Iqaluit students get ready for outer space

SARA ARNATSIAQ

Students at Joamie School in Iqaluit will have an exciting opportunity next week to talk to astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Twelve lucky students will get the chance to communicate via radio with astronauts aboard the space station and ask them questions in front of a gym full of students, parents and invited guests.

The date of the space contact is still a closely guarded secret. For security reasons, the exact date won’t be known until a few days in advance.

In addition, the space station will have to be directly above the school in order for the contact to be successful.

Jane Tagak, an office administrator at Joamie School, is the coordinator for the radio contact. She said that the project has taken at least two years to set up.

The school applied a year ago, but lost to a school in Ontario.

If a school applies for the amateur radio space contact and does not get it, the application is re-considered the following year. NASA requires selections to be made months in advance.

Schools from across Canada submitted applications for the unique learning experience. The applications were considered by a selection committee. The final selection was made with input from space station crew members.

An Ottawa group called Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is arranging the radio contact to help students to learn about amateur radio by talking to astronauts in space.

The program is also geared toward getting students interested in technology, radio and science.

Joamie students have been drawing posters and taking part in literacy contests in anticipation of the event. Many classes have been learning about space-related themes in preparation for radio contact.

Joamie has set up a suggestion box for students to propose questions. Teachers will select the questions that will be asked and the students who will do the asking.

The parents of the students will be present, along with invited guests. Because of safety reasons the whole community will not be able to fit inside the gymnasium.

Tagak had hoped to involve elders so that they could see the ham radios, which seem old fashioned compared to the radios most people have in their houses today. These old-fashioned radios will be in contact with the most technologically advanced space equipment in the world.

But due to time constraints and safety reasons, elders might not get to be part of the big day.
The gymnasium of Joamie School is in the process of being decorated for the event.

Steve McFarlane, a ham radio operator in Ottawa, will travel to Iqaluit next Wednesday to help set up the equipment needed for the radio contact.

First Air will provide transportation for the radio equipment and operators.