September 8, 2010

ARISS CONTACT PLANNED WITH NORWEGIAN MUSEUM OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE, OSLO

An ARISS educative radio contact is planned with the Norwegian Museum of Science, Technology and Medicine, Oslo.

The Norwegian Museum of Science, Technology, Industry and Medicine was founded in 1914 in order to help commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Norwegian Constitution. The museum is covering an area of around 25 000 square meters. The visit number is 250 000 per year, 63 000 of them being students in different school programs. The Museum is the biggest children museum in the country.

The museum’s objective is to demonstrate the implications of progress in Science, Technology, Industry and Medicine, socially and culturally, through the ages. The museum contains permanent exhibitions on transport and aviation, Norwegian industrial history, energy and electricity, music machines, the wood and metal industries, oil, gas and plastics, clocks and watches, calculating machines and computers, as well as a science centre. The most recent addition to the museum is the National Museum of Medicine, opened to the public in 2003.

The Science Centre started in 1986 as the first SC in Norway. In addition to interactive exhibitions on reusable energy, the body, mathematics, physical phenomena and astronomy, the centre is involved in exhibition projects around the house. The biggest exhibition success is the award winning exhibition “Climate X” on climate change. The „Climate X” exhibition was awarded “best visitor experience of the year” in 2009 by the Association of Science and Technology centres. In addition to the exhibits the museum is host to big festivals like the ”soap bubbles festival” and the ”LEGO festival”, attracting big crowds every year.

The contact is scheduled for Saturday September 11, 2010 at 12:16 UTC, which is 14:16 CEST.

The telebridge radio contact will be operated by ARISS ground station LU8YY, Neuquen, Argentina.

Audio will be available on EchoLink, AMSAT Conference node.

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

1. Alexander: Is it difficult to stay friends living in such a confined space?

2. Inga: Do you have a radar to detect small particles that could collide with ISS and what kind of impact can the hull of ISS withstand?

3. Karoline: What do you eat? You haven't got much fresh food with you?

4. Patrick: What scientific experiments are being conducted at the Space Station as of today, and has the experiments been giving you any useful information?

5. Martha: In what way do you feel difference between “night and day”?

6. Oscar: This summer it was in the news that you had trouble with the cooling system. We are glad to hear that everything is back to normal. How did you know that the cooling system was down, was it scary and did you ever believe that you had to evacuate the Station?

7. Monica: Due to gravity, you constantly need to use energy even though you are not doing any activities here on Earth. Does your metabolism go down due to zero gravity or do you need as much food on board as you do on Earth?

8. Michel Alexander: Water is lost in many ways; through sweat, bodily waste etc. How much of the water used is being recycled, and what happens to the water you can’t recycle?

9. Bastian: How do you wash yourselves and your clothes?

10. Oda: How does it feel when you return to Earth after being in Space?

11. Inga: Here on Earth, directions are given due to the gravitation pull, such as what is up and what is down. In zero gravity this might not be the case. How do you give directions inside the Station and do you have a defined floor and ceiling?

12. Patrick: Is the greatest challenge living on ISS physical or mental?

13. Alexander: What is the most interesting experience you have had?

14. Oscar: What do you miss the most from Earth living on ISS and what do you miss the most from ISS on return to the Earth?

15. Karoline: Do you miss your families and have you any contact with them while you are in Space?

16. Martha: How do you pass the time?

17. Monica: Are you ever scared as the rocket takes off from the ground or in any other stage of the space flight?

18. Bastian: How do you sleep?

19. Oda: Did you ever dream of becoming an astronaut when you were a child?

20. Michel Alexander: Do you ever regret becoming an astronaut?

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