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Satellites on the Cheap

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the now-thats-cool dept.

An anonymous reader writes "At a cost of just $50,000 - including plane tickets to the Alaska launch site - it was constructed using off-the-shelf parts not designed to withstand the rigors of space. Its life span was only expected to be a few months. Six students put together the satellite last year after a three-year research and design project made possible with a grant from Boeing Co. The Department of Defense (news - web sites) Space Test Program approved the project and put it on a launch list"" Beats doing the egg drop.

6 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. first satellite by mgblst · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder how much the very first satellite, sputnik would have cost? Surely it wouldnt be
    that expensive to build the thing, just costs
    alot to get it up there?

    1. Re:first satellite by Cerrian · · Score: 3, Interesting

      In regards to sputnik, it was essentially only a simple reciever and transmitter, built with parts that we could probably obtain today at Radio Shack.

      Launching that sucker is a whole other financial issue. Materials alone for the rocket must have taken a nice gouge out of their alloted budget. Then you consider the years of R&D, Support and Logistics, and prior failed launches. At the time nobody really cared what the payload did once in space (except for military purposes) all they wanted to know was how high can we the bloody thing in the sky before it starts come crashing down (aka ballistic missile)

      Hell, lauching from a Pegasus rocket today still costs a handful of million of dollars and it's one of the cheaper rockets in terms of cost per mass.

  2. Ohboyohboyohboy, I love Karma by rbeattie · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You can find a picture of the satelite and a bunch of info about the project here. http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/pcsat.html

    -Russ

    --
    Me
  3. Why launch in Alaska? by redelm · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Launching a satellite from Alaska? Why? There's free delta-V available from the Earth's rotation if you launch from further south. You don't need to be on the equator.


    Is it on some really wierd polar orbit where you don't want eastward velocity? They'd better really map out the space junk then, because most of it will be coming at them fast.

  4. Lots of similar projects by Mr.+Eradicator · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I spent some time working on a similar project at the University of Washington in the Aero-Astro department. It was part of a group of nanosats funded by the AFOSR and DARPA.

    These small satellite projects are good for design classes because they are small enough that one year's class can complete the design and the simplicity of the satellites makes for cheap overall costs. Thus, the university can usually afford to fund the construction of the satellite. Actually seeing your hard work being launched on a mission is quite fullfilling.

    --

    That's Mr. Eradicator to you.

    trance-port
  5. My grandmother could build a better satellite.... by supernova87a · · Score: 3, Interesting
    This is great, just what we need -- more space junk floating up there. It would be nice if people thought as hard about how to get junk out of space as they do about putting junk into space. It's really getting pretty crowded up there. We have a whole Air Force division dedicated to tracking space junk:
    • http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/associate_units/14a f/ links/mission.htm


    What's next, Cletus and friends sending the dishwasher from the front yard into space?