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Make Your Own Sputnik

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the because-you-can dept.

An anonymous reader writes "What better way of celebrating the 50th anniversary of Sputnik than by making one of your own. The BBC says that you can build your own Sputnik satellite from stuff lying around the house. The BBC quotes an electronics hobbyist: "Technology now is way ahead of what was available in 1957, and making your own fully functional Sputnik would now be very simple indeed. I wouldn't be surprised if you could build one in a container smaller than a matchbox, weighing about as much as a wristwatch. The components, including a transmitter, battery and the sensors you'd need would probably cost less than 50 pounds [about 100 US dollars]. It really shouldn't be a problem to build and program the whole thing in under a day." Unfortunately, the BBC article doesn't go into technical details." And of course, actually getting it up into orbit might take a little more work.

13 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Oops... by Hanners1979 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I misread the word 'Sputnik' and sat here thinking "But I already do that every night"...

  2. Choices by kevmatic · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, do I make my own Helicopter or my own Sputnik? Hmm...

    I say Helicopter. Cooler and Deadlier.

    1. Re:Choices by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Funny

      I say Helicopter. Cooler and Deadlier.

      I'd go with the sputnik. If you can get something into orbit, you can rain atomic destruction onto any spot on Earth, unless the leaders of the world pay you ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

  3. No problem by djupedal · · Score: 4, Funny

    "And of course, actually getting it up into orbit might take a little more work. "

    I know a guy that makes home-made helos' that has the first 7 feet covered - after that...two words: space elevator.

  4. How about going Old School? by fataugie · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wouldn't it be cooler to build it with authentic to the era parts and pieces? It would be like a scavenger hunt meets science class. Sadly, it's beyond me and my capabilites.

    I do have a line on a bunch of old vaccum tubes that have been in storage for years....

    --

    WTF? Over?

  5. Didn't we find out... by Kjella · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...back in the last Sputnik story that the entire idea of a real science probe was pretty much scrapped due to time pressure, and that they launched pretty much only a radio transmitter? Building that primitive beacon wasn't the impressive thing at all, putting it into orbit was.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    1. Re:Didn't we find out... by aadvancedGIR · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A science probe? Didn't the only goal of that think was to say "See that blipping thing over your head? Next time, we could send a nuke anywhere on the planet"

  6. Getting into Orbit... by Decius6i5 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...may be expensive but if you can fit the electronics inside of a ping pong ball you can at least get it close for free.

  7. Re:Because Sergei Korolev is no big deal nowdays. by wizardforce · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't know, the man was aiming for the moon and hit london after all

    --
    Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
  8. Re:Yay! More litter! by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 4, Funny

    DISCLAIMER:
    No, I have not thought this through.
    Have you considered a career in politics?
    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  9. very nice! by trb · · Score: 4, Funny

    Home-made Sputnik, I Laika!

  10. I want to do this... by Upaut · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And have it play "Orange Crush" by REM... It would drive the RIAA totally insane if there is a pirate signal from space they can't find to take down... Heck, some solar panels expanding from the altoids tin, and an ipod shuffle, it could really be an achievment...

    --
    3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
  11. Electronics vs. Radiation in space by Schraegstrichpunkt · · Score: 4, Informative

    The BBC quotes an electronics hobbyist: "Technology now is way ahead of what was available in 1957, and making your own fully functional Sputnik would now be very simple indeed. I wouldn't be surprised if you could build one in a container smaller than a matchbox, weighing about as much as a wristwatch. The components, including a transmitter, battery and the sensors you'd need would probably cost less than 50 pounds [about 100 US dollars]. It really shouldn't be a problem to build and program the whole thing in under a day."

    Oh, that old meme.

    Trivia: What is the probability that off-the-shelf microelectronics (like wireless routers) will work in space? Answer: Roughly zero.

    Why? Look at the information starting at page 23 on this document: Spacecraft Charging and Hazards to Electronics in Space:

    3. Radiation Effects on Spacecraft Electronics

    The radiation sources discussed are hazardous to electronics since energetic particles can deposit energy inside microelectronic circuitry and disrupt their proper operation. Energy deposition in electronics is measured in rads(M) where M is a specific material being considered (1 rad = 100 ergs/gm). Energy deposition can be in the form of ionization or atomic displacements, which can permanently damage electronics, or it can be in the form of single events, which can cause transient or permanent damages depending on the severity of the event.

    NASA doesn't ship Xeon processors into space, not because of budget cuts, but because they don't work reliably (if at all) in space.

    --
    http://outcampaign.org/