ARISS contact with Youth on The Air (YOTA) 2023 Summer Camp, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
July 15, 2023, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and participants at the YOTA 2023 located in ON, Canada. ARISS conducts 60-80 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
Youth on the Air (YOTA) Summer Camp is a week-long event for young amateur radio operators ages 15 to 25 from North, Central, and South America. This is their third year of operations, with YOTA activities designed to demonstrate how these young participants can connect with each other through amateur radio communications and STEM activities. YOTA is also about fostering a worldwide community through amateur radio. Throughout the week YOTA participants have learned to build antennas and telegraph machine kits, talked to hams around the world on high frequencies (HF) from both permanent and portable ham radio stations, and learned how to operate using Morse Code. Camp participants have also launched and tracked a high-altitude balloon, and communicated through low-earth orbit amateur radio satellites. This will be the first ARISS contact opportunity for many of these students, demonstrating how amateur radio can connect with the ISS. After this experience, students will come away with a better understanding of the life of an astronaut on the ISS, and perhaps motivate them to pursue STEM-related fields.
This will be a telebridge contact via Amateur Radio allowing YOTA participants to ask their questions of Astronaut Steve Bowen, amateur radio call sign KI5BKB. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the telebridge station.
The ARISS amateur radio ground station (telebridge station) for this contact is in Casale Monferrato, Italy. The amateur radio volunteer team at the station will use the callsign IK1SLD, to establish and maintain the ISS connection. The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for July 18, 2023 at 18:42 UTC.
The public is invited to watch the live stream at:
https://youtube.com/live/A5bXZUGifYY?feature=share
IK1SLD will start about 15 minutes before AOS at http://www.ariotti.com/
As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. What is your favorite view from the cupola?
2. How does amateur radio factor into life and science on the ISS?
3. What radios and antennas are used for the ARISS program?
4. How does your training in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory compare to extravehicular spacewalks?
5. What is your favorite food to eat on the station and is it the same as here on earth?
6. Does the ISS have an HF setup and have you ever used it?
7. Does the ISS provide weather data from visual observations to ground stations?
8. What advice do you have for someone wanting to become an astronaut?
9. What sorts of creative outlets do you get while on the ISS?
10. What types of experiments are being done on the ISS?
11. Once we have interstellar travel figured out, which celestial object would you like to visit first?
12. What current experiments are you conducting that will help benefit life on earth?
13. What is the coolest space station repeater contact you have made?
14. How has learning multiple languages affected your daily life on the station?
15. How are QSOs logged and sent to ground stations from the ISS?
16. Do you have a favorite DSLR camera and lens combination for taking pictures from the ISS?
17. Are there property taxes for the ISS and if so, what district would they go to?
18. Do you have any go-to life advice?
About ARISS:
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) and NASA´s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see http://www.ariss.org
Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR