Saturday
28 December, ARISS contact planned with Scout group in The Netherlands
An
International Space Station educational radio contact has been planned Saturday
28 December with participants at Scouting Burgemeester
Welschen Meerhove,
This
will be a direct radio contact between OR4ISS and PE6SBW. The contact is
expected to be conducted in English.
Downlink
signals will be audible in Europe on 145.800MHz FM.
Presentation:
Scouting Meerhoven has been
set up in 2003. Our first official turnout was 10 years ago during the JOTA
JOTI. During the last 10 years we have had several activities which were
connected with transmitting (each year during the JOTA JOTI) and also with technic, air and space travel, as our scouts cabin is near
Now, 10 years on, we celebrate our Jubilee. One of our
Lustrum activities is the JOTA JOTI, by which we use FM frequency. For a whole
weekend the scouting room has been transformed to a real radio station. The
broadcasts’ are made by our youth and staff members.
In the framework of the Jubilee we have made a request
to NASA, because as a scouting group, we really like to have radio contact with
one of the astronauts from the ISS. We are very supportive of space travel and
during the coming period we have a couple of activities to prepare us for a
possible contact with ISS.
The Friday evening group (cubs and scouts) will visit a observatory, they will make rockets from lemonade bottles
and fire them off. The room of the beavers will be transformed to a cosmos with
rockets and planets. The kids will make these themselves. The Saturday group
(cubs and scouts) will rebuild a ISS station. During
the coming weeks our activities will all be in the light of space travel. Our
aim is that the children will make their acquaintance with the JOTA JOTI
(transmission) as well as space travel.
It would be great to close of our Jubilee with contact
with ISS.
-------------------
Participants will ask as many of the following
questions as time allows:
1. Jasper (12 yr):
Do you float in the space outside of ISS?
2. Madelief (10 yr): Do you like it to be weightless all the time?
3. Isabel (8 yr):
What skills do you need to have to become an astronaut and how do you
prepare a mission into space?
4. Niels (8 yr): How do you sleep in space?
5. Koen (8 yr): Do you have spare time to play computer games
like Minecraft, and what games?
6. Stefan (9 yr):
Please name a top 3 of things you miss on earth, except your families.
7. Praganye (7 yr): Please share your most memorable experience
as astronaut.
8. Jeroen (6 yr): How do you use the toilet in ISS? Using the
toilet, where does the pee or poop remain?
9. Martijn (11 yr): How big is the space that you live in?
10. Carmen (11 yr):
If there is fire on ISS, how do you extinguish this? Water and powder
also float and may damage the equipment.
11. Sterre (10 yr): I would like to know what the astronauts do
when a comet is approaching the space station.
12. Silvio (6 yr): Do you have a Christmas tree with decoration
in ISS?
13. Donna (9 yr):
Can you see fireworks on January 1th?
14. Vera (8 yr):
How do you wash yourself and how do you change clothes?
15. Rik (12 yr): Do you see a lot of debris in space?
16. Sijmen (6 yr): What is the moon made of?
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.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
!
73,
Gaston Bertels, ON4WF
ARISS-Europe chairman