ESA astronaut Frank De Winne, ON1DWN

ARISS contact planned with IKANDA Congress

An Expedition 20 ARISS school contact is planned for ISS Commander Frank De Winne, ON1DWN, with participants at Flanders District of Creativity IKANDA Congress.

IKANDA is the very first congress for children in Flanders.
It is convened November 17th in the Brabanthal, Leuven, Belgium.

In Flemish IKANDA means: "I can do that!"

The message behind IKANDA is: where passion and talent come together. What you like doing, you mostly do better and the other way around. IKANDA's goal is a cross fertilization between science/culture/sports and entrepreneurship.

1400 twelve years old will participate to the congress. They will all be wearing their Talent T-shirt where they will show what their talent and passion is.

For the plenary session, prominent speakers will tell the children about their talent and passion: e.g. Stijn Meuris will talk about stars and astronomy, astronaut Dirk Frimout has an interesting story about his mission in space, Elodie Ouedraogo will tell how difficult it is to win a gold medal at the Olympics, Dixie Dansercoer has a passionate story about his expeditions to the North Pole, etc.

Participants have prepared questions they will ask ISS Commander Frank De Winne during the ARISS experiment.

This ARISS telebridge contact is scheduled on Tuesday 17 November at 13:44 UTC, which is 14:44 CEWT. ARISS ground station LU8YY, located in Argentina, will provide the radio link with the ISS.

The audio will expectedly be distributed on *AMSAT* and *JK1ZRW* EchoLink servers, as well as on IRLP Discovery Reflector 9010.

The space talk will be conducted in Dutch language.

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

1. Romi: Hoe kom je aan zuurstof in de ruimte?
How do you get oxygen in space?

2. Alan: Wat betekent eigenlijk ISS?
What does ISS exactly mean?

3. Jolien: Wat zijn je nieuwe verantwoordelijkheden en taken als Commander?
How did your responsibilities and tasks changed when you became Commander?

This image of the International Space Station in orbit was taken from the Space Shuttle Endeavour prior to docking. Credit: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

4. Julius: Wilde je al astronaut worden als je nog maar 11 jaar was?
Did you already want to become an astronaut when you were 11 year old?

5. Arne: Hoeveel kandidaten waren er om aan boord te gaan?
How many candidates took the tests to be elected to go on board?

6. Engelart: Hoe lang ben je reeds in de ruimte, in "ruimtetijd"? Tijd gaat toch sneller in de ruimte, niet?
For how long have you been in space in “space time”? Time goes faster in space, isn’t it?

7. Lorenzo: Wat eet je in de ruimte?
What do you eat in space?

8. Justine: Is de aarde mooie vanuit de ruimte?
Does the earth look nice from out of space?

9. Zahra: Welke experimenten heb je reeds gedaan?
Which kind of experiments did you do?

10. Liese: Kan je andere planeten zien? Zo ja, welke?
Can you see other planets? If so, which ones?

11. Jens: Is de lancering werkelijk schrikwekkend?
Is the launch of the rocket really that scary?

12. Hanna: Wat mis je het meest?
What do you miss most?

13. Lana: Is het verschil tussen gewichteloosheid in de ruimte en zwaartekracht op aarde moeilijk te verwerken?
Is the transition between being weightless in space and walking on earth hard?

14. Amber: Wanneer is het nacht in de ruimte? Ik bedoel, in de ruimte is het altijd donker, maar wanneer ga je naar bed en welke tijdzone gebruik je?
When is it night in space? I mean, in space it is always dark but when do you sleep and which timezone do you follow?

15. Alex: Is het niet heet als de zon door het ISS schijnt? Of heb je speciale gordijnen?
Isn’t it hot when the sun shines through the ISS? Or do you have special curtains?

16. Ben: Wat moet men studeren om astronaut te worden? Is het heel moeilijk?
Which studies do you have to do to become an astronaut? Isn’t it very hard to do?

17. Brecht: Denk je dat er leven bestaat, elders in het heelal?
Do you believe in extraterrestrial life?

18. Romée: Hoe blijf je fit? In de ruimte moet men zijn spieren oefenen omwille van de gewichteloosheid, niet waar?
How do you stay in shape? Because in space you do not need to use your muscles if you are weightless, do you?

19. Dylan: Wat doe je in je vrije tijd?
What do you do when you’re not working?

20. Ayko: Uit welke materie is een ruimtepak gemaakt?
What is the material used to make your space suit?

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