The average daily sunspot numbers this week were about the same as last week, while the average daily solar flux declined a little more than eight points to 128.9. Geomagnetic indicators were quiet. The average daily sunspot numbers of 95.3 for the week is considerably below the average for the previous 90 days, which was 120.8. Sunspot numbers for December 15-21 were 44, 60, 95, 103, 133, 139 and 93, with a mean of 95.3. The 10.7 cm flux was 124.2, 121, 119.6, 127.4, 128.2, 137.4 and 144.5, with a mean of 128.9. The estimated planetary A indices were 0, 0, 0, 1, 4, 3 and 3, with a mean of 1.6. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 5 and 5, with a mean of 3.6.
The solar flux has been climbing over the past week, after a low of 119.6 on December 17. The predicted flux values for the near term are 145 on December 23, 140 on December 24-27, 145 on December 28-30, then dropping suddenly to 120 on December 31-January 2, 125 on January 3-4, 128 on January 5-8, and then peaking at 130 on January 9-17. The predicted planetary A index is 5 on December 23 through January 4, 8 on January 5-6, and 5 on January 7-21. This is from NOAA and the U.S. Air Force Space Weather Operations. There is another opinion, of course: Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet conditions December 23, quiet to unsettled December 24, active conditions December 25, unsettled to active December 26, quiet to unsettled December 27 and quiet again on December 28-29.
Active conditions are quite different from an A index of 5, although the NOAA/USAF outlook is at least eight hours newer than the Prague prediction. But looking back 24 hours earlier to the December 21 prediction, USAF/NOAA has nothing different on December 25, although they do show an A index of 8 on December 29. You can check here for the latest prediction, which is updated daily after 2100.
Loyd C. Headrick Published Date Hits: 201
Category: ARRL
When the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program began coordinating ISS-to-school contacts in 2001, only one school -- Luther Burbank Elementary School in Burbank, Illinois -- participated. Ten years later, more than 120 schools participated in the ARISS program in 2009 alone.
The number of ARISS-coordinated ISS-to-school contacts has climbed dramatically since that first contact in 2000. In 2001, there were 42 contacts, and in 2002, there were 40 contacts. During the first five years of the program -- 2000-2004 -- there was an average of 31.4 QSOs between the ISS and schools. In 2004, ARISS only conducted 35 contacts -- the lowest in its 10 year history -- but in 2005, 55 schools had contacted the ISS through the program. In 2006, there were 47 QSOs, 75 QSOs in 2007 and 62 in 2008. The 121 QSOs in 2009 show a jump of 95 percent over the 2008 numbers -- setting an ARISS record for the number of contacts.
Of the 517 ARISS QSOs through 2009, 313 were direct (a radio link between an Amateur Radio station set up in a school and the amateur station onboard the ISS), while 202 were via telebridge (a dedicated ARISS Amateur Radio ground station located somewhere in the world establishes the radio link with the ISS; voice communications between the students and the astronauts are then patched over regular telephone lines). Two contacts were a combination of direct and telebridge means.
"We saw a surge in interest from schools in all parts of the globe," said ARRL ARISS Program Manager Rosalie White, K1STO. "The number of schools in Europe and Canada peaked this past year, thanks to Frank DeWinne, ON1DWN, and Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA, who were onboard the ISS for six-month stints; previously, most Canadian and European ham-licensed crew members were onboard for only a few weeks."
ARISS has coordinated contacts between the ISS and schools in the 38 countries: USA, Canada, Russia, Finland, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, France, South Africa, Germany, Belgium, Israel, the Netherlands, Thailand, Slovenia, Turkey, Spain, Poland, Ireland, Brazil, Switzerland, Kuwait, Greece, India, Portugal, Hungary, China, Malaysia, Reunion Island, Croatia, South Korea, Ecuador, New Zealand, Peru, Sweden, Mali and Senegal. There have already been two ISS contacts to schools in 2010 -- Italy and Taiwan -- with more to come.
White said that during the last quarter of 2009, ARISS saw an uptick in the number of US educators sending queries about how to get involved in ARISS --and in the number of ARISS applications received from areas of the US: "It seems that students are not jaded about the space program!"
For information on how to get your school involved in the ARISS program, please consult the ARISS Web site.