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PEORIA HEIGHTS – This was not the intended lesson, but it may have been just as valuable for college kids meeting in a torrid gym Monday because of their common interest in STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 19659002] The coordinators had been preparing for the event for over a year and were making arrangements with NASA to make radio contact with the astronauts aboard the International Space Station
"They learned amateur radio and launched a high altitude balloon. said Judy Schmidt with the University of Illinois Extension. "It's really a great opportunity for kids to have a spark about STEM."
They also learned in real time Monday about the importance of redundant systems.
Dave Johnson, president of Pearl Technology – who sponsors both … Each summer, the Richwoods Township STEM Academy installs amateur radio equipment for college students who ask questions and get live answers during the nine-day window. minutes as the space station's orbit moves from horizon to horizon at Peoria Heights High School
. As a custom computer during the academy earlier this summer posted the position of the space station in real time on a large projection screen in the middle of the gym, students lined up behind a microphone, the questions in hand, hoping to do a dozen investigations the space station turned into orbit out of radio range
Static crackling through the speakers suddenly gave way to a voice around 10:30. A contact had been established.
Marg, thirteen-year-old aret Conahan, who will enter eighth grade at St. Philomena's in the fall, was the first to line up, ready to ask questions about astronaut relationships within the narrow confines of the space station.
But the connection is gone. the students' microphone – a fuse blown, as he will explain later, has probably disabled the entire system.
Fortunately – and as required by NASA – Johnson had a backup radio installed and ready to go. In a few minutes, Conahan and a few others had the chance to converse with astronauts in space.
"I have always been interested in STEM because it's a career I want to go down," Conahan said after the event. "I really like science, I've always had a connection with it."
This connection came Monday via a backup radio less powerful but no less vital.
"We were expecting about eight or nine minutes of conversation, but we only have five – it just shows some of the things that NASA is dealing with all the time," Johnson said. "That's why we have the backup system."
Matt Buedel can be contacted at 686-3154 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JournoBuedel.
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