ARLA/CLUSTER: ARISS CONTACT SCHEDULED FOR SCHOOL IN PORTUGAL

[João Gonçalves Costa]

An ARISS radio contact is planned for Escola EBI/JI de Montenegro, Faro, Portugal. The contact is scheduled for Monday 23 May 2011 at 12:36 UTC, which is 13.36 local time and 14.36 CEST.

The school EBI/JI de Montenegro is located at 3 kilometers from the capital of Algarve, Faro, near the beach and the airport. The school was built in 1990 and has 900 students, 4 to 15/17 years old. Most of the student population comes from the rural and costal region, but there are also foreign students. The school is located near the Ria Formosa Natural Park, very rich and diversified in natural resources.

This ARISS contact is the Physics and Chemistry teacher Patrícia Raposo's project. The project involves Manuel Mil-Homens, the teacher responsible for image and sound, and Dina Ferreira, the English teacher. There are 20 students involved in the project, classroom representatives from grades 7th to 9th. Students´ representatives have met with the teacher in charge to talk about the questions and proceedings.

The radio equipment is provided by REP (Portuguese Radio Amateur Society). A local radio amateur was contacted to handle the radio communication. The school also prepared, with the local Radio amateur Club of Loule, an open session for the educative community about amateur radio.

A press release was sent to regional and national TV, radio stations and newspapers. Representatives from the City Hall and the Ministry of Education are invited. Arrangements are made to have the event documented on video by the Photography and Digital Arts Club students, supervised by teacher Manuel Mil-Homens. The ARISS contact is also available to the school community in streaming video, on the official school page.

The direct radio contact will be operated by CT1REP. Signals from space will be audible in a wide area of Europe. Interested parties are invited to listen on 145.800 MHz FM.

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

1. Daniela (13 years): Is it true that during the time of your missions in space, you grow less old than the same time spent on Earth?
2. Gilda (12 years): What was your worst experience as an astronaut?
3. Duarte (12 years): Does the spaceship have the equipment to catch all the radiowaves broadcast from Earth? How?
4. Érica (12 years): What is your daily routine?
5. Teresa (13 years): What is the most difficult technical equipment to use in the ISS?
6. Ândria (12 years): How do you take a shower in the ISS?
7. Laura (13 years): What do you eat in space?
8. Leonard (12 years): What is the difference between living in normal gravity conditions and without gravity?
9. Beatriz (13 years): Which are the essential skills and training to become an astronaut?
10. Érica (13 years): I would like to ask you what is the sensation outside the spaceship?
11. Carlos (14 years): What type of damage can a meteor shower cause to earth-orbiting spacecraft like the ISS? How can you prevent that?
12. Ana (15 years): What are the side effects of gravity on your metabolism? What do you feel different?
13. Lucas (14 years): Are you scared when you fly? Are you thinking about the danger involved?
14. Beatriz (14 years): How is the sensation of seeing our planet from space? What is it like?
15. Alexandre (14 years): What are ISS perspectives for the future?
16. Alexandre (14 years): Do you think there is any chance for man to land on Mars in the next ten years?
17. Emanuel (14 years): What did you feel when you first entered the ISS?
18. Pedro (14 years): How important is your task for mankind?
19. Valentyna (14 years): How do you feel in the first ten seconds of the flight?
20. Valeriya (13 years): What do you miss most from Earth when you are in the ISS?

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.

73

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF
ARISS Chairman 


Fonte: REP - Rede dos Emissores Portugueses.