ARISS CONTACT PLANNED WITH EUROPEAN SCHOOL IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ----------------------------------------------------------------- The European Parliament Brussels hosts cultural exhibitions, sponsored by Members of the European Parliament. These cultural events are not open to the general public, but reserved to the members of the Parliament and of the European Commission and their personnel. April 26-30, 2010 an exhibition is set up by the International Amateur Radio Union in collaboration with the European Space Agency and sponsored by MEP Birgit Sippel, Germany. The Exhibition's name is "European Amateur Radio Benefiting Society" and the thematics are Emergency, Education and Space. Tuesday 27 April, students of the European School, Brussels will visit the Exhibition. An ARISS contact is planned at 12.50 UTC, which is 14.50 CEST. The European School Brussels II is situated near the heart of Brussels and serves the families of civil servants working with the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Institutions and also NATO. There are more than 3000 boys and girls aged 3-18, from 11 of the European Union countries in this school, which is divided into a Primary and a Secondary section. Lessons are delivered through 8 different language sections, each student receiving instruction in their mother tongue and, as they progress through the school, partly in a second language. This chance to participate in an ARISS project has been actively embraced by the Science faculty and it is here where the opportunities for curricular integration are gaining momentum. In the 1st Year Secondary (typically aged 11) students study forces, gravity, weight and basic ideas about fields. In the 2nd Year, studies of the Solar System, and well beyond, link directly to the Shuttle missions and the International Space Station. In Year 7 (the final Baccalaureate year, when most students are aged 18) the Physics section on Gravitational Fields is mainly about the mechanics of planetary and satellite motion. Topics (and questions) are often presented within the context of NASA and ESA missions. Because of the high profile of the location of the event at the European Parliament Building in Brussels, there is considerable scope to raise awareness through media coverage, especially as this is the model schooling for Europe. The radio contact will be a telebridge, operated by ARISS ground station LU1CGB, located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The contact will be distributed over EchoLink and IRLP newtworks. Participants will ask as many of following questions as time allows: 1. Stefanie: Do you sweat in the Space? What happens with the dirty laundry? 2.Mathilda: Do you do special exercises or eat specific food in order to maintain your physical condition during your travel in space? 3.Marie: Being so far away from Earth, how do you keep in contact with friends and family and do you keep track of current issues and if you do, do they affect you in any way? 4. Clemens-Hugo: What s the effect of zero gravity on cell growth? If cell growth is slower, would people live longer and would fewer people get cancer? 5. Amelie Mia: What do you do in your spare time? 6. Julian: I have heard that from space you can recognize Belgium because its highways are lit at night? Is this true? What else do you recognize? 7. Matas: How do you protect the space station from space debris? 8. Thomas: Did your character change since you came to the ISS? How do you handle differences of opinion? 9. Muriel: If a member of the crew unexpectedly gets ill, is there anyone on board with a medical education? Can he be treated like on earth? (eg. injections) 10. Benedikt: Have your experiments had results that are relevant for us on earth? Which effects do they have on our daily life? 11. Catarina: How do you navigate in space? How can you reach the ISS precisely with a space shuttle? 12. Jonathan: Do you have more fear in space than on earth? 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 update: SUCCESSFUL ARISS CONTACT WITH EUROPEAN SCHOOL IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Tuesday 27 April 2010, 12 students of the European School, Brussels were invited to visit the Exhibition set up by the International Amateur Radio Union in collaboration with the European Space Agency in the European Parliament, Brussels and sponsored by MEP Birgit Sippel, Germany. The Exhibition's name is "European Amateur Radio Benefiting Society" and the thematics are Emergency, Education and Space. The students, aged 14-18, accompanied by two science teachers, were welcomed by ARISS Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF who introduced the event with a general presentation on the orbital and technical aspects of VHF communications between amateur radio ground stations and the ISS. The students asked many interesting questions while they observed the projection of the world map showing the ISS progressing towards Buenos Aires, Argentina. An ARISS contact was planned at 12.57 UTC. The radio contact was a telebridge, operated by Adrian Sinclair's ARISS ground station LU1CGB. When Adrian started calling NA1SS, the audience kept their breath. US astronaut Timothy Creamer, KC5WKI answered immediately and the exchange of questions and answers began. All questions were answered and greetings and thanks exchanged. In the European School, located in the outskirts of Brussels, an audience of students and teachers followed the space talk by listening in to the teleconference. In the European Parliament, several MEP and assistants, parents working in the European Commission, as well as representatives of the European Space Agency, assisted to the event. The contact was distributed over EchoLink and IRLP networks by John Spasojevitch, AG9D. Two hours later, three space travelers representing three Space Agencies visited the Exhibition: ISS Commander Frank De Winne ON1DWN , Robert Thirsk VA3CSA and Roman Romanenko. Thirty more students from several schools joined the audience, as well as several MEP and assistants. Among them former cosmonaut Vladimir Remek, now member of the European Parliament representing the Czech Republic. Speaking for the European Parliament, MEP Knut Fleckenstein, Germany, heartily welcomed the astronauts. Gaston Bertels, ARISS Chairman, addressed the audience in these terms: Honorable Members of the European Parliament, Dear Astronauts and Cosmonaut, Dear students, Ladies and Gentlemen, It's a memorable day, when three Space travelers visit this Earth bound vessel, where 785 representatives of 27 nations meet in 20 committees and debate for the welfare of 500 million citizens. It's a memorable day when three distinguished members of three Space Agencies come to visit an Exhibition devoted to the activities of a volunteering community, engaged in Emergency, Education and Space communications. Accordingly to the Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunications Union, the Amateur service is a radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest and the Amateur Satellite Service is radiocommunication service using space stations on earth satellites for the same purposes as those of the amateur service. Since the dawn of the Space age, as soon as 1961, radioamateurs have built their own experimental Earth satellites and they continue to do so. Moreover, on Space station MIR, on the American Space Shuttles and presently on the International Space Station, amateur radio equipment is operational and astronauts and cosmonauts, duly licensed radioamateurs, use this equipment mainly for educational purposes. In collaboration with the Space Agencies, the ARISS organisation sets up educational school contacts, allowing students to put questions to the astronauts and receive their answers, live from Space, via amateur radio. Since 2001, 530 ARISS School Contacts have been performed, the latest one two hours ago, from this very place. During your recent Expedition, Frank and Bob, you have conducted many such School Contacts, fostering the interest of students for science, technology, engineering and maths, the so important STEM studies needed for the future of humanity. In the Columbus module, amateur radio equipment will soon be installed and, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, ARISS is planning the installation in the near future of digital amateur television. When this will be operational, students will not only hear the astronauts but also see them, live in space. It will be possible for students to imagine microgravity experiments which the astronaut can perform and show during the few minutes of an ARISS School Contact. Some students will build their careers on Space Exploration, in line with the famous sentence "Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one doesn't stay in the cradle forever". This sentence expresses Konstantin Tsiolkovski's vision, Tsiolkovski, whose photo is on the wall of the ISS Service Module, near the ARISS radio. You have also seen it at Energya, in the office of Tsiolkovski's grand-grandson, Sergey Samburov, our colleague in charge of the Russian division of ARISS international. Dear Frank, Bob and Roman, we would like to offer you a souvenir of your visit. It's a Commemorative Space Talk Certificate, similar to the Certificates which were offered by the Royal Belgian Amateur Radio Union to the participants of the 31 ARISS School Contacts performed by Frank De Winne during his OasISS mission. With all our gratitude for your kind support Thank you! Photos and a sound recording will be appended to this bulletin, archived at www.ariss-eu.org/archive.htm The event is also reported on ESA's website: http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMNN2HMI8G_index_0.html 73 Gaston Bertels - ON4WF ARISS Chairman ARISS EVENT IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ON YOUTUBE Jan Poppeliers ON7UX has published on YouTube his video reportage on the ARISS School Contact in the European Parliament and the visit of three astronauts to the Exhibition "Amateur Radio Benefiting Society". This Exhibition - centered on Emergency, Education and Space - was a joint venture of IARU Region 1 and ESA. The EUROCOM working group of the International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 collaborated with the Directorate of Human Spaceflight of the European Space Agency for the setting up of the Exhibition. The video reportage is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnFsqQ2dhqY 73 Gaston Bertels - ON4WF ARISS Chairman