ARLA/CLUSTER: NASA On The Air na bandas de amador

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

In a surprising and touching turnout, tens of thousands of people
around the world turned on their ham (or amateur) radios to
participate in several 'NASA on the Air' events held over the past
year.

"This was a beautiful thing," said Kevin Zari, head of the amateur
radio club at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Zari especially loved the
event photos tweeted by people from different countries.

Radio clubs from 10 NASA centers and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California, all supported the yearlong event.

Ham radio operators tuned in from all 50 U.S. states and 56 countries
across six continents to chat with NASA personnel. "There were times
in our log where we had 20 contacts a minute - it was that quick. And
there were other more relaxed times, where we were able to just sit
and talk," said Zari. "I don't know how many times people said, 'We
thought NASA was gone. We thought NASA was dead.' So we educated
people around the world."

The NASA on the Air event wrapped up with three special opportunities
for people to use their radios to download images from the
International Space Station. This was done in coordination with
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), an
international consortium of amateur radio organizations and space
agencies. ARISS encourages young people to explore science,
technology, engineering and math through the use of ham radios, and
their program works to connect students worldwide with astronauts
onboard the space station.

For the final three events, cosmonauts on the station transmitted
several NASA on the Air images from space. Participants could compete
to collect images and upload them to a website for credit. Over 34,600
uploads were received from 18,619 participants.

The reaction to NASA on the Air was so positive, NASA Radio Clubs plan
to activate NASA on the Air for special anniversaries in 2019 and
beyond (e.g. 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11).

Follow @NASARadioClubs on Twitter or join the NASA on the Air (NOTA)
group on Facebook for notifications of future activities.

Fonte: ANS, NASA