On 22 November, students of the UNN Advanced Engineering School (AES) had a radio communication session with the International Space Station. Russian crew members, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Konstantin Borisov, got into contact with Lobachevsky University. This radio link was established with the technical support of Nizhny Novgorod radio amateurs.

"Such events are mind-turning," said Nikolai Starostin, Head of the UNN Advanced Engineering School. - "The International Space Station is travelling at a distance of 450 kilometres from the Earth at a speed of more than seven kilometres per second. There, in outer space, on the International Space Station, Russian cosmonauts in their tight schedule find an opportunity to communicate with AES students via a dedicated radio channel. For all of us, the cosmos was right near us during the communication session. This is very important, students get a sense of a new reality, they realise that they are destined to be involved in tomorrow's technologies, to create 'engineering wonders' in the space industry".

More than 30 students and staff of the Advanced Engineering School and other university departments who participated in the communication session congratulated the cosmonauts on the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station. During the dialogue, students raised questions about the future of space flights and research tasks for scientists and engineers in space exploration. They were interested in the methods of air treatment on the ISS, experiments and research conducted by cosmonauts, the process of adaptation to space conditions.

"The Advanced Engineering School of Lobachevsky University is both a scientific and educational project. Our current research task is to create a prototype of ultra-high frequency range inter-satellite communication equipment for multi-satellite systems. There are no such projects in Russia today. At the same time, we are solving the most important educational task - training professionals who will work in the field of space communications. Design and testing of equipment, software development and much, much more - all this will be done by the graduates of the UNN Advanced Engineering School," said Sergei Mineev, Head of the Research and Education Department of Space Communications at the UNN Advanced Engineering School.

It is worth recalling that on 31 October 2023, Oleg Artemyev, test cosmonaut, Hero of Russia, visited Lobachevsky University. He met with AES students, visited some laboratories and met with the university administration.

"The Advanced Engineering School of Lobachevsky University with its space theme faces great tasks in education and research," said cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev.

Lobachevsky University became one of the winners of the competition under the federal project "Advanced Engineering Schools" launched in 2022 at the initiative of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.

The UNN Advanced Engineering School has five departments: "Space Communications", "Radar and Radio Communications", "Radiophotonics and Optoelectronics", "Design and Automation of Microelectronic Devices Production", "Materials for Electronics".