CJ’13 - DAy 5
July 10, 2013
Scouting in Space BY STEPHANIE MacKAY
July 8th was a special day at CJ’13. We had the amazing opportunity to connect with space! A group of Scouts, Leaders, and OOS gathered in the clearing behind our Communications Centre to interview an astronaut on the International Space Station. Brian Jackson, one of the three Canadian mentors from the ARISS Program (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station), coordinated with our own Scouting member Chris Carr to facilitate this event for us. The ISS travels at approximately 28,000 kilometers per hour; so the window to open communication is quite small. We were organized to speak to Italian astronaut Luca Parmantano as the Space Station passes over Southern Australia. A ground operator down under set up a telephone bridge so that our Scouts could ask their questions over a telephone here in Alberta, Canada! Everything was precise and organized and we had only between nine and ten and a half minutes to ask as many questions as we could while the ISS passed from one horizon to another. Dragonflies swooped overhead clearing the air or mosquitoes as the crowd jittered with excitement. Some tense moments in the beginning as 17 lucky Scouts were selected to ask the questions that had been chosen from those submitted online, followed by a bit of technical difficulty where Australia could hear us but we could not hear them. At 10:30, we were live with Luca and some lucky Scouts were able to speak directly with an astronaut in space! The first three youth represent the 4th Grand Falls Troop, here from Newfoundland. All members of Triceratops Subcamp, they were gushing with excitement over bring chosen in the first place! Brandon Poole, Devin Parsons, and Ryan Fudge-Nitsman certainly have an interesting story to tell when they return east to their home on the Atlantic Ocean. Ryan beamed, “it was awesome”, and shared that he wishes to become a police officer when he grows up, but is also now considering becoming an astronaut. Katie Yeung, a member of the 1st Hong Kong Canadian Scouts who flew across the Pacific Ocean to be here for CJ, had no idea that she would have the opportunity to speak to an astronaut while in Canada. Katie, a member of the Raptor Subcamp, asked a question about how going to the bathroom in space works and heard Luca say something about using a bucket. She laughed, clarifying that it was difficult to hear, and felt that the entire experience was, “really special”. Any ham operator in the world was able to listen in on our conversation; and as Brian reminded the excited crowd, “you will be a part of history!”
Tomorrow’s Weather The Weather Rock is predicted to be mainly dry, and approximately 20 degrees Celsius. Sunrise: 5:28am Sunset: 9:55pm
In Today’s Paper STEM Launches at CJ........................................................Page 2 Important Transportation Info.......................................Page 3 ISS Talk Transcript.............................................................Page 4
Wanted
The Newsasaurus
BY ALEXANDRA SHORE Attention all Scout Leaders! Attention all Scout Leaders! While your Scouts are off busy exploring the worlds CJ’13 has to offer, a challenge, should you decide to accept it, has been assigned to you. James Morris, pictured, has been spotted on site, and it is your job to find him! James Morris, as some may know, is the editor for Scouting Life magazine and he wants to hear from you. James is at CJ’13 to collect ideas that have worked for other leaders and learn some new ones, as well as learn about the challenges you as leaders face and want to work through. He also wants to know your thoughts on the magazine; suggestions, concerns, and complements are all welcome! In return James is handing out Scouting Life badges and wants to be able to hand out all 1,000 before the end of the week! Coming to the one year mark of being the newspaper’s editor, James is looking for contacts from across the country in regards to leadership ideas and issues that leaders such as yourself want to know more about. In addition to this, James is searching out good quality pictures of Scouts in action for the magazine. Whether it’s setting up camp, hiking, or working in the community, if you’ve got pictures of your Scouts in action, make sure to find James to get details! So leaders, you’ve received your assignment, should you choose to accept it James Morris will be walking around camp, so be sure to stop and say hi!
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN? REWARD IF FOUND!
STEM Launches at CJ’13 BY MEGAN LAMOTHE
With amazing feats of technology constantly surrounding us everyday, it is hard to believe that the entrance rates at universities for STEM programs are going down. STEM stands for sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and Scouts is a natural link to help inspire youth to pursue these fields. If you look around Camp Woods this week you will see many budding scientists building bridges over the mud and unique structures to store and carry gear. After Scouting’s sister organization, Girl Guides of Canada, reached their ten year anniversary since releasing their STEM program, it was time for Scouts Canada to start promoting these programs. Thanks to Imperial Oil, Scouts will be receiving one million dollars over the next five years to develop these programs. While currently in the trial stage, the full STEM program will be released in fall 2014. This week at CJ’13 the STEM program was officially launched, giving every Scout here a chance to participate in the trial of the STEM program. Scouts will get the hands on opportunity to program robots similar to the ones that roam on Mars. You will learn how to make your robot move as well as watch it react when it detects carbon and water on your testing field. Since the STEM is sure to be a busy activity, and to make sure everyone gets a chance to experiment with the robots, it is possible to save your robots program under your patrol number and come back later to improve its program. Inside the STEM tent there are also some smaller scale examples of things that could be done with every age level in Scouts Canada, and in a regular meeting environment. This is definitely a thrilling experience for all Scouts and Leaders here at CJ’13; you will get to see all the new places Scouting is taking you. When you are finished exploring all the things your robot can do for you, and all the other wonders of the STEM program, there may be a unique STEM crest for you as a reward. We hope to see you there this week!
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The Newsasaurus
Care Corps Draw The CJ’13 Care Corps invites you to enter the draw for a framed picture of a Scout receiving some ‘divine guidance’. Tickets are 2 for $1 or 3 for $5 and are available from the Care Corps tent located behind program HQ, near Atlantis. All proceeds will go to the Red Cross Flood Relief. We would like to note that this picture was donated to the Care Corps, and we realize it will not be of interest to everyone.
Important Transportation Info
OOS Air, bus and train departures - if your details are not on the Departure list posted at the OOS HQ or if they are incomplete, please visit Transportation HQ (by the main gate) and inform us of changes. PATROLS Air, but and train departures - if you don’t receive a letter with your departure info, or if you are needing changes to it, please visit Transportation HQ (by the main gate).
Boots & Salutes
Boots To the campers who continue their loud activities and conversations after quiet time, and Scouts who are out after curfew. Salutes To the Site Services crew, who have been working endless hours fixing and maintaining the CJ’13 site.
FourSquare Contest
The CJ’13 Social Media Team is doing a FourSquare contest that will end on Friday at 12 noon. If you are using FourSquare for your checkins, whoever is the Mayor of CJ’13 will receive a PR Team badge and a Social Media Team badge. AND whoever is the Mayor of each of our CJ’13 Subcamps will receive a Social Media Team badge. Pop by the PR tent at the main gate to receive your badge. Good luck!
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The Newsasaurus Below is the transcript from Monday’s talk with Italian astronaut Luca Parmantano aboard the International Space Station. How do you know where to land on Earth when you’re coming back from space? Hello- All we have to do is turn on the engines and slow down. We know when we have to turn them on so that’s all we have to do. How do you go to the bathroom in micro gravity? Hello Katie. It’s very similar to how to use the bathroom just like in gravity, except we have a sort of vacuum that sucks air around us and our “stuff” goes into a container. How do you drink water in space and what would happen if some escaped? We drink sealed bags through a straw, and really, water escapes all the time when we are filling up the bags and we pull it into the air system and the water gets recycled back into the water system. Are you ever scared during takeoff or landing? During takeoff and landing, we have too much to do to get ready for this. We know exactly what is going to happen so it is something we never think about. What happens if you vomit in space and does it ever happen? It doesn’t happen to me and I haven’t seen anyone doing it, but it could be dangerous if you are inside a spacesuit because the vomit could go anywhere. If it did happen, we would have to quickly clean it up. How do you spend time during the day and do you get free time? We have a very busy schedule. Every minute of every day there is something scheduled and we have to know exactly what we need to do. We do science, we do maintenance, we prepare for other activities like EVA’s. Yes we do have free time, mostly in the evenings. We like to watch movies – I don’t like to watch movies, but some people do. I look out the window a lot and take pictures, play music on the guitar. What do you do for entertainment? The biggest entertainment is watching out the window because the scenery is amazing and it is always changing and is so interesting. We also have books, we have the internet, we have music we can listen to. How do you get your food? Hello Katie. The food travels in two ways. It is mostly packaged and some of it is dehydrated so we have to add hot water or cold water according to what we are eating. It is pre cooked so we have to make it hot and eat it right out of the package just like we would on earth. Is it easier on your body to go out into space or reentering the Earth’s atmosphere? I haven’t tried reentry yet as this is my first flight, but from what I have seen I would definitely say that reentry is worse for your body because getting used to micro gravity is very hard on your body.
Do you ever float around when you are sleeping and hit your head on the wall? It is much easier to float around and keep your head off the wall when you are awake because when we sleep we put ourselves in a sleeping bag just like the ones you use when you camp out and the sleeping bag is attached to the wall so we don’t float around. What if you run out of fuel on the station? The space station doesn’t use a lot of fuel to keep up it’s altitude but we have continuous flow fuel from vehicles such as Progress and ATV. If we were to run out of fuel, we would have to abandon the station because the orbit would degrade. What kind of precautions are taken if the station is severely damaged in space? Hello. We have a lot of training for emergency situations that we know how to solve. The most dangerous one is a toxic leak on the station or a fire or a depressurization. We know how to solve these emergencies, but if we could not solve these emergencies, we always have our spacecraft attached to the station and we can go back to the ground at any time. Do you ever get tired in space? Yes we do get tired in space. Our days sometimes get really, really long and we have a lot of activities. For example, tomorrow, we have an EVA. It is going to be almost 12 hours of continuous work so, yes, we do get tired. Have you ever camped and looked at the night sky knowing that one day you would be up there? Yes, I was lucky growing up in Sicily that the night sky was magnificent and I looked up dreaming of being an astronaut. I certainly couldn’t tell for sure that one day I would be up here. What Scouting skills would be beneficial up in space? Everything you learn as a Scout would be beneficial because being a Scout means you are independent and you are proactive, knowing how to solve a situation and so all of your Scouting skills would be beneficial. What advice do you have for young Scouters looking to one day earn a spot on the ISS? This is the best advice I can give you. Keep doing what you love and whatever you do, love it because that is the best way to follow your dreams. What do you miss most about Earth? The thing I miss most is my children. Signal lost at this point. I don’t know if you can hear me anymore- I couldn’t hear your last question. But it was a real pleasure to talk to you today.
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