Is it possible to give the space station artificial gravity? Students asked questions on the astronaut radio on the space station

Astronaut Mike Possum, who is also the commander of the shuttle commander: Israel is one of my favorite places when I'm in orbit, I have friends there and I'll come to visit after the landing * and more in the article: about Lovin's production and the next generation of engineers

to the previous event of student communication with the space station that took place in 2002 at the observatory in Givatayim

At the event that took place yesterday (Friday), 20 high school students gathered at the Science Center in Herzliya asked International Space Station Commander Mike Possum questions they had prepared.
The contact took place through a radio broadcast on the amateur frequency, from a broadcast station donated by the Radio Amateurs Union and the National Instruments Company, at the Science Center in Herzliya. As I recall, a similar event took place exactly nine years ago in September 2002 from the observatory in Givatayim. This time, too, the Mitzvah had a representative, with five of the students working under the guidance of Oded Avraham at the Mitzpe HaKohavim in Givatayim, and the rest of the students were from different schools in Herzliya.
At first, the director of the science center, Ariel Cohen, and Dr. Anna Heller, head of the center's space laboratory, presented the activity on the subject of space at the school and as an example they brought the Pico satellite that is being built and planned for launch in about a year (see below). He also thanked the Radio Amateurs Association for its contribution and for helping to train the students in the field of electronics. The ground station is also managed by a student named Nimrod who holds an amateur license
Cohen explained to the students that the station is at an altitude of 400 kilometers and its entire coffee takes 90 minutes. Because you can ask. Each student asks a short question, turns his place to the next student and in the meantime the answer of astronaut Mike Possum will be heard.

According to the NASA website Possum now stays at the station with a limited team of two others: the Russian Sergey Volkov and the Japanese Satoshi Furukawa. Three more are supposed to join them in November, because their flight was delayed due to the desire to study the discovery that caused the loss of the Progress model supply spacecraft en route to the space station several months ago.

The first question was what are the qualifications required to be an astronaut and Possum's answer was that you need a background in engineering or some kind of academic background - among the astronauts there are teachers, there are scientists. You need a college education and several years of experience.
How microgravity affects the movement of the internal organs. We couldn't hear Possum's answer due to background noise, and he asked to change the channel, and indeed the reception was better on the new channel.
The next question included the previous one, so the answer was shared: Which actions are the most difficult to perform? "Everything is done in a state of lack of gravity, you have to pay attention to what you are doing. If you work with more than one tool, you cannot leave it on the table. And also you can turn the bag over without the things falling out.
There was apparently no answer to the question of whether you watch TV shows. The next question was: "Are you ready for anything? Is there anything that surprised you on the first flight?" And Possum replies: "I was surprised by how much work we have from morning to night. And the view from the window. Now we are over the Mediterranean sea approaching Israel, one of my favorite places."
How does ice cream melt on the space station? "We don't currently have ice creams, in any case, even in zero gravity, ice cream melts here just like at home. "
What training did you go through to become an astronaut: "It changes, a lot of technical things, you start in the classrooms - you learn about the station and the Soyuz, and then you go to the simulators where you train in operating the systems, the electricity, the computers. Every day is a different training, and there are also trainings for space walking and operating the robotic arm"

What kind of experiments do you do in space?
Possum: "We ourselves test the bones and muscles in action without gravity, we do science of materials that behave differently, especially crystals, we also grow plants and examine how the roots grow without gravity."
How do you survive in an emergency?
"Posum, there are parts of the station that we can go to in an emergency in a part of the station. If there is a malfunction in the entire station, we have the option of going directly to Soyuz without opening any hatches."

Are you planning on artificial gravity?
"Artificial gravity comes from vertigo and we use it in plants - to see different degrees of gravity. It's not big enough for people so we need to learn how our bones and our bodies get along in microgravity."
Is there a difference between the effect of gravity on men and women?
Possum: "I don't think so, we're quite similar."
How does the long stay affect the relationship between the astronauts?
Good question. Besides the technical abilities, you also need to know how to get along well with people, we spend so many hours a day, day after day, month after month together.
Do you have a medical kit and what do you do in case of a medical emergency?
"I'm trained as a medic, and can treat minor problems, but right now the Japanese astronaut is a doctor so he can treat anything, even heart disease. And of course in such a case we will also use the ground team"
Is there a difference in seeing the stars during the day and at night?
"The night sky is black and the stars shine like diamonds and do not twinkle because there is no atmosphere. The sky is really beautiful."
When the noise started to get louder, the people of Herzliya ended the broadcast and thanked him. And he said in response: I hope to visit Israel one day, I have some friends there.

"Today's event is the product of two years of waiting for NASA approvals. We received the OK and a transmission window from our ground station. We received the exact time and the exact instructions, the transmission went through successfully. The success was the result of the many efforts we invested during the year and especially recently during the holidays. Most of our new equipment was donated by the Association of Radio Enthusiasts in Israel."
And Heller adds: "The satellite and space program is attended by 300 students who come once a week from all the schools in Herzliya. A smaller group of 30 students carry out projects. Students receive five units in their matriculation in engineering sciences. Among the projects we have the most important is to build and launch a tiny satellite by the students. With this method we manage to teach them the space technologies and implementation of what they have learned."
"Our main project is the launch of a pico satellite called Duchifat 1 (after Israel's national bird). The satellite measures 10 x 10 x 10 centimeters and weighs less than a kilo. The goal is a rescue satellite, such a satellite receives a distress signal on the frequencies of radio amateurs and transmits it along with the user's waypoint to the rescue forces."
According to Heller, the satellite is half ready and tests and assembly are needed. "We are in the middle of the campaign to launch the first satellite. The municipality of Herzliya issued a tender to the international companies in order to reach the launch. We will probably get a launch window at the end of 2012-beginning of 2013. Also, we are already starting to plan Dokifat 2 - we have submitted our candidacy for a program called QB50 - a project of 50 pico satellites of European academic institutions and the cooperation of European countries to be launched together. We are the only high school that should participate in the program. All control of our satellites is done at our satellite ground station which receives and transmits in RF, UHF and VHF. All of them are on amateur radio frequencies, in fact today we already receive satellites on these frequencies."

Dvir Par, a XNUMXth grade student at the School of Engineering is the integrator of the project "I make sure that the computerized model of the satellite is built, do physical calculations and be responsible for assembly" Daniel Raphael, an XNUMXth grade student is responsible for the thermal control of the satellite which is supposed to help people in need. "When a person is in distress in a place where there is no phone reception, he transmits a distress signal from his device. The device transmits to a satellite and the satellite transmits to Earth, a computer decodes the location and time and sends a rescue team there."

"I build the computerized model in the SOLID WORKS software, I was previously in the programming team. There are some things we get ready, but we start the programming from scratch. A teacher comes and teaches us, and we do the programming on a (Benard) card that simulates the satellite card. When I finish the role in building the computerized model, I will become an integration engineer or system engineer - responsible for ensuring that the construction of the satellite is carried out in the best way while providing help to other programming teams and more. And of course the role of construction - connecting the wires.

And Daniel Raphael explains: "My project started when we were three students, I was left alone to work on the project, I connected with him, I learned how to do thermals almost from scratch, there was a student who finished and helped me understand formulas in physics based on other books and satellites I read about, and that's how I learned the physics of thermals or thermodynamics. I use a thermal camera to get the heat emission data of the cards and with the help of the formulas I build the cards in the best way inside the pico satellite that will allow work in space conditions. I have to make sure that the satellite will be able to operate at the temperature of seriousness for space and that all the cards will be within the allowed temperature range so that they don't burn or freeze. "

Moshe Inger, Chairman of the Association of Radio Enthusiasts. 3 years ago I got to know that there is such a place. I met with Ariel and Anna, I showed them a film of a communication event with the International Space Station nine years ago. It took some time but it was successful thanks to the municipality of Herzliya, which helped with the establishment of the station and the licenses for the establishment of the antennas, and it started about a year and a half ago. Since then we conducted two courses in which we trained for issuing a license to maintain a broadcasting station, and in the second course we trained veteran radio amateurs and promoted them."

Without Anna and without Ariel this would not have come to fruition. Radio amateurs are not a common hobby, about 300 amateurs are registered in the Ministry of Communications, I don't know there are several million. This operation and the previous operation we did, I see it as a cornerstone for the youth to become interested in the scientific subject and continue in the future to study exact sciences."

"As radio enthusiasts, we have a constant and constant connection with the astronauts and cosmonauts. Almost all of them are radio enthusiasts and allow them in their free time to communicate with the radio enthusiasts on the ground, but getting permission to take a youth who is not a radio enthusiast takes time, and requires coordination that lasted over a year."