Message to US Educators

• November 12: The ISS National Laboratory compiled a 44-page report called 20 Years of Student Experiments on the ISS.  The report highlighted ARISS in a number of different sections.  In the first few pages, the introduction section titled “Scope of this Study” calls out ARISS, stating it was one of the very first operational experiments. Farther in, a full page is devoted to ARISS and delves into details all about the program.  Another full page describes some of ARISS’s major metrics for US schools.  A selection of other ARISS metrics is sprinkled throughout the report. The link for downloading the report is: https://www.issnationallab.org/research-on-the-iss/reports/20-years-of-student-experiments-using-the-iss/

• November 14:  SCaN, JPL, and ARISS put together a presentation that was given at the Classroom in the Sky virtual event.  ARISS-US Education Committee member Melissa Pore represented ARISS. Attendees at this session totaled 35, with 75 more educators having registered to watch the recorded session. The “STEMinar” attracted educators from around the world to learn about teaching strategies and tools for many areas of STEM and/or aerospace and the related careers.

• November 16: ARISS volunteer Charlie Sufana gave a special presentation via Zoom to the Lake County Amateur Radio Club (LCARC) in Lake County, Indiana. This group supported the very first ARISS contact, which was carried out December 21, 2020 at the Luther Burbank School. Sufana surprised club members, honoring them with a wide variety of photos and facts from their having supported over the years many Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment contacts and ARISS contacts. 12 LCARC members were social distanced at the clubhouse for his talk while 4 others attended virtually.  Others members watched the recording.

• November 22: Charlie Sufana set up a second Zoom meeting, this one as a reunion to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the first ARISS school contact ever made, which was at the Luther Burbank School on December 21, 2020 in Burbank, IL.  Sufana had invited all students, faculty, and ARISS team members that he had contact information on, and asked them to invite other students they have kept touch with. Sufana showed the original contact video to the 24 attending the Zoom reunion. Attending the Zoom reunion were students who made the contact, students who supported the contact (e.g. generated questions), teachers, ham volunteers, and family members. Here are notes and quotes:
• After the contact, at least 3 adults who attended went on to earn their ham licenses, including lead teacher, Rita Wright.
• The reunion and the showing of the contact video elicited many emotions—some choked up while talking and tears flowing down several members’ faces.
• Principal Bob Mocek said the ARISS event at Burbank 20 years ago “Was the best thing he ever did as an educator in his 40 years in education.”
• Student Brittany Lukasik had been in first grade, the youngest student to ask astronaut Bill Shepherd a question.  Brittany and her Mom attended the reunion.  Her mom said that prior to the try-outs to be selected for asking questions, Brittany really wanted to do this and was motivated to get her voice booming, through coaching and determination. Britanny said, “The ARISS experience influenced my life.”  She received her B.S. degree in Nursing and is now a nurse in Florida.
• Teacher Maureen O’Brien stated that, “We did so much in the classroom leading up to the contact.  We were given the creative freedom to develop lessons based on our grade level and subject matter.  The teachers were engaged at all grade levels (K-8) and all study subjects.”
• Teacher Susan McNichols said: “I pulled out the scrapbook on the Burbank ARISS experience and I still get emotional about it 20 years later.”  In 2012, Susan organized an ARISS contact for the Liberty Junior High School with astronaut Don Petit.
• Many students attending the reunion are now in STEAM careers and Sufana made a record of these. Several of the students moved to the Space Coast and work there as a CPA, nurse, insurance broker, and as a government contracts specialist for the Navy.

• November 12-13: The lead article in the widely circulated southern Maine newspaper, The Weekly Sentinel, touted the upcoming ARISS radio contact in January for Sea Road School in Kennebunk, Maine. The school serves over 300 third, fourth, and fifth-grade students and the article described the students’ STEM- and radio-related preparatory lessons. The link is: http://www.theweeklysentinel.com/
• A second media outlet highlighted the Sea Road School, also. The Seacoast Online news publication’s article titled “Sea Road Students to Radio Orbiting Astronauts” described students’ growing excitement for their upcoming contact. The story covered the celebration of ARISS’s 20 years of successes on the ISS, as well.  The article is at: https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/lifestyle/2020/11/11/sea-road-students-radio-orbiting-astronauts/6251386002/

• November 16: ARISS team member Darrell Warren gave a presentation to Red Hill Lutheran School faculty in Tustin, CA. The teachers are interested in hosting an ARISS contact in the future and 25 of them attended the meeting, along with the principal and 3 staff members.  Warren, a retired schoolteacher, stressed that ARISS-related topics can engage every student in the school in hands-on activities and can involve all subjects. He gave examples of how to do this. He said, “My experience with students is that most are more than excited even when listening to other schools’ ARISS contacts, once they understand a real astronaut is flying across the sky during the contact. Especially if the listening youth are holding radios and manipulating antennas.”

• November 13:  A WBNG-TV team in Binghamton taped a video and posted a story that related ARISS activities to the SpaceX November 15th launch.  The news team had gone to Kopernik Observatory and Science Center in Vestal, NY to interview the head of the Center, ARISS educator Drew Deskur, about the Binghamton area’s ties to space.  Deskur talked about Kopernik’s involvement with ARISS, related education activities, and ham radio.https://wbng.com/2020/11/13/kopernik-reacts-to-spacex-launch/

         Upcoming Events

• December 3: Amur State University students in Blagoveshchensk, Russia will take part in an ARISS contact with Sergey Ryzhikov.

• December 4: Students at Scuola Secondaria di l grado Anna Frank in Pistoia, Italy are ready for their ARISS contact with Victor Glover.

• December 4: Tecumseh High School students, especially those in the Electronics and Amateur Radio Class and the area’s STEAM Center in Tecumseh, OK are well prepared for their ARISS contact with Shannon Walker.

• December 9: Amur State University students in Blagoveshchensk, Russia will take part in an ARISS contact with Sergey Kud-Sverchkov.

September 2: Chris Cassidy installed and set up the first element of the ARISS Next Generation Radio System–the Interoperable Radio System (IORS)–in the ISS Columbus module. The IORS is now in operation and consists of the MultiVoltage Power Supply, a specially modified JVC Kenwood transceiver, and associated cables. The ARISS team spent five years developing the IORS, which replaces an intermittent Ericsson radio and packet module. With time, more ARISS equipment will be launched for other ISS modules, and will support different experiments.  ARISS distributed a news release, picked up by many news outlets, sharing that the IORS was activated initially in cross-band repeater mode as a relay station allowing hams on Earth to make radio contacts with one another. Thousands of hams quickly began interfacing with the new ISS system, enjoying the new communications option. A ham radio operator in Mauritius wrote: “Patrice and I had a superb contact via the ARISS FM repeater a few minutes ago. Fine signals both ways on VHF and UHF. Really nice to have the repeater on the air!” Next week the ARISS team will use the new system for an ARISS school contact. ARISS thanks major sponsors NASA and ISS National Lab for supporting the ARISS team!  The team is already shared ideas for new experiments to try.  

September 2: A successful ARISS contact with Chris Cassidy was sponsored by the KMO Kolska Wyspa (a club of teenage explorers) for its students and those from other schools in Kolo, Poland: Adam Mickiewicz Primary School No. 2, Kazimierz Wielki Secondary School, and Martinuary Insurgents Primary School.  Students, ages 12 to 19, and staff gathering at the Mickiewicz school totaled 29, while 61 viewed the livestream YouTube, and 42 watched live video provided by the British Amateur Television Club (BATC). BATC viewers could also see video of Martin Diggins handling the radios at his Australian ARISS radio telebridge station, relaying Cassidy’s voice and the Polish youths’ voices. Cassidy answered 13 student questions. Two TV stations and a photo agency were on hand covering the day’s activities. The KMO club leaders, some from area ham radio clubs, work with teachers and students promoting EarthKAM and MoonKam activities in cooperation with Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw.  The Wielki school is known for its outstanding robotics program. Younger students studied space, handled ham radio equipment, and regularly updated a bulletin board showcasing the latest news from ESA, NASA, and the Sally Ride Science program. KMO students learned to solder, then assembled robots, learned to control the robots, and older students moved on to bigger robots. After participating in EarthKam, they put on a show called “The Earth from the Sky.”

August 24: The Queensland Government Department of Education (DoE) in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia sponsored an ARISS contact with Chris Cassidy for the 4th annual i-Educate Conference, this year with educators online. The conference, considered the premier professional development technological conference for all Queensland educators, is led by the DoE IT branch. During the contact, a group of 30 students and staff from three schools (Mount Crosby State School, Runcorn Heights State School and Victoria Point State High School) assembled in a DoE office building and Cassidy answered 11 questions from the 13- and 14-year olds. Online for the ARISS contact were 265 educators while 69 others listened on EchoLink and IRLP (an online amateur radio audio conference service). The IT branch interacts with all Queensland schools providing guidance in implementing technology for student learning in classes.  

August 7: Senior Education Manager Dan Barstow at ISS National Lab asked ARISS educator Melissa Pore to invite two students to be recorded for a NASA video downlink. Bishop O’Connell High School had an ARISS contact two years ago and students continue to study radio and space.  High schoolers Mira and Will were selected for the downlink because of design studies they’ve done, and they could ask Chris Cassidy about these. Mira enquired about future automated space vehicles that might result in less training needed to go to space. Will requested advice about a prototype space pillow that was designed for microgravity. 

July 17: ARISS balloon race coordinator Joanne Michael in Culver City, CA, was invited by a race participant in Pasco, WA to give a Zoom talk to members of the Prosser Conservatory of Theatre for Children. She discussed the science of radio, showing examples of a radio receiver, transmitter, and antenna, and what they do and how ARISS radio contacts work. She explained differences and similarities of sound waves and radio waves and something these students could easily relate to, how to stop microphone feedback problems! Taking part were 20 students ages 8 to 17, 3 formal educators, and 1 informal educator.

July 17: Cosmonaut Ivan Vagner supported an ARISS contact with students in the Gargarin from Space study program who were participating in the 9th International Aerospace School summer event.  The coordination of activities is based out of Ufa, in the UN Sultanova Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia. Utilizing social distancing, 15 college students, 2 professors, and 2 adults were part of the ARISS contact.

ARISS Upcoming Events