Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

50 'Nanosats' for Sputnik's 50th Anniversary

Posted by michael on from the sputnik-sailed-giggling-through-the-sky dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Europe will launch 50 ultra-small satellites in 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite of the Earth launched in October 1957. BBC News Online writes that each nanosatellite will weigh only about 1 kilogram and represent a single nation. Arianespace will launch all 50 of the nanosats in a single payload. The nanosats will stay in orbit for about 2 years and will perform experiments chosen and designed by each individual country. For the first time in history, 50 different countries will have the opportunity to do space research, and probably at little cost. In the future, similar clusters of nanosats could be launched for collaborative missions, acting as groups or swarms and having a single goal. Read more for selected excerpts and pointers to this future historic mission."

3 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. Shouldn't they split the payload up? by Bob+Bitchen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Doesn't it seem a bit vulnerable to have them all launched together? I suppose it's cost-effective but it with the nature of rocketry doesn't it make more sense in the long run to split the payload up into separate smaller rocket launches?

    --
    job anyone?
    205dot180dot85dot15/co_jobs.html

    --
    http://tinyurl.com/3t236
  2. 50 more objects for existing satellites to... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...collide with. I hope the idea of nanosats doesn't get too popular or it's going to get pretty scary trying to track all of the junk in orbit.

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    1. Re:50 more objects for existing satellites to... by BlankStare · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Hopefully, before they come into wide-spread use, their "swarming" behavior can be designed to recognize that End of Life is near, and gracefully dive into the atmosphere. Or else we will need to periodically launch swarms of "janitors" to find defunct nanosats, and haul them down....