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Students Design A Satellite Via Internet

Posted by timothy on from the a-piece-here-a-piece-there dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "A group of 250 students from many European universities has collectively designed a satellite by using a dedicated news server and weekly chats on Internet. By using the Web, the virtual team was able to move from design to construction in less than a year. The SSETI Express is currently under integration in one of the technology centers of the European Space Agency (ESA) in the Netherlands. Only a few selected members of the team will attend the launch which will be part of the Russian mission Cosmos DMC-3 in May 2005. The SSETI Express will embark three mini 'cubesats' for specific experiments while the main satellite will test a propulsion system and act as a transponder for amateur radio users. I sure hope that this collaborative action will be successful. Read this summary for more details."

8 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. But will it crash in China? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Inquiring governments want to know.

  2. it looks like .. by r0b0t+b0y · · Score: 4, Funny

    .. a borg cube! it even has mini-cube satellites that make me think of decentralized systems (i know it's not, but that's what it makes me think of)

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  3. What next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The first satellite has been automatically generated by the Internet. Pretty soon, the skies will be filled with satellites offering penis enlargement, Nigerian scams, and hot stock tips.

  4. Re:Design to construction in less than a year... by commodoresloat · · Score: 4, Funny

    only for the next two years. After the internet dies, this satellite is history too.

  5. why can't we do it? by WormholeFiend · · Score: 4, Funny

    with the collective thinking power of slashdot, I'm sure we could achieve something equivalent, or better.

    imagine a large, spherical grey satellite...

    any post made by the trolls against this satellite would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they have obtained. This satellite would be the ultimate power in LEO!

    trolls: That's no communications satellite. It's a slashdotting station!

  6. Obviously.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    this could be used by terrorists to spy on God-fearing American citizens. Ban it! Ban it, I say!

  7. Practical Application by DigitalRaptor · · Score: 3, Funny

    In a more "everyday" application, Martha Stewart is using the same collaboration techniques to connect 118 prisoners from 13 women's prisons to perfect her recipe for beef stroganoff...

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  8. Re:Boycott Roland Piquespam by fritter · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wait, we're having a hard time getting Slashdotters to not read the article? Did I miss something?