Webcasting from the International Space Station
28 January 2004, 17:42 GMT 2004
In association with ARISS (Amateur Radio on International Space Station)
we relayed a live webcast interview between pupils of The King's School
Cantebury and Micahel Foale, the British astronaut whilst he was orbiting
aboard the International Space Station 250km above the earth. ARISS
provided all of the technology including antennas, masts and radio
equipment to set up the ground comms link to NASA, which in turn was
relayed via our servers to listeners around the UK. The press release
follows.
Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri and Commander Michael Foale
(picture courtesy NASA)
In October 2003, Michael Foale embarked on his fifth space mission,
this
time to the International Space Station. At the same time, Michael's
school, The King's School, Canterbury, began preparations an historic
highlight in the life of the community that traces its roots back
1400 years, as its former pupil turns teacher. In this exciting event,
Michael Foale, resident onboard the International Space station, will
have a live radio link up with the school and will be answering questions
as he passes nearly 250km overhead in the ISS.
The contact will be unique. Michael recently spent two days talking
to pupils at The King's School and has a prestigious school award
named after him. The award is for outstanding achievement and enthusiasm
for science. The current award holder will be speaking with Michael
during the contact.
The Space station contact is scheduled will take place on Wednesday,
28 January 2004 at 17:42 local time.
The event will involve boys and girls from the school using an amateur
radio station with antennas that will track the International Space
Station as it passes overhead. As the Space Station appears over the
horizon in the West, the pupils will ask Michael a series of questions.
The Space Station will be tracked and the contact continued until
it disappears over the horizon in the East. The estimated contact
time will be about ten minutes.
Space Station contacts with the ISS are arranged under an agreement
between NASA and an organisation known as ARISS (Amateur Radio on
the International Space Station), with European representation by
a sub group of ARISS-EU. Using Amateur Radio equipment on board the
space station and on the ground, Amateur Radio operators facilitate
the communication link necessary for the school to communicate with
the astronauts on board.
See also ARISS-EU http://www.ariss-eu.org for further details on
the ARISS organisation.
The school has a website, see http www.kings-school.co.uk for the
latest
information, a copy of this press release and some digital photos
for press use.
Media contacts can be facilitated by calling the head of science,
Dr Jonathan Allday, or the ARISS representatives Charles Riley and
Howard Long.
Dr Jonathan Allday
ja@kings-school.co.uk
01227 595653
Howard Long
ARISS-EU UK Co-ordinator
http://www.uk.amsat.org/ariss/Future_QSOs
http://www.uk.amsat.org/ariss/Information_for_Schools
http://www.ariss-eu.org
0207 964 5547
Charles Riley
Charles.Riley@invensys.com
|