ARLA/CLUSTER: Astronauta italiana Samantha Cristoforetti (IZØUDF) participa no programa ARISS

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Double ARISS ham radio contacts with astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZØUDF

Saturday, March 7, 2015 at 10:51 UTC, 11:51 local time and at 12:29
UTC,  13:29 local time, students at 'G. Salvemini - G. La Pira',
Montemurlo, Italy, and 'Dante Alighieri' 1st Grade Secondary (Middle)
School, Casale Monferrato, Italy established two ARISS contacts with
ESA astronautSamantha Cristoforetti, IZØUDFonboard the International
Space Station.

These were direct contacts performed by Amateur radio ground stations
IQ5VR, located at "G. Salvemini - G. La Pira" in Montemurlo and IK1SLD
located at "Dante Alighieri” School in Casale Monferrato.

Presentation G. Salvemini - G. La Pira

The school “Salvemini - La Pira” is in Montemurlo, province of Prato,
Tuscany region and it is a Secondary Middle School; it has 21 classes
with pupils aged between 11 and 14. The name of the school derives
from the fusion of the two schools of the commune. This is the only
secondary middle school of the area. The schoolhouse hosts around 520
pupils.

Presentation “Dante Alighieri”

The "Dante Alighieri" School is situated a bit off the town centre of
Casale Monferrato, near the ancient Cittadella, province of
Alessandria, Piedmont region. It's a modern construction, developed on
two main buildings: one for the school's didactical and administrative
activities, one for the sport activities (gym and pool). It's
surrounded by a wide playground, with a little plantation of poplars,
planted by the pupils of the school. There are 12 classrooms (4 at the
main floor and 8 at the first floor) and different labs: Science lab,
Informatics lab, Techno lab, Art lab, Maths lab, Languages lab and a
coloured and wide library. There is also a lot of afternoon
activities, such as Latin courses, Languages courses and sport
tournaments (soccer, basket, volley). The Dante Secondary I grade
School has a current roll of 230 and a teaching staff of 29. In the
last few years the school has been enhanced by the richness of its
diverse student population.

Mentor Francesco De Paolis IK0WGF proposed to the radio coordinators
Mr. Alessandro Tesconi IK5EHI and Mr. Claudio Ariotti IK1SLD to set up
a combined direct contact, with the support by IK1SLD back-up ground
station and this was accepted. A phone conference call allowed the
full sharing of the events between all the contact sites involved. The
sequence of questions was made alternately by the students at two
schools. ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli IZ0JPA participating to the event
in the Montemurlo school, presented the International Space Station,
talked about his experience aboard and before the AOS trained the
students for the contact. Great Paolo!

Contact was established at 10:51 UTC, 11:51 local time with IR0ISS via
 IK1SLD and then via IQ5VR, alternately. Mr. Claudio Ariotti IK1SLD
proposed to astronaut continue the contact during the following orbit.
ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZ0UDF agreed. During the first
scheduled contact Cristoforetti answered 10 questions from students.

Samantha Cristoforetti was really very accurate in giving the answers
With many details.

At 12:29 UTC, 13:29 local time, contact was established again with
IR0ISS, not on the primary channel, which was interfered, but on a
back-up channel where the event continued normally without problem.

During the second random contact Cristoforetti answered 11 questions
from students and exchanged greetings with the schools. Signals from
the ISS were good during both passes.

Both contacts established with IR0ISS were webcast live on:
http://www.livestream.com/amsat_italia (from Montemurlo)
http://www.livestream.com/ariss (from Casale Monferrato)

The Montemurlo event is available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egJ72f_I6To
(contact 1 start 46' - contact 2 start 2h23')

The Casale Monferrato event is available at:
http://livestre.am/545U4
(contact start 59' - contact 2 start 2h23')

Regional and Local Televisions and newspapers covered the event also.
About 700 students, parents, visitors and media attended the events at
 contact sites.

The event was announced on ESA Portal - National News:
http://www.esa.int/ita/ESA_in_your_country/Italy/
Samantha_Cristoforetti_in_un_nuovo_collegamento_radio_con_le_scuole

Congratulations to IQ5VR and IK1SLD Teams!

73

Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF
ARISS Mentor