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Update on ARISS Contact with Kiilinik High School in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut

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ARISSlogoUpdated information on April 5:

An International Space Station (ISS) school contact has been planned with students at Kiilinik High School in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The event is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, April 6 at approximately 18:02 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. Steve McFarlane, VE3TBD, and his team are the ARISS mentors at the event.

The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and VK4KHZ and the scheduled astronaut is Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ. The contact should be audible over portions of Australia and adjacent areas. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. You are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink and audio from this contact will be fed into: EchoLink *AMSAT* (101377) and IRLP Node 9010 Discovery Reflector.  Streaming  audio will be available at: https://sites.google.com/site/arissaudio/

Cambridge Bay is a hamlet located on Victoria Island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is named for Prince Adolphus, the Duke of Cambridge, while the Inuinnaqtun name for the area is Iqaluktuttiaq meaning "good fishing place". This ancestral region of Nunavut has been inhabited for 4,000 years. It is rich in archaeological history and blessed with abundant fish, seals, geese, muskoxen and caribou. Kiilinik High School is one of two public schools located in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The school has a population of approximately 200 students and provides education from grades 7 to 12. For this event the Primary School will pair up with the high school for the event.

Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows:

  1. Can you change the orbit and speed of the Space Station?
  2. What is your favourite part of being an astronaut?
  3. Is the passage of time on the Space Station different than on Earth?
  4. What time zone do you follow on the Space Station and why?
  5. What do you do in your spare time; do you have the Internet?
  6. What would happen if a crew member was sick while in space?
  7. Do you think we will ever travel outside our solar system and is the Space Station helping to solve the issues?
  8. How is sleep impacted on the Space Station and zero Gravity?
  9. You are 400 kilometres up, zero gravity, far away from family, friends, watching the universe and the Earth go by, looking and pondering into the universe. What is that like?
  10. We understand fire burns differently in space, how do you deal with a fire emergency?
  11. Are you doing any research related to travel to other worlds like Mars?
  12. Was being an astronaut a childhood dream or did you decide later?
  13. What were your first impressions when you arrived on the Space Station and what will you miss from space?
  14. How many people can live on the Space Station at one time and for how long without a supply vessel?
  15. How advanced or how far and where can we go during the next 100 years in space and space research?

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States and other international space agencies and international Amateur Radio organizations around the world. The primary purpose of ARISS is to organize scheduled contacts via Amateur Radio between crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced volunteers from Amateur Radio clubs and coordination from the ARISS team, the ISS crew members speak directly with large group audiences in a variety of public forums such as school assemblies, science centers and museums, Scout camporees, jamborees and space camps, where students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies and Amateur Radio.

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

ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crew members onboard the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, firsthand, how Amateur Radio and crew members on the International Space Station can energize youth and instill an interest in science, technology, and learning. Further information on the ARISS program is available on their website.

Source: Ian MacFarquhar, VE9IM, RAC ARISS Board Representative
Upcoming Contacts: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)