The Central Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association (CMARA) is partnering with the EcoTarium (the former Worcester Science Center) on their upcoming October ARISS contact. As part of the EcoTarium’s STEM education efforts CMARA is running a special event station at the science center where we are demonstrating Amateur Radio in action and educating visitors about “The Science of Radio.”
Our pilot event was put on in June and based on the success of that we planned three additional dates over the summer: Saturday July 25th, Saturday August 22nd, and Saturday September 26th. At each event we will be operating under the N1E call sign and running a variety of exhibits on different aspects of Amateur Radio and the science behind it. Our July event coincided with the EcoTarium’s Robert Goddard Rocket Day, and we pulled all the estops out with seven different exhibit tables staffed and educating museum guests about propagation, modulation, modes of operation, kit building, and of course the ARISS program. Along with the special event station we will be doing new and different things with each of the remaining two events in order to expose the museum guests to as much of the science behind radio as we can.
The EcoTarium originally applied for an ARISS contact in the Summer of 2025. One of the requirements of the application process is that they partner with a local Amateur Radio club. That’s where CMARA comes in. They reached out to us and the club agreed to partner with them. Three club members were chosen to represent the club: George Gumbrell, K3RLZ, Connor Gumbrell, KC1MMT, and Tom Gauvin, NE1NH. George, Connor, and Tom have been meeting with the Ecotarium and the ARISS team regularly since then working on all the planning and preparation that goes into an ARISS contact. NASA originally slotted the EcoTarium for a March 2026 contact. Unfortunately, due to the illness of one of the ISS crew members several ARISS contacts had to be postponed and rescheduled to later dates. The museum’s ARISS contact is now slated for the second week of October. Because the stations orbit is frequently adjusted and due to the complexities of research scheduling the exact day and hour of the contact will not be finalized until the week before. In the interim CMARA is assisting the museum with STEM education and the museum is partnering with a local Worcester school to select a group of school kids who will have the opportunity to ask one of the ISS crew members questions during one of the stations 8-minute passes over one of several Amateur Radio Ground Stations located in various places around the globe.
For more information about the Ecotarium or ARISS you can visit their websites at:
· EcoTarium: www.ecotarium.org
· ARISS: https://www.ariss.org/
To find out more about The Central Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association you can go to their website: https://cmara.org/
In the background, CMARA members Preston Sturdevant, KC1WJL, and Joel Desrochers, N1KRL, at our 2M operating position and Corwyn Miyagishima, KN1OBI, and Will Lentlie, N1FTL, at our HF Digital operating position.
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