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NASA Goes Bargain Basement With New Satellite
coondoggie writes to tell us that NASA has announced a new low-cost satellite that could be ideal for those who wish to get into space quickly and (relatively) inexpensively. "The Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology SATellite (FASTSAT) is 39.5 inches in diameter — not much larger than an exercise ball. It is hexagonally shaped and clocks in at a little less than 200 Lbs. It can carry a payload up to 110 Lbs. [...] NASA said FASTSAT is just the right size for earth observing missions, space science missions, and technology demonstrations. 'We think we can do whole missions for less than $10 million instead of the traditional $100s of millions, and that includes the launch vehicle, the satellite, and the widget you want to test,' said Marshall Space Flight Center's Edward 'Sandy' Montgomery in a release."
Yeah just make sure these satellites are engineered to last 6 months only.
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+2 Troll is Slashdot's way of saying groupthink is confused
When did exercise balls become the univerally known cultural unit of measurement?
At least they didn't say that it was 0.01097 football fields in diameter!
Cubesats? 10x10x10cm, $65,00080,000 each. 5x5x5 seems pretty damn small to me (1/8th the volume of a cubesat), do those things exist? That would barely be even trackable, and fitting a gyro, electronics, a decent transmitter, a battery, and the solar panels into that thing would be an interesting exercise.
I'm on Florida Tech's FUNSAT team this year. And I'll make damn sure we have at least one funny easter egg or two in the software/transmissions, if we end up winning and making the thing.