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SpaceDev Auctioning Microsatellite Mission On Ebay
physicsnerd writes "SpaceDev has announced that they are auctioning a Microsatellite Mission on Ebay. From the SpaceDev Press Release: "Most earth orbiting small satellite missions can cost $25 million or more, not including the launch. To demonstrate the affordability of private space missions, SpaceDev has posted a "Buy it Now" price of $9.5 million which includes an insured launch and on-orbit insurance. The high bidder will win a spacecraft based on SpaceDev's Maneuvering and orbit Transfer Vehicle (MTV(TM)).""
You RTFM you fool..
You control the cameras, you get to look at what you want, You can even timeshare out the camera time and use it to make money.. You can replace or put other gear beyond personnal gear as long as you pay for it.
Come on what parts of
" A satellite that you can command from the comfort of your own home or office, simply using your PC and the Internet"
OR
"Through this auction you can purchase exclusive use of an actual SpaceDev MTV(TM) satellite"
Do you not understand.. Lets repeat this "EXCLUSIVE USE"
Personal Website
Oh by the way
MTV stands for
orbital Maneuvering and orbital Transfer Vehicle
NOT the music channel you boob
Personal Website
9.5 Million is durn cheap for a space mission. Big commmunications satellites, for example, run about $200 millions to build and launch. A cheap NASA-managed mission runs around 50 million$ or more - although SpaceDev recently did one for much cheaper based on the PI model (minimal NASA involvement), in which UC Berkeley managed the mission.
Helium balloons want to be free.
.OB denotes that the stock is traded on an Over The Counter Bulletin Board (OTC) rather than on the open market. There are any number of reasons why a company would prefer to be traded OTC. Low trading volume, inability to meet an exchange's listing requirements, (which can also be because the company does not want to abide by disclosure policies of an exchange). SpaceDev has never been kicked down to OTC from an exchange listing. They started ground up from OTC and seems like they are doing pretty damn well.
It looks like eBay is becoming a cheap way to get your company, or yourself, into the media spotlight these days. Just put something strange up for auction (satellite, your virginity, your dignity, your wife, etc.) and you're guaranteed to get coverage on all major tech websites, magazines and news shows (CNN, Time, BBC, etc. are sure to run this). The fact that they porbably won't get $9,500,000 out of it doesn't really matter. Millions more people will now know that they can build satellites for a fraction of the price NASA or ESA does.
If you don't have $9,500,000, or don't want something quite as big, look at getting your own CubeSat. Dozens of these are beign built at universities around the world. You can buy most of the parts you need and just put them together. They are launched together on one rocket, sharing the launch cost and making it even cheaper than the $9,500,00 needed for a microsatellite (CubeSats are pico satellites, 10cm x 10cm x 10cm, and weigh only 1 kg).