Students' Space Questions via Ham Radio Show Strong Science Slant

A Rains High School student asks her question of Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, while a TV cameraman records the moment.

NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 15, 2005--A group of Texas high school students emphasized science in posing their questions via ham radio to International Space Station Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW. The March 8 contact between Rains High School in Emory and NA1SS was arranged by the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. One student quizzed Chiao on how he adjusted to Newton's Third Law of Motion aboard the space station.

"Well, yes, Newton's Third Law definitely comes into play in space, and it becomes very obvious that if you push on something, you're going to react in the opposite direction," Chiao observed. "That's something you get used to very quickly, and you quickly learn that all you need is a fingertip to push yourself to the other side of the module."

Students also raised the subject of exposure to radiation in space. Chiao noted that the crew has both active and passive devices available to determine their radiation exposure.

Students participating in the Rains High School ARISS QSO March 8 queue up while classmates look on.

"Radiation is very important to monitor in space, because we're getting exposed to it obviously," Chiao explained. "We have instruments on board that record the radiation history that we're receiving on the station. We also wear personal dosimeters that are analyzed after we get back down to the ground--they also measure the exposure we've received." The crew also relies on satellite data, he added.

Responding to another question about the possibility of spending one's life in space, Chiao conceded that radiation exposure could be a limiting factor for long-duration human space ventures.

"Well, I certainly think it's possible for someone to live longer-term than we do on the space station--many years, even," Chiao told the students. "We are able to keep ourselves healthy with doing a lot of exercise, but the limiting thing that we would worry about would be the radiation, so it would be a matter of how long you want to stay up here and how much extra radiation do you want to absorb."

Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, on the air from the ARISS Phase 2 NA1SS ham station in the ISS crew quarters. [NASA Photo]

CLICK HERE to listen to the ARISS school group contact between NA1SS and students at Rains High School in Emory, Texas: [9:06]. ARRL and ARISS thank MCI for making this audio clip available.

In reply to another physics-related query, Chiao told one student that a Hot Wheels car could run indefinitely on a track aboard the space station were it not for friction, which eventually would slow it down and stop it. Lubricants used in space, Chiao said, are "typical aerospace lubricants" that perform much the same as they do on Earth.

A fish could not swim for long in a blob of water floating in microgravity, Chiao explained fielding another question, because its motion likely would soon break up the globule, leaving the fish literally high and dry.

Handling Earth-station duties for the contact was Nancy Rocheleau, WH6PN, at Sacred Hearts Academy in Honolulu. MCI donated a teleconference circuit to provide two-way audio between Texas and Hawaii. Mentoring the contact was Howard Ziserman, WA3GOV.

Marring portions of the Rains contact were deep signal fades and apparent Doppler shift. ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, at Johnson Space Center reports that subsequent discussions with an attitude control specialist revealed that the ISS was in a free-drift mode referred to as XPOP. This caused some signal blockage for the single ARISS Phase 2 station antenna.

"In that attitude, the orientation of the station will vary depending on where ISS is over the Earth," Ransom says. "As fate would have it, the Amateur Radio antenna was not in the optimum position as the ISS passed over Hawaii but instead was pointing spaceward. That resulted in some blockage from the ISS Service Module and the Progress vehicle docked at the aft portion of the Service Module during portions of the contact." Ransom explains that what's called an LVLH attitude mode maintains the ISS with its bottom side constantly facing Earth, and this mode keeps the Amateur Radio antenna facing earthward at all times.

Fifteen Rains High School students, under the direction of science teacher Deena Harper, participated in the ARISS event, which attracted some media coverage. ARISS is an international educational outreach program with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.

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