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Mini Satellites Could Revolutionize Space Industry
An anonymous reader writes "Space Daily reports that University of Toronto researchers are working on a project that could replace conventional satellites with a miniature version no larger than a milk carton. From the article: "At only 3.5 kilograms, the Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment 2 (CanX-2) will test small, low-power devices that could lay the groundwork for flying formations of small satellites that could eventually replace larger, more expensive satellites."
Is John Carmack building this gigantic hydrogen-powered trebuchet and launching milk cartons full of electronics into space
... I think this is a sign I should be sleeping at 3:35 AM and not reading slashdot
To bad other electronics didn't follow suit. I predict that within 100 years computers and hand held electronics will be twice as powerful, 10000 times larger and so expensive that only the 5 richest kings of Europe will own one.
If only we had an elevator to lift all those milk cartons.
"Clusters in Space-ace-ace-ace."
His name is Robert Paulsen...
Sure, smaller satellites, smaller payload => cheaper.
I fail to see why formations of smaller satellites should be a new development. If smaller types could accomplish the mission of bigger ones, the big ones wouldn't be up there (carrying large antennae, big lenses or whatever).
How is this going to work i wonder ?, what with all the junk already floating around out there since the late 60's and with the space station how are they going to keep other junk from junking their new baby satallites ?. just a a thought. CH
Denmark has all ready send two micro satellites. They measure only 10x10x10 cm!
They were send up 30. June 2003, along with some commercial satellites and were created as student experiments from "Danmarks Tekniske Universitet" (DTU) and "Aalborg Universitet" (AAU). The goal was to see if you could bring them up there and communicate with them.
You can read more about the two satellites here:
http://dtusat.dtu.dk/
http://www.cubesat.auc.dk/
-:) Oh no - not again.
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Don't know about these, but Sweden is doing research on micro-satellites and those can be deployed within an hour or two using a normal jet-fighter (Viggen/JAS)
Belief is the currency of delusion.
One of biggest problems about orbit that there is already too much garbage round around the globe. It is creating significant danger to any rocket with men going up there. So collecting of this garbage sure will be next big enterprise after opening civilian space flight.
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Probably because one does a flyby while it shoots a bullet into the comet, meaning it can fly directly to it, the other has to match velocity with the comet as it's coming around the sun, which is harder to do with a limited fuel supply.
IIRC, you can sent a mini-sat up with an old converted russian ICBM for a small fraction of the cost of a full-scale launch.
:)
Keep in mind this is a university project, and probably not people that would want/need to send 50 up.
A mighty cool hack
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I think somebody needs to develop an ion engine for micro-satellites, then universities may be able to afford rockets like the spacex falcon1 which puts their satellite into low-earth orbit, where it uses the ion engine to build up its speed for escape velocity. Perhaps this is the next "killer app" for these private space enthusiasts. So far JPL is the only place to find a highly efficient ion engine. They just came up with a high efficiency, high-power design for project prometheus. Ion engine micro-satellite, watch for them.
It would be nice to be able so send a number of these system so that a small communication network can be set-up. Basically create a small commuication mesh. Each of the sats could have common capabilities (GPS sender, local comm antena, solar, batteries, etc), with each having a unique capability (camera, surface to sat. comm, etc). No doubt somebody will point out that these do not have enough energy (or space) to run a real science device. Yet, the ability to have redundant uplink/downlink comm, a GPS, and eve multiple cameras would be useful to future missions. If one mission to mars could put 100 of these in orbit, then it could be used by other missions.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Read before you mod up. Parent has inserted multiple typos and errors into the text. This is not 'interesting'.
Browsing with +2 to insightful posts and a higher threshold makes the average post seen seem a lot more ingenious
The arrays mentioned here are a nifty piece of lateral thinking. Compare them to the giant detector arrays on earth; if you have two detectors a large distance apart, you effectively increase the aperture size to that large.
There's similar projects widely spread around the globe; by combining information from a wide array of detectors, you can eliminate significant swathes of atmospheric noise, and since you know which direction the arrays are pointing in, you can correct for depth errors electronically (ie if one detector is 90 round the earth from another, any signal that comes from that sector of sky will reach the two detectors at slightly different times (unless they happen to be at 45 either side of the signal) and the two signals can be shifted correspondingly to align the actual signal, whether it be emission from a star or the next wow signal.)
On the other hand, a satellite array would probably be non-directional - can't figure off the top of my head how a signal would currently directed from a satellite, since they'd be serving multiple devices at once.... hmm. Seems like with an array you'd have better scope for having a bigger aperture; though you'd get more chance for errors if the signal was coming from a direction further away from the vertical. Comments?
Browsing with +2 to insightful posts and a higher threshold makes the average post seen seem a lot more ingenious
It is not the huge stuff that is a problem. It is the small stuff, such as the stage bolts that are exploded. These yield numerous small parts (.5-2 centimers), that are literally untrackable. Yeah, they are small, but then again 17000 Miles per hour is a LOT of energy. As to needing a garbage collector, well, a space laser can probably be put into space and used to start pushing small stuff down into the atmosphere. Friction is a wonderful tool.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
First story from : http://www.utias-sfl.net/nanosatellites/CanX2/
The CanX-2 Mission
The CanX-2 Mission is the second "NanoSatellite" Mission at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, Space Flight Laboratory (UTIAS/SFL). The Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiments (CanX) push the envelope of what can be achieved in space with small, low-power devices. With a focus on aggressive experimentation, CanX missions use the latest commercial technologies and manage moderate risks in exchange for low cost and quick turnaround. UTIAS/SFL is part of an international community of nanosatellite developers that share common launches to reduce costs.
At 3.5 kilograms and the size of a carton of milk, CanX-2 will be a pathfinder mission in 2006 to evaluate novel technologies that will be used on the CanX-4 / CanX-5 dual satellite mission in 2008 to demonstrate controlled formation flying in space. Formation flying technology will open the door to larger missions for highresolution Earth observation and interferometric imaging that can also be used for space astronomy. The technologies to be tested include a novel propulsion system, custom radios, innovative attitude sensors and actuators, and a commercial GPS receiver.
In addition to evaluating these miniature technologies, the satellite will also perform experiments for other university researchers across Canada. These include a GPS radio occultation experiment to characterize the upper atmosphere (Calgary), an atmospheric spectrometer to measure greenhouse gases (York), a network communications experiment (Carleton), and a space materials experiments (Toronto).
Second story from : http://www.spacedaily.com/news/microsat-05j.html
Canadian Researchers To Showcase CanX-2 Nanosat August 31
Toronto ON (SPX) Aug 30, 2005 University of Toronto researchers will demonstrate how a satellite the size of a milk carton that may revolutionize the space industry on Wednesday, Aug. 31, at 10 a.m. at University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) Lecture Hall, 4925 Dufferin Street.
At only 3.5 kilograms, the Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment 2 (CanX-2) will test small, low-power devices that could lay the groundwork for flying formations of small satellites that could eventually replace larger, more expensive satellites.
At the demonstration, researchers will control the CanX-2 nanosatellite through a wireless radio link and download real-time images and telemetry from on-board equipment including a GPS-based positioning system, a miniature propulsion system and tiny devices used for sensing and controlling the satellite's orientation in space.
"The point of this mission is two-fold," says Professor Robert Zee, managing director of the UTIAS Space Flight Laboratory (SFL).
"The first is to provide complete development cycle training for students through a real space mission that has to be completed in two years. The second is to launch a tiny research platform into space to test innovative, revolutionary technologies in a rapid, risk-taking manner and also to perform important science missions that are now benefiting from the availability of smaller and smaller instrumentation."
CanX-2 is the second nanosatellite mission at UTIAS/SFL. CanX-1, Canada's first nanosatellite and one of the smallest satellites ever built, was launched with the MOST microsatellite in 2003 by Eurockot Launch Services from Plesetsk, Russia.
Sidebar to Second story
In collaboration with researchers from across Canada, the primary mission of CanX-2 will be a GPS radio occultation experiment to determine vertical profiles of atmospheric properties. It will also perform a number of additional experiments including mobile ad-hoc networking, autonomous control, advanced surface mate
a beowulf cluster of these?!
;-)
Sorry, had to be said
Seriously though... this would provide for something that is pretty lacking in current satellites: successful redundancy.
If a satellite gets hit with debris or something, it's normally down for the count. You get a cluster of these mini satellites... all sharing the workload... if one gets hit, the rest just pick up the slack.
Plus this could open up all sorts of possibilities for amateur space exploration...
Just like driving a car:
(D) to go forward
(R) to go backward
There are actually many satellite projects for stuff this small. The space industry in Florida holds an annual competition for college students to design picosats called Funsat that uses the Cubesat format.
Planetes
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I think you miss the point. Big satellites are insanely expensive to design, build, and launch. If your one Big Bird blows up on the launch pad, or gets hit by the aforementioned space junk, or is shot down by the North Koreans, you've just wasted the entire expenditure.
IF, on the other hand, you spend an approximately equal amount of money to build a swarm of tiny, cheap, simple birds, that together can do the same job as a big satellite (and have some redundency amongst themselves), you can afford to lose a few from time to time. There are less catastrophes that will deny your orbital presence entirely.
Plus, if your birds are the size of milk cartons (with a mass to go with it), your launch options are a LOT more flexible: instead of commissioning your own launch, you can piggyback on other launches at a huge discount.
Like with clusters of servers, disks, or whatever, flexibility opens up tons of opportunities to save money and be more robust.
It is creating significant danger to any rocket with men
Then send women.
Would it have killed you to say "people"?
If Mini satellites could revolutionize the space industry, think what big ones could do!
Yeap.
/me worked there about 10 years back when they were beginning to bloom.....
They launched the 6kg SNAP a few years back, I was one of the early designers of that little guy. They actually put 3 momentum wheels for tri-axis attitude control on it eventually.
http://sstl.co.uk//
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Milk cartons are Satellites
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Q. What do you call large numbers of objects no larger than a milk carton moving at orbital velocity?
A. Shrapnel
There's no failure quite as dissatisfying as a complete and total solution to the wrong problem.
Why, I remember when Canadian satellites used to be suitcase-sized! Soon they'll be cell phone sized. (Luckily, in space no one can hear your ring-tone.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
http://www.sstl.co.uk/index.php?loc=47 Surrey satellites have been making micro-satellites and nano-satellites for a while. So what's new?
interferometer: an instrument that utilizes the interference of waves (as of light) for precise determinations (as of distance or wavelength)
occultation: the interruption of the light from a celestial body or of the signals from a spacecraft by the intervention of a celestial body
Etc... arundatarchi gave me a laugh, I'll admit.
MOST (aka the Humble Space Telescope) is the space telescope Canada can affoard: a small one. MOST was Canada's first space telescope and the first micro satellite I've heard of.
We had a full size replica at a star party this summer and this thing is small considering what it does. Really impressive. Small means also very affoardable.
I hear that there will be a competition for time on the MOST so maybe someone will be the first amateur to make use of a micro-satellite.
The problem is that they require too much power. 100 kilowatt power supplies can not be built into 10cm^3 devices, so I don't think this is going to work.
But imagine something like a big CD (or DVD). A thin reflective disk with a diameter of 2-3 metres. LCD shutters vary the albedo of parts of the surface so it can use light pressure to change orientation. It uses light pressure to navigate (slowly) through the solar system. You could stack 100 or more of them in a single launch.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Indeed. I also love the unnecessary hyperbole - not "little satellites", "mini satellites" or even "microsatellites", but nanosatellites? Are they really one-billionth the size of a regular satellite?
Well done University of Toronto for letting marketing spin and trendy buzzwords get in the way of the facts - now what are we going to call them when when we finally develop orbital devices a bit smaller than a virus?
Tsk, tsk, tsk... whatever happened to precise nomenclature? Bloody kids these days... no respect... we have these different prefixes for a reason, y'know...
Everything in moderation, including moderation itself
One system I have heard is 2 satelites with a cable between them, pulsing an electric current through the cable to induce a magnetic field. Can't remember if it is to either collect debris of deflect it down into the atmosphere. Quite effective its a couple of miles across.
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NASA already has a couple nanosat programs that will fly in formation. They are sometimes refered to as constellation missions.
ST-5
http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/st5/
THEMIS
http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/themis/flash.html
These are the two that I know off the top of my head.
flying formations of small satellites that could eventually replace larger, more expensive satellites
I hate reading text like this in the context of university research projects. Every prof. looking for grant money seems quite willing to say 'Our new Fremulator design will revolutionize the VeebleFetzer industry and replace more expensive Framistan devices used today.' Considering the amount of additional hardware needed by a flock of microsatellites (propulsion, orientation, power collection, communications), you'll need some huge gains in other areas to really make this cheaper than one big integrated satellite. TFA says nothing to support the idea that these small birds really have practical commercial applications.
RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
The windshields of the future will have to be able to deflect these things like the gnats they'll become. Can you imagine how fun it would be navigate around this planet if it's surrounded by a fine dusting of millions and billions of these bugs?
Direct away from face when opening.
Perhaps I could have my own, to beam my iTunes tracks where ever I happen to be!
Communications satellites are about one thing-- pushing as much data through with as little energy as possible. A *lot* of the mass of a satellite is in the power subsystem, and a lot of that won't scale down as well as it scales up.
Then there's the communications issue itself. If you have an array of satellites serving one area, you stand a greater chance of require *two* earth-satellite-earth hops, once through the satellite serving the source, and one for the destination. If you have a single satellite, you can reduce that to one hop (assuming the communications system is capable of point-to-point communications, and is not stuck with point-to-gateway communications).
I don't see pico sats affecting the communications industry right now-- perhaps in a couple of decades, but maybe not. Considering Shin satellite just launched the largest (most massive, with the most bandwidth) satellite ever, there still seems to be life left in the big boys.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
There was a Shuttle experiment on this about 10? years ago, the put a small payload on the end of a tether cable about 3 miles long and it followed the orbit of the Shuttle. It generated a LOT of electrical current. There was some thought to using the current generated as a power source for ISS. However, the lower orbit moves faster and places tension on the cable, so the stresses have to be carefully considered other wise the cable will snap. This would probably be a good use of the carbon nanotube fibers woven into a cable with a conductive outer surface.
Isn't going to be awfully hard to see the pictures of lost kids from that far away?
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The author Paul Glister's blog @ Centauri Dreams keeps tabs on new propulsion technologies ++ space geek topics in general.
One technology, Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion (M2P2) comes complete with a 7 meg flying coffee can flash demo.
Glister's book, Centauri Dreams, gives me some hope that science and discovery will drive NASA again.
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