International Space Station Contact-Round Deux

Astronaut Koichi Wakata

Ben and Steve will be part of the ARISS radio ground crew facilitating contact between The International Space Station and Hidden Oaks Middle School in Prior Lake, MN on Thursday, May 1st!   If you are interested in checking it out, you can listen to a live stream of the event at the link below. The window of opportunity for contact is short, and limited to the time when the ISS is passing directly above the location, so be sure to tune in prior to the start of the transmission. I believe streaming is set to start at 15:45 and contact is at 16:28 UTC/Greenwich Mean Time.  There is a link at the ARISS site to help you convert times to your area. Astronaut Koichi Wakata, Commander of expedition 39, will be answering questions from the kids in what should be about a 10 minute conversation. 

ARISS Audio Stream-ISS Contact

This is the second ISS contact Ben has helped with, and he is really excited to be a part of it!  The ARISS program is a cooperative venture of NASA, the ARRL and AMSAT, and other international space agencies that organizes scheduled contacts via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS, and classrooms and communities. 

We Are Still Here

Yes, we are still here. Still covered in snow, and still plugging away at school.  I have just been too damn busy to blog.  I do miss blogging regularly, I truly do, but it is just so hard to sit down and do it when life is moving so fast. 

Current Events:

Will got his braces off last week!!  Gorgeous smile! 

Charlie won first place in the Pinewood Derby this past Saturday!

We snapped this photo on a cold night in February in our back-yard Quinzhee.

 

Will is knitting a Doctor Who/Tom Baker scarf and has about 8 feet done so far.  This was at a Who-athon at our local library.

Charlie at the Who-athon.

Will also learned to play guitar in December, and has taken to it like a fish to water. Or something.

I have been reading a lot.  Books of my own and books for the kids.  I learned to knit this winter, too, and am enjoying it.   

Other than that, I'm just hanging in there, waiting for spring...

Geronimo!

Will unveiled his latest painting on Saturday, in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who.  Fantastic!

Away Team

Thanks to William's Mad Photoshop Skilz, we are now an Enterprise Away Team on the surface of a rocky Class M planet.  See my Tricorder bag?  Security officers at the ready? But who let that little kid beam down?  Jean Luc will not be pleased....

On The Cover

 Ben made the August cover of World Radio Magazine for his presentation in Dayton, OH in May. Cool!  

Hamvention

Ben's presentation went off without a hitch last weekend! Will, Charlie and I found out about a live stream of the event in the few seconds before the start of the forum, so we were able to watch it, too!

It was a full house for the forum...about 350 people, and there was a great group of youth speakers, with a variety of interesting topics, including a 10 year old talking about radios and components he has built and tested.  Ten years old!  It was awesome to see the enthusiasm and confidence in these kids!

The whole trip was a great experience for Ben, and he met a bunch of like-minded kids who were able to talk intelligently about all the technical, science-y things he loves! 

Ben with youth forum mod Carole Perry(back row, right), and his fellow presenters.

 Ben and Steve pose for a picture just after Ben's satellite presentation at the Radio Club of America's youth forum. Ben received the personalized Icom knapsack he's holding and other gifts, including a new handheld radio for his contribution to the forum. 

Radio Road Trip

If you happen to be in the neighborhood of Dayton, Ohio this weekend, Ben will be speaking in the Youth Forum at the Amateur Radio Convention on Saturday!  His topic is Getting Started With Amateur Radio Satellites. He'll  be talking about his experiences  facilitating contact between The International Space Station and Farnsworth Aerospace Magnet last spring, 

Crew N9XH operating at Farnsworth. photo credit Rick W9WS

 as well as how to send and receive messages and images from various amateur radio satellites.

Image of Earth received  by Ben from ARISSat-1

Ben is one of  6 young speakers invited to Dayton this year by Carole Perry, moderator of the forum, and he is so excited for this honor!  I am, of course, petrified for him.  I hope all goes off without a hitch despite my unending anxiety, and that he has a great time sharing his interest with others!  I can't wait to see the photos!

You Will Snow-bey!!!

 

WINTER WILL BE EX-TERRRRR-MINATED!!!!!!

How Excited Am I ??

Out of ten?  

Eleven.

Ground Control to Astronaut Don

What an exciting time we had at Farnsworth Aerospace Magnet School today!  I'll post some pictures and write a bit more about the experience in an upcoming post, but in the mean time, here's a quick vid featuring some of the great kids at Farnsworth, and an action shot of Ben at work...

Acquisition of Signal in 5...4...3...

Ben and Steve are both part of the radio ground crew for an upcoming ARISS contact between the International Space Station and Farnsworth Aerospace Magnet School this week.  The ARISS program is a cooperative venture of NASA, the ARRL and AMSAT, and other international space agencies that organizes scheduled contacts via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS, and classrooms and communities. 

The radio club has been training for this for a few months now. The photo below is from the practice/training session back in April. Ben will be the computer guy providing Doppler shift numbers to other members of the crew.
(Radio Club photo credits- PCARA member Rick W9WS)

Ben and Steve, center

This high angle view shows Ben (at far left) working hard running cables and setting up the ham radio equipment at Farnsworth Aerospace Magnet School in St. Paul . 

After setup at the school, the guys had a chance to practice their operations for the contact. They rehearsed switching from the primary radio to the back-up, as well as changing frequencies based on doppler.

Steve, Ben and Mark do a test run

Ben and Steve are really excited for the actual contact, and Will, Charlie and I are invited to participate as guests, so we can enjoy hearing Astronaut Don Pettit answer questions posed by the Farnsworth kids, too. 

Astronaut Don

I'm psyched!! Field trip!!

Pictures From Outer Space... space space space...

It is so difficult to get back to school after such a long, exciting holiday break.  I had the best of intentions to jump back in with lessons today, but I lingered a little too long over coffee, spent a little too much time checking Facebook, and well, I'm reading this really good book...


Thankfully the kids were spending their time in more fulfilling pursuits while I lingered over my latte.  Ben has been tracking the ARISSat-1 satellite over the past few days, receiving pictures and messages as it makes a pass over our region.  He is using a handheld amateur radio, his laptop computer and a home-made directional antenna.  This antenna is made from an old tape measure, PVC pipe and wires.  Will is caught up in the super-coolness of the project, too, and they have been going outside at regular intervals to catch each pass.  The ARISSat-1 is at the end of its journey, though, and re-entry to Earth's atmosphere is imminent.  It is predicted that the satellite will fall and burn up upon re-entry between today and January 16th.  So.....with such a limited time to enjoy this "Pure Fun" as Ben so succinctly put it, it just wouldn't make sense to enforce the grammar and spelling schedule that will most certainly keep for another day.


Here are a couple of pics of the boys at work this morning and a few of the cooler pics they received from ARISSat-1 as it passed overhead.

 

The Sun-How Cool is that? This is my favorite pic so far.

That's Us!  Hello Earth!

Earth, cloud cover.  The object at the right is ARISSat's antenna.

Amazing Earth!  

You Must Obey!

I left the house for a short time on some errands and came home to find a Dalek in my kitchen.

"Daleks do not take orders..."

 And yes, he does speak.  My kids are so strange.  I think they must get that from me.

Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey-stuff.

It's bigger on the inside.