers engaged hundreds of youth at a ham radio display they set up. The exhibit booth offered electronics kits the youth could assemble, a QO-100 satellite radio station (a geostationary satellite carrying a ham radio payload) kids could experiment with, and a hearing about ARISS and ham radio. Half of the youth who stopped by were university students and half were high schoolers. 150 of them soldered, assembled, and took home simple receiver kits to listen to FM broadcast stations. A number of astronauts and cosmonauts came to the festival, which was free to the general public on day two, bringing hundreds more youth and parents to the booth.

Also, Stefan and the Belgian ARISS team reported that they assisted the CanSat Belgian Teams competing at the ESA Galileo Integrated Logistics Support Centre in April in Libin-Transinne. 24 teams—150 boys and girls ages 16-18—launched CanSats. During mentoring sessions, the youth learned about ARISS and ESA STEM camps where ARISS volunteers teach. A week later, the ARISS group helped the CanSat Luxembourg Teams at the same ESA center. 12 teams totaling 75 girls and boys launched CanSats and learned about ARISS. One girl decided to attend Stefan’s ESA Campin July. 

August 11-13: At the 2023 ARRL Pacific Northwest DX Convention for amateur radio operators in the US and Canada, ARRL-ARISS Committee Chair Mark Tharp set up a display table sporting ARISS’ roll-up banner, handouts, and business cards. 120 attendees came from 12 northwestern states and British Columbia, and they took home many ARISS business cards. This annual convention features programs of interest to ham radio operators who enjoy making radio contacts with hams in countries located in remote parts of the globe.  

ARISS Upcoming Events  

Aug 24: STEM for GIRLS, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada – ARISS contact, ARISS-Canada Team
Aug 25: Australian Air League, Salisbury, S. Australia, Australia – ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan Team
Aug 28: Bowman Middle School, Bakersville NC – ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team
Aug 31: Augusta Preparatory Day School, Augusta GA – ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team

July 31-August 3: Four ARISS team members, Frank Bauer, Randy Berger, Diane Schuler, and Kelly Cammarano traveled to the International Space Station Research & Development Conference (ISSRDC) in Seattle, WA to set up an ARISS exhibit table. They displayed items from the ARISS SPARKI educator radio experimentation kit such as ARISS’s robot, the electrical components from Snap Circuits®, and a manual of ARISS lesson plans, along with items related to ARISS 2.0.  The team also aimed for a second goal at the conference, which they achieved, to network with engineers, educators, professionals from NASA and commercial space companies, some of whom ARISS already works with, and also, many STEM enthusiasts. Exhibit visitors got an overview of ARISS’s mission, accomplishments, and future goals. In all, the team interacted with 500 people, 80 being educators, and of those 80, half were college professors.  Frank Bauer gave an ISSRDC session presentation and reported 40 attendees, with about half being educators. His talk covered the future direction of ARISS 2.0.

July 31:  ARISS thanks NASA for spotlighting ARISS and Stephen Bowen’s support of it. The NASA web page (see below) carried a photo blurb featuring him talking on the ARISS radio on the ISS for a scheduled ARISS contact with youth at the Youth On The Air (YOTA) STEM camp. The young people were from the US and Canada, and Carleton University in Ottawa, ON hosted the camp.  The NASA web URL is https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/astronaut-stephen-bowen-conducts-a-ham-radio-session.

July 31: The Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) sponsored the seventh and final ham radio session in the “A Call from Space” series of student/astronaut ARISS contacts. The Emirates Amateur Radio Society in Sharjah, UAE hosted this event and handled the ham radio communications for Sultan Al Neyadi to talk with youth; over 30 people came to the event. An Emirates News Agency-WAM story described the ham radio contact as part of the enriching programme that gave attendees an overview of MBRSC projects, a detailed look into space stations and space history, hands-on training in using a ham radio station, and basics on the benefits of amateur radio and  communications. A video clip is at https://wam.ae/en/details/1395303183053. MENAFN, a Dubai PR Network, posted a story, as well.  

Summarizing all seven UAE ARISS contacts, MENAFN reported that the outreach programme with its seven events and special ARISS contacts engaged over 500 students, ages 7 – 15. Hosts included the MBRSC and its library; Mushairif School, GEMS Wellington International School, all in Dubai; Cycle 1-Ajyal in Ajman; and the Emirates Amateur Radio Society facility in Sharjah. MBRSC social media recapped the seven events: “The sessions have been an extraordinary journey, leaving an indelible imprint on young minds, inspiring them to explore the boundless universe.” MBRSC Director General Salem Humaid AlMarri said, “I would like to thank our partners, the Emirates Amateur Radio Society and Emirates Literature Foundation, for their integral role in the success of this series.”  Emirates New Agency-WAM praised all of the ARISS contacts, writing: “The most unforgettable part of these events were the captivating live interactions with Al Neyadi in which students asked him their burning questions about space, a first-hand exchange that deepened their understanding of the space exploration journey.”  

ARISS Upcoming Events  
Aug 24: STEM for GIRLS, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada – ARISS contact, ARISS-Canada Team
Aug 25: Australian Air League, Salisbury, S. Australia, Australia – ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan Team

August 3: The Karasuyama Residents Center supports educational and cultural events in Setagaya, Japan, and hosted an ARISS radio contact for area youth with Sultan Al Neyadi. He answered 18 questions.  The audience consisted of 100 kids (kindergarten, elementary, and junior high school), families, 100 teachers, the UAE Ambassador to Japan who brought 7 of his team, and a rep from the Setagaya government.  Newspaper, magazine, and cable TV reporters came, as well.  476 individuals saw the action in person or via a livestreamed YouTube (https://youtu.be/7N7JFOT2VAA) and 438 watched the recording. The area amateur radio club set up the ham radio station for this ARISS contact. The youth had visited a planetarium, used telescopes, and learned about orbital mechanics, the ISS and its mission, space exploration, and how amateur radios work, allowing them to communicate with the ISS crew.

July 27: The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre’s library in Dubai, UAE hosted the sixth ARISS contact for youth and Sultan Al Neyadi. 100 students and space enthusiasts, along with 4 Centre officials, and a group of reporters heard the youths interview Al Neyadi.  The Gulf News reporter wrote that the event “captivated the enthusiastic audience;” the story quoted library board member, Dr. Mohammed Salem Obaid Al Mazrooei, as follows: [The contact helped] “promote awareness, knowledge, and ambition towards studying space sciences among future generations.”  URLs of three media stories are:

• https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/events-and-conferences/6th-ham-radio-session-featuring-sultan-alneyadi-from-the-iss-livens-up-young-minds-at-mohammed-bin-rashid-library-t4prprou
• https://www.khaleejtimes.com/space/can-astronauts-see-stars-clearer-from-space-uaes-sultan-alneyadi-responds
• https://gulfnews.com/uae/science/watch-what-uae-students-said-on-a-ham-radio-call-with-al-neyadi-1.97281647

July 30: Andrey Fediaev supported an ARISS contact for students of the Baltasi Airfield School in the Baltasinsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. Students had participated in the Gagarin from Space program. 30 people watched while area ham radio operators facilitated the conversation between the youth and Fediaev.  Mission Control-Moscow scheduled this ARISS contact.

ARISS Social Media

ARISS social media leader Jim Reed reported July 2023 highlights:

• 274,546 Impressions across all platforms–impressions were up 23% per day over June
• Largest monthly increase in Followers in the past 2 years, 450 new Followers across all platforms
• 186 posts created for all platforms, averaged 1,726 impressions per post
• Tested out Threads (72 Followers, 8 Interactions on 7 posts) and LinkedIn (14 Followers, 175 post Impressions)

ARISS Total July Social Media Metrics:

• ARISS X – Total Impressions / Views 155,710,  Interactions / Engagements 4,506 
• ARISS Facebook – Total Impressions 112,753,  Interactions / Engagements 3,468
• ARISS Instagram – Total Reach 6,083,  Interactions / Engagements 530
• ARISS Mastodon – Interactions / Engagements 135
• ARISS LinkedIn – 5 New Followers,  240 Reactions     
• ARISS YouTube – Total Subscribers 1.95k

July Social Media Top Posts

On all ARISS Social Media platforms in July, the top posts were ones announcingtheJuly 26^th ARISS Slow Scan TV (picture link) Experiment with the ARRL Educator Workshop teachers and the public. Below is one version of two very similar posts, and also, bullets on metrics.  

• Top X post: Impressions 6,798, Interactions / Engagements 77
• Top Facebook post: Impressions 5,600,  Interactions / Engagements 129
• Top Instagram post: Impressions 200, Interactions / Engagements 24
• Top Mastodon post: Interactions / Engagements 14

ARISS Upcoming Events
August 25: Australian Air League, Salisbury, S.Australia, Australia – ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan Team

July 21: Girl and boy scouts at Camp William B. Snyder in Haymarket, VA enjoyed an ARISS contact with Sultan Al Neyadi who answered 13 questions. Minutes beforehand, Scout National Capital Area Council (NCAC) STEM Director Trish Dalal introduced a girl scout and boy scout who presented facts to listeners about the ISS and Al Neyadi’s bio. In addition to 60 in the camp audience, including ARISS Project Manager Diana Schuler, some scouts watched from home. Dalal reported that astronaut Tom Jones, who earned the Eagle Scout rank, watched the livestream and enjoyed it. NCAC streamed the video on its Facebook site; the URL is https://www.facebook.com/NCACSTEM/. The ARISS ground station in Italy, relaying the ISS radio signal to the US, had 50 visitors on site (near a regional airport) and streamed its video to 93—and afterwards presented an ISS talk to its visitors. This Italian ham team had set up a mega screen outside and ran the recording two times as the public arrived home at the airport, some of whom went in the radio station for a tour. The e-magazine, Prince William Living ran an article about the contact. Camp leaders said scouts had been enjoying rocket launches, drones, and ham radio. Diana reported that scouts acted very excited to talk to Al Neyadi.  

July 18: ARISS SIP interns Sruthi Sankararaman and Bryce Lanese traveled to Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD to join their ARISS mentors Diana Schuler and Randy Berger, and Frank and Janet Bauer for a meeting. Each intern gave a thorough report on recent endeavors on their two projects. They sat in on a meeting with the Axiom-3 crew who may earn ham licenses in order to make ARISS contacts during their mission. Interns met with SIP Coordinator Jimmy Acevedo. They toured the ARISS radio ground station at Goddard; the ham team who supports ARISS contacts there explained the many pieces of equipment and took the young people to the roof to admire the ham antennas. Interns also enjoyed seeing many of Goddard’s features, i.e., acoustic chamber, High Bay clean room, and more. They discussed future plans. Bryce wants to remain with ARISS after the summer to research S-band and L-band antenna patterns. Sruthi will continue with ARISS and build a Yagi antenna and refine more sections of the SPARKI radio kit manual.

July 26: ARISS collaborated with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL—an ARISS sponsor) to plan a special 10-minute ARISS Slow Scan TV (SSTV—picture downlink) experiment. During an ISS pass with a footprint that covered New England, the radio signal transmitted an image with a special message for educators at the ARRL Teachers Institute, a week-long STEM professional development workshop in Newington, CT. The image sported the ARISS and ARRL logos, a drawing of the ISS, and the message, “Ensuring a space for radio in the next generation.” Educators had built their own ham antennas and learned to manipulate these and handheld radios in order to capture the transmission. ARISS labeled this an experiment because typically, ARISS transmits SSTV on 145.80 MHz from the Service Module and this time, the signal originated on the ground and passed through the ARISS radio repeater in the Columbus module before coming down on 437.800 MHz. ARISS wanted to see how images would look, and welcomed all radio enthusiasts within signal range to participate—57 did. After downloading their images, teachers said they could bring ARISS SSTV sessions to their classrooms at home to help youth understand wireless radio communications and get them curious about things such as how phones work. Hartford CBS and ABC TV reporters did interviews and posted stories; the latter is at https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/hartford/teachers-in-newington-build-antennas-to-decode-message-from-international-space-station/.

July 26: St. Peter’s C.E. Junior School in Broadstairs, UK hosted a special Space Celebration Day for 350 pupils—some traveling from 3 area schools—as part of the preps for their fall ARISS contact. Year 5 and 6 students enjoyed hands-on STEM; small groups launched many rockets of several types, used solar telescopes with guidance from an astronomy club, created pocket solar systems, and enjoyed the Wonderdome mobile planetarium. A reporter from Isle of Thanet News quoted teachers impressed with the STEM, saying, “Children experienced how science is used in the real world and saw its tie to their school lessons.” Head Teacher Tim Whitehouse said, “There is a real buzz of excitement already around the school about our upcoming experience [ARISS contact] and our fast-expanding science learning.” The Ogden Trust Kent North Coast Partnership (10 primary schools and 3 secondary schools in the area) supported the day’s activity because it enhances the teaching of physics and “student learning, particularly those in under-represented groups.” 

July 21: ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin praised the ARISS program recently, and  also the Youth On The Air program (that hosted a July ARISS contact). Bogdan-Martin was featured in ARRL’s August membership journal. In the article, she gave appreciation of ham radio for “being instrumental during the pandemic, its role in emergency response efforts, and hams’ outreach to young people through programs like ARISS and YOTA.”  ARISS’ social media leader posted about Bogdan-Martin’s praise of ARISS.

ARISS Upcoming Events
August 3: Youth at Karasuyama Residents Center, Setagaya, Japan – ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan Team

July 18: A week-long Youth On The Air (YOTA) summer camp at Carleton University in Ottawa, ON, Canada hosted an ARISS radio contact. The youths talked with Steve Bowen who answered 18 questions; 60 people on site watched the youth. Young ARISS volunteer Ruth Willet orchestrated the youths’ actions; she’d done this for last year’s group of YOTA participants, too and she wrote: “It [ARISS contact] went so wonderfully beautifully amazingly well—I’m still on a high! It never never never never gets old.”  A reporter for The Canadian Amateur, the journal of the Canadian national amateur radio society, came to watch and is penning a story for an upcoming issue. The livestream to the public captured 772 viewers (and in 5 days’ time, 1,000 viewed it) at https://www.youtube.com/live/A5bXZUGifYY?feature=share&t=2567.  The Italian ARISS radio telebridge station team offered a livestream of them doing transmissions to connect the youth to Steve on the mic of ARISS’s radio on the ISS; the Italians garnered 70 viewers and 3 days later, 143 views. Also, the Italians invited 50 people, members of the area astronomy group, to come to their radio station to watch.  YOTA states the camp’s purpose as: to connect young amateur radio operators from North, Central, and South America through ham radio and STEM activities. During the week they launched a balloon with a ham radio payload, built electronic kits, and made amateur radio contacts on HF and VHF frequencies.

June-July: Members of the All Things Amateur Radio Association based in Lancaster, OH took on four summer outreach events with ties to ARISS, bringing, setting up and staffing a STEM trailer each time. The trailer’s hands-on exhibits feature wireless technology, ARISS, and amateur radio.  ARISS Educator Diane Warner maintains the trailer’s ARISS display and said “Some teachers seem interested right now; I hope this leads them to writing ARISS education proposals.” She procured a model of the ISS to add to the display to really catch the public’s eyes. She reported on the four events and their relation to ARISS as follows:  

*  luncheon for leaders of area after-school education programs – described ARISS to leaders

*  summer camp — mentored youth STEM activities, talked up ARISS to leaders and youth 

*  5K run — exhibited ham radio and ARISS to the public, handled communications for the run  

*  the club’s two-day outdoor simulated emergency communications test – invited and welcomed the public to sit down to make ham radio contacts and learn about it and ARISS.  
Attendees across all events totaled 43 youth and 106 adults.

ARISS Upcoming Events
July 27: Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai UAE – ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team
July 30: Baltasinsky district youth, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia – ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team