ARISS: radio signals from the classroom into space
horizons
ARISS: radio signals from the classroom into space
Students making radio contact with Alexander Gerst
School classes had the opportunity to make radio contact with Alexander Gerst during the Blue Dot mission to the ISS in 2014. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) – in cooperation with the German Amateur Radio Club (DARC) – will bring space into the classroom as part of the horizons mission as well.
A loud noise echoes through the air, permeating the entire school building. The first radio waves from the International Space Station ISS arrive on the antenna on the roof of the school. Otherwise, there is absolute silence. Despite the several hundred students packed closely together, you could hear a pin drop. Then the radio call from German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst becomes audible and the audience breathes a collective sigh of relief. These or similar scenes will be repeated at German schools in summer 2018, when the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Space Administration – in cooperation with the German Amateur Radio Club (DARC) – brings spaceflight into the classroom as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) project. Fourteen schools and three DLR_School_Labs will again make radio contact with the astronaut.
Once contact has been established and the voice of Alexander Gerst – a little distorted, but clearly audible – comes over the airwaves, the clock is ticking. The ISS is only visible to the antennas on the school roof for around 11 minutes. Valuable moments in which 20 students, thirsty for knowledge, can fire questions at the German astronaut flying 400 kilometres above Earth: "What do you miss most about home? OVER"; "How did you manage to get picked as an astronaut and then even commander? OVER"; "Which mission was/is more dangerous or exciting? The first or the second one? OVER"; "What is it like living so close together, and do you sometimes argue? OVER"; "Do you believe there is life in space? OVER". Students will send their endless stream of questions out into near-Earth orbit during the horizons mission – and Alexander Gerst will find answers with a healthy mix of enthusiasm and routine. This is hardly surprising, as his grandfather was an amateur radio enthusiast. Even as a child, young Alexander joined his grandfather to dispatch radio messages around the world – and sometimes even to the Moon. Those signals come back two to three seconds later, with the Moon acting as a reflector. Things like that are exciting and probably implanted the first seeds of passion for spaceflight in young Alexander’s heart.
The ISS is perhaps not quite so far away, but it still circles Earth at the very high speed of 28,000 kilometres per hour, and time races past quickly as well. The ISS arrives at the edge of the reception area after just under 11 minutes. Contact gradually weakens as Alexander Gerst draws further away, too far for the signals to reach the antennas. The radio falls silent, but the space activities in the school are far from over. Spaceflight has been part of the teaching in preparation for ARISS, and that will remain the case. Enthusiasm for spaceflight, science and technology was imparted to tomorrow’s researchers even before the first radio contact.
