ARISS contact planned with Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa

Thursday 9 August 2012 at 18.39 UTC, which is 20.39 CEST, an ARISS contact is planned with Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, Canada.

This will be a telebridge contact, operated by ARISS ground station IK1SLD, located in North Italy.

Downlink signals from the International Space Station will be audible over Europe on 145.800 MHz FM.

The Canada Science and Technology Museum is a national museum located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Museum’s day camps are a large part of the educational strategy of the Museum to cultivate scientific, technological and engineering literacy in Canada.

The Summer Camps programs have run for over 12 years for children aged 6-12 with a curiosity for science. Each of the five camps has a different theme incorporating various aspects of science, technology and engineering: Adventures in Science (ages 6-8), Gadgets and Gizmos (ages 6-8), Junior Astronomers (ages 6-8), Ultimate Builders (ages 9-12) and Adventures in Robotics (ages 9-12).

Students will ask as many of following questions as time allows.

1. When you were a kid, did you always know you wanted to be an astronaut?

2. Can you tell us about one of the experiments you’re doing on the space station, and how it will help us back on Earth?

3. I am in the Robotics summer camp at the Museum, and would like to know in what ways robots are being used on the space station?

4. I am in the Junior Astronomers Camp at the Museum. What is your favourite planet or moon in our Solar System, and why?

5. Do you ever have a good night’s sleep on the space station, and do you dream the same way as you do on Earth?

6. What is the scariest part of being in space?

7. There are people from around the world on the space station, how do you choose which countries astronauts come from, and which ones get to go?

8. My least favourite subject in school is Math, but my teacher tells me it is important to learn. Do you ever use mathematics as an astronaut, or on the space station?

9. What food do you miss the most from Earth?

10. Why do you think space travel is important to science and engineering?

11. Roberta Bondar was the first Canadian woman in space. Since then, how many women have been in space?

12. What are the different jobs an astronaut can have on board the space station?

13. If you had not become an astronaut, what profession would you be in?

14. Would you ever want to go to on a mission to Mars? Why or why not?

15. What is the most valuable thing you have learned since becoming an astronaut?

16. What advice would you give to someone who wants to be an astronaut?

ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries.

ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers onboard the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, technology and learning.

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

ARISS Chairman