2 ISS Contacts in one day
It was an Amateur Radio two-for-one special March 7 when International Space Station Science Officer Don Pettit, KD5MDT, spoke with students at technology-oriented schools in Italy and in Texas.
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full storyNEWINGTON, CT, Mar 11, 2003--
It was an Amateur Radio two-for-one special March 7 when International Space Station Science Officer Don Pettit, KD5MDT, spoke with students at technology-oriented schools in Italy and in Texas. The contacts with NA1SS on board the ISS were arranged as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program.
Questions from students at the Istituto Tecnico (technical high school) Industriale Malignani (IV3FLG) in Cervignano-del-Friuli, Italy, covered many topics. Cervignano-del-Friuli is a small town between Udine and Trieste, some 20 km from the border with Slovenia and 10 km from the Gulf of Venice.
"Don Pettit explained that the space station uses a variety of radio frequencies, from VHF to microwave communication via satellite," reported ARISS Mentor Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ. "He enjoys taking pictures of different areas of Earth. He also explained that it takes about eight and a half minutes to get from the surface of the earth into orbit, and it takes about another day and a half to reach the space station."
Kofler said the ISS 2-meter downlink signal was "absolutely clear and loud" for the entire 10-minute QSO, dropping out just as Pettit was answering the 14th question from students.
Maurizio Grendene, IV3ZCX, was the coordinator of the school station and operator for the radio contact. The technical team of a local amateur radio club set up a satellite station with automatic antenna tracking as well as a vertical back-up antenna.
"They implemented two amateur television links on the 23-cm amateur band with two other schools in the area," Kofler said. "This increased the audience from the 100 students at Malignani to a total of about 600." Able to participate via the ATV link were pupils at the elementary school in Strassoldo, 4 km away, and students at the Albert Einstein Science High School, about 1.5 km away. Kofler said the ATV audience was able to see and listen to the radio contact with NA1SS.
"Giving young people an idea of the impact and the fascinating aspects of amateur radio by demonstrating a direct contact to the space station was a goal perfectly achieved!" Kofler concluded. The ARISS contact got news coverage from the TV station Tele Friuli and several newspapers, he added.
That same morning, aerospace students in Texas also were able to quiz an aerospace professional in space via Amateur Radio. Ten sixth, seventh and eighth graders at Krueger Middle School of Applied Technology in San Antonio asked two questions apiece of Pettit via the school's club station, KD5OMG.
"It couldn't have gone better!" exclaimed Coordinating Teacher James Goslin, KJ5QB. Student Daniel Sheehan described the 10-minute ARISS QSO as "pretty cool!"
Krueger, a magnet school, features a substantial amount of hands-on learning centered on an aerospace theme. Its eighth graders conduct two major rocket launches each year and build the electronics that go into their rocket payloads. Their classroom is a rambling array of tables and desks holding rockets under construction and no fewer than three Amateur Radio stations. The sky above the school is filled with ham antennas.
Pettit fielded questions such as, "How do you maintain breathable air?" and "Once you're done with your solar panels, how much energy will you be pulling in?" Students also wanted to know what the crew was attempting to grow in its plant experiments and how they were turning out.
Putting technical issues aside, student Brooklynne Jackson asked the now almost-inevitable food question: "Does the food taste gross up there?" Pettit laughed and assured her that the food was "great." He told her that he was looking forward to his next meal in a couple of hours and that chili stew was on the menu.
The late-morning QSO was over much too quickly for the students, but teacher Goslin continued the culinary theme by making sure that pizzas, ordered earlier, were still on the way.
Goslin said the school evolved from a Young Astronaut Club created in the early 1990s with help from a team of supportive hams and other community professionals. The Young Astronaut Club had a space shuttle contact in 1995. The school recruits students throughout San Antonio's North East School District and puts a heavy emphasis on mathematics, science that includes a NASA distance-learning program. Goslin has visited Russia's Star City and would like to arrange educational and student exchange programs between the US and Russia.
Reporters and camera crews from two local television stations covered the ARISS contact. ARISS is an international program with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.--Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ; Gene Chapline, K5YFL
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