January 04, 2010

ARISS CONTACT PLANNED WITH UNIVERSITY OF ROME

An ARISS school contact is planned with participants at "Tor Vergata" University in Rome.

"Tor Vergata" is one of the largest research-based institutions in Italy. The University is an international center for research and education and it is well known for scientific studies. In recent years the activity of technology transfer and cooperation with other public and private organizations in different fields has obtained an increasingly important role. The University Hospital is located in a 600-hectares-campus, and it is considered the flagship of the University. It is well equipped with diagnostic and therapeutic vanguard structures and it has become a reference model at national and international levels.

The University of Rome "Tor Vergata" was established in 1981 with the goal of providing high quality education for students preparing to meet the ever-evolving needs and opportunities of the 21st century workforce. The University is an academic establishment which combines a liberal arts tradition with emphasis on career orientation in the field of Economics, Engineering, Sciences and Medicine.

This ARISS event is dedicated to the commemoration of Guglielmo Marconi's Nobel Prize in Physics 1909, for "contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy".

The telebridge ARISS contact is scheduled Thursday 07 January 2010 at 09:00 UTC, which is 10:00 CEWT. ARISS ground station W6SRJ, located in Santa Rosa, California, will provide the radio link with the International Space Station.

The event will be distributed on EchoLink *AMSAT* and *JK1ZRW* Conference servers as well as on IRLP Discovery Reflector 9010.

Participants will ask as many of following questions as time allows:

1. Today we celebrate the centenary of the Nobel Prize to the father of radio, Guglielmo Marconi. Which benefit do we have from his invention?

2. What can the new generation learn by experiencing an ARISS school contact?

3. How can we improve ARISS school contacts?

4. Do you think that ham radio could be integrated in other experiments on the ISS?

5. Can you imagine the ISS as relay for the interplanetary telecommunications network in the future?

6. Do you like using the amateur radio station on board the ISS?

7. Do you recommend the participation in the ARISS programme to all the astronauts?

8. Can the ISS be considered as our outpost in Space?

9. Does the spatio-temporal cognition change on board the ISS?

10. What impact does the zero-gravity feeling have on your body?

11. Is the astronaut's psychological adaptation a major issue on long term missions?

After the sequence of questions, Princess Elettra Marconi, Guglielmo Marconi's daughter, as well as high representatives of the European Space Agency ESA and the Italian Space Agency ASI will send greetings to the ISS crew.

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