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February 2016
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G
B1SS this is GB1SAN.”
That was the call made by
Jessica, M6LPJ on behalf of
Sandringham School on 8 January
2016. But the story started much
earlier than that.
Tim Peake was selected for training in
2009 and chosen for his mission in
May 2013, following the government’s
increased investment in the European Space
Agency and first time investment in the ISS
programme. Whilst on-board the ISS he will
be using the unique environment of space to
run experiments, some of which have been
designed by UK students.
The plans
Working with the UK Space Agency, ARISS
(Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station) is giving a number of prearranged
UK schools the opportunity to speak directly
to Tim Peake, the first British ESA astronaut,
during his mission on board the International
Space Station (ISS). During his 6 month
mission to the ISS. Students will be able to
put a number of questions directly to Tim
using amateur radio VHF and UHF radio
equipment specially installed at the school
for the occasion.
The 3.8m dish owned by Satellite
Applications Catapult at Goonhilly Earth
Station in Cornwall is being loaned to the
project to track the ISS and real time video
will be available during some of the contacts.
During the contact at the schools, theARISS
team will be providing information displays
on the ISS position and have webcams
showing both the local and Goonhilly dishes
as they track the ISS. The hosting schools
will be organising presentations and displays
before and after the contact and the ARISS
team will be providing a live web cast of all
the day’s events including the actual contact
with Tim Peake. The live event webcast will
be hosted by the British Amateur Television
Club (BATC) on their web streaming service
at
https://principia.ariss.org/live/Each school
has been supported by a local radio club
whether that was during the bidding process
right or activites around the ISS contact –and
beyond. The RSGB is supporting those local
clubs with the offer of equipment and kits
for a buildathon, promotional material for the
schools and news coverage leading up to the
actual contacts. Sandringham school was
the first to make contact on 8 January 2016.
Sandringham school
Sandringham school is a specialist science
and arts college with around 1300 students
aged between 11 and 19. Head teacher Alan
Gray holds a Full amateur licence – G4DJX
– and had a vision for what the school could
achieve by being part of the ISS contacts. He
wrote the bids to be granted the opportunity
to host the contact and helped Verulam ARC
train three students through their Foundation
licence examination. With the help of other
teachers at the school they planned activities
to make the most of the opportunity to speak
with Tim Peake.
This contact with the ISS was the high
point of the school’s 4 day Festival of Space.
As part of the festival, members of Verulam
ARC ran a station from the school using the
club’s callsign GX3VER allowing students to
try their hand at sending greetings messages.
Feature
Talking with
on the ISS
Tim Peake
Jessica, M6LPJ, Polly, M6POG and Emma, M6GJQ who all obtained their Foundation licences to take
part in the ISS contact.
Asking a question. One of the students puts his
question to Tim Peake.
“