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Orbit Your Own Satellite For $8,000
RobGoldsmith sends word of Interorbital's TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit, which allows anyone to send a half-pound payload to low-earth orbit for $8,000. Your satellite will fly to orbit from Tonga atop an Interorbital Systems NEPTUNE 30 rocket along with 31 other TubeSats. It will function for several weeks, then its orbit will decay and it will burn up in the atmosphere. Interorbital plans to send up a load of 32 TubeSats every month. If you pay in full in advance, you get slotted onto a particular scheduled launch. Here are Interorbital's product page and brochure (PDF).
How much for years?
A big new trend for "burials in space".
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Low earth orbit is above the law, literally, isn't it? Send up a few gigabytes of flash memory and a transmitter. Torrents from space!
The sign that a technology has really matured enough to be taken seriously is when it starts to have commercial applications. Moreover, the presence of businesses like this will help provide further incentive for the improvement of space related technologies.
However, it isn't clear to me who would use a half-pound satellite that can only last a few weeks. TFA lists the following possible applications:
Earth-from-space video imaging. Earth magnetic field measurement. Satellite orientation detection (horizon sensor, gyros, accelerometers, etc.). Orbital environment measurements (temperature, pressure, radiation, etc.). On-orbit hardware and software component testing (microprocessors, etc.). Tracking migratory animals from orbit. Testing satellite stabilization methods. Biological experiments. On-orbit advertising. Private e-mail
Honestly, I don't see much use of most of those as a general use. Certainly scientists will benefit from this sort of technology but I doubt anyone would try to use this for private e-mail systems. You would just use the internet and encrypt your stuff. The idea of using this sort of thing for low cost climate and weather data gathering is interesting. I suspect that as with many technologies, new uses will be developed that we cannot easily anticipate now that the technology is still young.
it's good that the orbit isn't sable, but i'm starting to think there should be some international law regulating space junk. i'd hate to see earth's orbit becoming so cluttered that sending anything up there just ends up generating more junk due to high speed collisions. that could really be the end of space exploration, at least until we make a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_gun and pull all the debris down from the surface.
weinersmith
240 grams for $8,000? At less than $35/gram this is a great way to send a piece of yourself into space, and you don't even have to die and be cremated first.
If anyone starts a "fingernail clippings/hair/teeth/etc. in space" program for under $50/gram let me know.
Sounds like a great birthday party for a rich kid who loves space: Parents can fork over a few $hundred to send a baby tooth into space for a few weeks.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Could this be used to send information, specifically protected or censored information from low earth orbit, specifically to Iran and other countries in turmoil/ with oppressive regimes?
Is this getting anyone else worried?
If it only survives for some weeks? I'd expect at least a decade of life and to roll my own satellite.
Yes. For that price!
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
It doesn't need to last. Personally I will just use this to send myself pizza's and beers in here. And some WoW subscription cards, please.
For a country that bitches a fair amount about global warming and the responsibilities We (humans et al) have to our home... Tonga seems to want to make up lost time and really help break the camel's back.
This is why I don't see the sense in having kids. To hell with responsibility!
Like there isn't already enough crap floating around up there that someone needs to clean up!
how cool wouldn't it be to send up an apple! or you know something of other peculiar interest like I china bowl or a teddy bear.... and for a mear 8 grand it does make for the ultimate DIY project even if it is only for a couple of weeks! It would be cool to show that you do understand it so much that you can make one of your own!
Try to imagine what this means for the Smurf population.
They don't call this planet the "Blue Marble" for nothing, you know.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I understand that the volume is currently small, but they are commercializing the burn-up of potentially hazardous material in earth atmosphere. Circuit boards contain many things that shouldn't be burned. I hope that they screen for hazardous material that shouldn't be put into the atmosphere.
...get to chose where it comes down? I really don't know, but I wonder if one could design a .5 pound satellite with the express intention of surviving re-entry, like a 1/2 pound slug of lead in the shape of a dart or a sphere.
I don't need much mass to survive the heat of re-entry. A few grams at orbital velocity, in the right place, would be enough to give my enemies pause...
--
$tar -xvf
Isn't the cost to put junk in orbit through existing channels just 2000/pound? That puts this at 16 times the existing rate and you don't even get a stable orbit.
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (TM)
32 satellites at $8K each is only $256,000. Subtract the cost of the materials used to build the satellites. (I'm assuming they're not using class S parts, but solar panels, etc still ain't cheap.) They're seriously planning to deploy a working delivery system to space for that kind of money?
what are other people doing, impulse buying a satellite launch?
Really this is pure space junk vanity. What's the point with such a trivial payload. You can't do any real science by sending your iPhone into orbit. Call me when they're offering cheap 20-kilogram payloads to the Moon (something as heavy as a laser printer).
- Can I put a 1/2 pound of magnesium up there?
- How about a 1/2 pound of liquid oxy-acetylene?
- Where'd I put my AOL CD collection?
It would be fun if they just set up a space dock you could stand on and throw shit into the atmosphere to see what happens.
Commoditized space junk. Lovely. And for only $800 I will personally throw a piece of plastic into the North Pacific Gyre on your behalf.
Given that you'd need electronics on board and three thrusters, I doubt you could get a reentry-survivable slug of any appreciable mass up there under this program.
Still, its neat to think about wiping my enemies out with artificial meteorites.
Girl: "Ahhh, Isn't the moon sooo romantic?"
Boy: "Yes, it is sweetums....Uh, I have something to ask you."
Space Spam Pops in View: "Bob's Penis Enhancer, for the nervous times in your life. $99.95"
Girl: "Yes darling, what is it?"
Boy: "Oh, never mind."
Table-ized A.I.
Anyone else want to get together and buy a our own spy satellite? One of the components is Earth-from-space video imaging.... probably wont be very powerful, but we could still see what images we could get of Area 51 :P
catchy name. MySputnik? Sputniklets? Sputninnies? Sputmites? Spuklings? Spuklites?
Table-ized A.I.
Not only a troll, but an especially LAME troll.
I loaded the page in firefox, just to be told that FF required 400MB of memory in order to render the page. I checked. FF was using 179 MB of memory, with three windows open, and a total of 11 tabs.
Out of curiosity, I loaded the page in IE8. 176 MB of memory, with only that one page open. Google Chrome? 53 MB. Safari isn't installed on this virtual machine, I'll probably test it later.
I'm not a mathematical genius, but the troll's claims don't seem to add up.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
How many high pressure CO2 cartridges can you fit in one of those, and would they provide enough thrust to get your device out of earth's orbit? Maybe stick it in a figure 8 orbital pattern between the moon and earth, or shoot it off towards Mars. I would imagine you need substantially less thrust to break from earth's orbit for a lowly half-pound payload than say, a space shuttle, not to mention, the pressure differential is substantially greater.
moox. for a new generation.
Gerbils in space!
Hmm... I think there's some cheaper "memorable" options out there.
Option 1 (Daddy is Forever)
~1000USD to be cremated and then ~8,000USD** to be pressed into a half-carat loose diamond.
Option 2 (Daddy was an Astronaut-Burnt-Up-on-Reentry)
~1000USD to be cremated and then ~8000USD to be shot into space.
**ashes to diamonds
greed@All_Evils:~#
We'll soon have the worlds first twittering satellite.
I would like to commission all spots on a launch. I have some very special orchids I have been growing that I need to launch into space and have orbit the planet...
Now where did I put my evil lap kitty....
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
oke basically iam just to laze to type in my own story, but check this company. (www.isispace.nl) I copied the text from their website. so if you need to test out your space equipment(startrackers, gyoscopes or some doomsday device :) ) this is the place to do it kinda cheap :)
*** Quote****
Vision
Bringing space down to Earth. With miniaturization of electronics and breakthrough technologies from the IT-sector and consumer electronics, satellites and spacebased systems can be designed and developed in a different way. With faster, parallel development of standardized systems and system modules it is possible to perform space missions with very small satellites. By using swarms or constellations of these small spacecraft, operation and financial risk can be reduced. Based on these technological developments and combined with an increasing number of launch possibilities for these small satellites it is possible to make space systems and mission more accessible for a larger number of users.
Mission
* Develop miniaturized, modular satellite (sub)systems that meet customer requirements,
* Develop, maintain and expand a strategic position in the field of small satellite (sub)systems,
* Promoting and stimulation the development of small satellite missions.
***** end Quote***
weeellll. By my calculation, it would cost almost 800,000 to send my ex-wife.
When I rule the world, I'll have squads of flame throwers fanned out around me, and for me, winter shall cease to exist
If The Pirate Bay hosted their site on one of those satellites, the law can't get them because there's no space court!
That's not "Orbit your own satellite" at all. It's "Your own satellite orbits the Earth".
If I wanted to orbit my own satellite, I'd dance around the bog.
How much for a Ion Canon?
0.5kg, if it is dense enough shuold stay up there a lot longer than a few weeks at 300km.
They will put an IED in one.
Take what ye can. Give nothing back!
The atmosphere is huge. Let me repeat that, because people tend to forget scale when it comes to things like the Earth (I blame teachers trying to explain how big the universe is, but forgetting to explain exactly how small atoms and people are): The Atmosphere Is Huge. Something on the order of 2.2 * 10 ^ 44 atoms. Burning up a few hundred grams of plutonium wouldn't even be all that scary. If you burned up a mole of plutonium on one of these things, it'd be less than one part per trillion trillion in the atmosphere. You'd have to be a homeopathic doctor to claim those kinds of concentrations are scary.
There's not any material I'd be afraid to launch on one of these things. If you started talking about launching a thousand of these things carrying plutonium, you might start to scare the nuclear freaks (same people who were afraid of Cassini and the sky falling), but most people wouldn't even notice. You wouldn't even raise the background radiation of the planet. And let's be realistic, a few micrograms to a few grams of cobalt (lithium ion) or cadmium (NiCd batteries) is probably the worst you'd expect to see on one of these things.
$cc fingernail\ clippings\/\hair\/teeth\/etc.\ in\ space.c
$.\fingernail\ clippings\/\hair\/teeth\/etc.\ in\ space &
Now where's MY $50?
What a neat way to propose. I can see it now... "Honey, let's see what's on the HAM radio tonight. Oh! Listen to this, it's for you."
Check out Chad's News
I have known Rod and Randa for some time now. I have zero confidence that they could launch a model rocket â" much less something into a low earth orbit. Do not let my biased opinion change your mind. Buyer beware with these snake oil salesmen.
TFA says this is a possible application. TFA also says that you communicate with these things over ham radio, and since it's LEO, only for a few minutes at a time every ~90 minutes or so. Doesn't that sort of lack the bandwidth to transmit video or even images? I'm still kinda lost on how exactly you'd communicate with these sats.
It's a function where x = 3, y = 7, 3 is the universal number for scotch whiskey, and 7 is the universal number for the coolest man alive(thats me), and I was all sorts of high on some "3". I believe it looks like this
x + y = lack of brain function
Actually it's more like 3.2 mil or so, depending on breakfast.
Although, I'm pretty sure I could hear her nagging from orbit.
Do you think she'd get cell reception up there?
Maybe I could just send myself, and "forget" my phone.
When I rule the world, I'll have squads of flame throwers fanned out around me, and for me, winter shall cease to exist
Isn't there any way to sustain the LEO for a longer duration. Using ion thrusters or something similar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster. I guess with a little more money, this could be accomplished. WhatSayU???
If they have a standardized satellite template, it would be a rather clever "hoax" to just launch one ~5 pound satellite that would have enough horsepower to emulate all the 1 pound ones, so people would think that their very own satellite was launched, when actually there's just one with many antennas. It would make a great Slashdot meme:
http://codeandlife.com
That is one thing space can do that antarctica can't... You can do whatever you damn please up there because in the end if you're willing to never come home, there will be no consequences.
...
Before sending anyone money for a launch, it would be wise to check out what the launcher is and how far it is from ready. Eight kilobucks is peanuts if it's for putting a small satellite in orbit, but a lot of money if it's paying for someone else's office rent and expenses while they sell pipedreams. The NewSpace field covers the spectrum.
*evil grin*
Or for $288,000, you can own 72% of the spaceship. Seems shady to me. http://interorbital.com/StorePage1.htm
I recall reading (back in the 80s) that NASA had payload space reserved for simple experiments that were attached to the sides of the payload bay. They had to be self-contained and require no interaction from the crew and cost about $3K at the time.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
[...] Alien observers must think we are building a metal sphere to hide behind. Bit like a global tin foil hat :o)
Or our very own Dyson sphere