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."

Comments

Let me know when I can get one at the Dollar Store

[davidwr]

$10M may seem cheap but it's still out of the price range for most businesses. Maybe Google or CNN can afford to buy a beowolf cluster of these babies to help it map the Earth, and maybe even Rand McNally can afford one or two, but I doubt Joe's Map Company or the local independent radio station can.

Let me know when I can buy them for only 3 easy payments of $29.95.

Disclaimer for those with mod points: This post is NOT intended as a flame or flamebait.

Better solution

[Anonymous Coward]

Keep their budget money in Euros and they won't have to save

END MODERATOR ABUSE

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate to have to do this, but...

I have been the victim of clueless moderator abuse. Mod this post as informative to right the wrong! As a result of two instances MODERATOR abuse my Karma has been rendered bad, which means my default score is 0. This means that I have no voice here. I am trying to do this the right way and avoid creating a new account. If you hate injustice, then at least mod me to 1 or 2 so that I can get my voice back. If I have to create a new account just to make contributions, you can bet that I'll use this account to troll everyone else (because if I am going to be labeled a troll, I might as well have some fun), and that will just make for more line noise here. I'd like to avoid that.

39.5 inches? That's as small as...

[laejoh]

... my cock!

Btw, my significant other wishes to welcome the spammer overlords who made all of this possible!

Re:Exercise Ball?

[P3NIS_CLEAVER]

Because '1 Meter', '90 Kilograms weight' and '50 Kilograms of Payload' is just too damn difficult for the average American.