SUCCESSFUL ARISS CONTACT FOR ELENA
DI SAVOIA, BARI AND ALESSANDRO VOLTA, BITONTO, ITALY
Monday 15 December 2014 at 15:18
UTC, which is 16.18 CEWT, students from Istituto Tecnico Statale Economico e Tecnologico Elena di Savoia Piero Calamandrei, Bari, Italy AND State Technical Institute of
Technology Alessandro Volta, Bitonto (BARI)
established ARISS contact with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti
IZ0UDF onboard the International Space Station. The astronaut operated with the
ISS callsign IR0ISS. This was a direct contact
performed by Amateur radio ground station IZ7EVR, located at Elena di Savoia school in Bari, Italy.
Presentation Istituto
Tecnico Statale Economico e Tecnologico Elena di Savoia Piero Calamandrei:
The School I.I.S.S. Elena di Savoia Piero Calamandrei is a
technological (chemistry and environmental biotechnology, chemical and
healthcare biotechnology) and economic (financial administration and marketing)
school. It serves the educational needs of the town and the metropolitan area
of Bari in southern Italy. It caters for boys and girls, aged
fourteen-eighteen. Located in one of the regional tourist areas, it is in the
suburbs of the pleasant town of Bari, in the south-east of the APULIA region,
south-east of Italy. The curriculum focuses on health, environment, science
activities in lab., chemistry and biochemistry,
microbiology. The sanitary and environmental section of the school has an
auditorium, three computer rooms, two chemical
laboratories, two biological laboratories, a physics laboratory, a new biology
laboratory, five multimedia boards, twenty five classrooms. At present there
are five hundred students on roll and they attend classes daily, from 8.15 am
to 1.00 pm.
The school, located in
multi-district Japigia south of the city of Bari,
covers several three floor buildings. One of these structures comprises an
auditorium, a gym, 25 classrooms and 8
laboratories. The technology sector includes the study of chemistry and
environmental biotechnology, chemical and healthcare biotechnology. The
economics division covers international relations and marketing. The school has a total of 800 students.
Presentation State Technical Institute
of Technology Alessandro Volta:
The
Alessandro Volta school teaches communications, social-history,
mathematics, science and technology in different contexts: life, study, job. In
addition it fosters useful competence, allowing students to access continuous innovations through 3 specializations:
Mechanics and Mechatronics, IT and Telecommunications, Electronics and
Electro-technics.
ARISS mentor Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF proposed to Radio Contact Coordinator Mr.
Michele Mallardi IZ7EVR to set up a direct contact,
with the support by IK1SLD back-up ground station, and this was accepted. The
event took place in Elena di Savoia school, where an audience of more than 200 students,
visitors (including some Italian Air Force officers) and Media (2 TV, 2
newspapers) participated at contact site, and about 200 at both schools. Total
of more than 400 people.
Before the contact, Mrs. Rosa Tagliamonte by ASI (Italian Space Agency) presented Cristoforetti mission and Italian contribution to
International Space Station. Mr. Michele Mallardi
IZ7EVR presented ARISS and explained how a contact with the ISS is performed
via Ham Radio.
At 15:18 UTC contact with IR0ISS was
established by IZ7EVR ground station. Radio operator Michele Mallardi exchanged welcome greetings and presented the
schools to ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZ0UDF.
Using the Ericsson radio in the Columbus Module, the astronaut answered all 20
questions from the students, exchanged final greetings, wish for Christmas and
closed the contact. The space conversation was
conducted in Italian. During the whole pass (about 9’ 30”) the signal from the
ISS was loud and clear, as confirmed by many listeners in Europe.
Live Streaming video was available
on:
http://www.cittadellamediterraneascienza.it/webtv.php
ARISS contact was announced by web
story on ESA Portal - National News:
Congratulations to the schools,
ARISS Puglia Team and IK1SLD back-up station, operated by Claudio Ariotti, IK1SLD.
73
Francesco De Paolis,
IK0WGF
ARISS mentor