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USNA "Budget" Satellite Launched and Functioning

Posted by timothy on from the hey-bob-where's-my-metal-tape-measure dept.

Arpad Korossy writes: "Hey, you ran a story on this earlier, and some people expressed doubt whether a sattelite made for a tenth of the usual cost using mostly components from Radio Shack would work; well, it has. The best line in the whole article has to be 'Instead of a $50,000 antenna system, the group used a metal tape measure.""

2 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Proof by xX_sticky_Xx · · Score: 5, Informative
    If a group of undergraduates can make a space survivable craft then what has NASA been doing for the last 40 years.

    Oh, not much really.

    I'm sure some searching would reveal some details though.

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    I didn't want to leave this space blank.
  2. Re:Innovative=expensive by Kraft · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yep, it's another urban legend

    correct. See snopes for full details on the myth:
    NASA spent millions of dollars developing an "astronaut pen" that would work in outer space; the Soviets solved the same problem by simply using pencils. . Status: false.

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    -Kraft
    Live and let live