Startup Helps You Build Your Very Own Picosatellite On a Budget 21
Zothecula writes A Glasgow-based startup is reducing the cost of access to space by offering "satellite kits" that make it easier for space enthusiasts, high schools and universities alike to build a small but functional satellite for as little as US$6,000 and then, thanks to its very small size, to launch for significantly less than the popular CubeSats.
Re: (Score:2)
Shhh.. Talk like that will get the attention of DHS.
Re: (Score:2)
If only it was a bit easier to put 1g into orbit...
The best option seems to be to build magnetic nano-satellites and disperse them as a dust cloud over NASA rockets about to be launched. Some are bound to reach orbit.
Yeah, anyone with even basic DIY skills can knock up a cloud of magnetic nano-satellites in their kitchen over breakfast.
Re: (Score:1)
You just take normal nano-satellites and insert nano-magnets into them, it's not exactly rocket science.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not? I'm sorry I don't quite understand, I just had brain surgery.
Re: (Score:2)
"If only it was a bit easier to put 1g into orbit..."
Pico is 10^-12 so if a normal satellite is 10,000 Kg then a picosatellite would be only 10 micrograms
While it might not take much energy to accelerate that to orbital speed in a vacuum, its not going to be easy to get it out of the atmoshere.
Its also not going to have much in the way of sensors on it.
Re: (Score:2)
TFA claims US$20000. It also stated that http://www.50dollarsat.info/ [50dollarsat.info] was launched on a Russian Dnepr-1. Presumably as one of several secondary payloads
Space junk (Score:2, Insightful)
If your "satellite" doesn't have active maneuvering capability and the ability to either deorbit itself or move to a graveyard orbit once its mission is over, then you are launching debris. It should be regarded as a hostile act by anybody who has a proper satellite in nearby orbits.
I hope these things are only ever launched into orbits low enough that atmospheric drag kills them after a year or so.
Re: (Score:3)
"I hope these things are only ever launched into orbits low enough that atmospheric drag kills them after a year or so."
My understanding is these sorts of things are usually launched in orbits that give them lifetimes measured in days, maybe weeks. They are up there nowhere near a year and definitely do not become part of the long term space junk problem.
my femtosatellite fleet (Score:2)
Naturally, they are invisible to the naked eye, so you should pretty much be cowering under your desk now. Yes, you, Jenkins over there, cubicle 117. We have caught you surfing /. yet again. HR has been notified.
Great, lets make money getting Kessler effect (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I really doubt they're putting these into a high enough orbit for that to be a problem. These thing will probably deorbit in less than a year.
One non-troll as I post this (Score:1)
Really? Reverse-astroturfing FTW.