While at Camp William B. Snyder on Friday, July 21, 2023 for its Merit Badge Specialty Week, Scouts in the National Capital Area Council talked with astronauts on the International Space Station via Amateur Radio. This activity complements the BSA’s STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program and is part of the ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) Program which promotes learning opportunities as part of its STEM initiative.

In the days leading up to the ISS interaction, nearly 200 Scouts attended the Specialty Week at Camp William B. Snyder.

During this week, Scouts:
• Practiced proper call signs and Morse code, drew charts of the electromagnetic spectrum and assembled dipole antennas as part of earning their Radio Badge
• Built, launched, and recovered model rockets as part of earning the Space Exploration Badge
• Read aeronautical charts, experimented with ailerons and propellers, and flew model airplanes as part of earning the Aviation Badge
• Made electromagnets to show magnetic attraction and repulsion as part of earning the Electricity Badge
• Programmed robots for autonomous tasks akin to Mars Rovers as part of earning the Robotics Badge

These are just a few of the many activities that the Scouts participated in during this fun week of learning. Of the 138 merit badges that Scouts are eligible to earn, over 50 are considered STEM merit badges. Nearly 35 subject matter experts volunteered to counsel the Scouts during this week, making this event possible.

The ARISS contact was performed using the Amateur Radio telebridge network, a world-wide network of amateur radio ground stations that enable students to contact the ISS. The amateur radio ground station operated by Claudio Ariotti established contact with the ISS is IK1SLD in, Casale Monferrato, Italy,  The ARISS mentor, Charlie Sufana AJ9N, was based in Florida and served as the ARISS Radio moderator for the event.

Scouts interviewed astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi and had time to ask 13 questions. Astronaut Al Neyadi is an Emirati Astronaut who traveled to the ISS with NASA’s crew rotation flight, SpaceX Crew-6. Astronaut Al Neyadi is the first Arab astronaut to perform a spacewalk.

The “ground” radio experts at Camp William B. Snyder were Pete Collat KI4YBH (Radio Merit Badge Counselor), Mike Aimone WA8AHZ (Virginia Radio Club coordinator) and Joe Porcelli KT3I (Virginia Wireless Club HAM). Porcelli set up a SATCOMM for Scouts to experience satellite chasing before and after the ISS contact.

A dozen STEM Scouts had a first look and experience with the SATCOMM in May, as the Virginia Wireless Club welcomed our Scouts to their radio field day. These STEM Scouts had completed a module on software-defined radio in which they listened to FM broadcasts, tracked airplanes, built a HAM radio, and captured GPS data. STEM Scouts is a National Capital Area Council program for girls and boys in grades 3-8 that incorporates hands-on activities to inspire youth in STEM. The SDR module encouraged hands-on experimentation as a basis for understanding technical subjects, and exposes Scouts to potential careers in broadcast engineering, telecommunications, computer science, consumer electronics, and more. Three of these STEM Scouts will take part in asking Astronaut Al Neyadi questions during the International Space Station contact on Friday.

The event was livestreamed at www.facebook.com/NCACSTEM and a complete recording can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/NCACSTEM/videos/796657518531573