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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).

14 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I forsee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey, the average cost of a funeral is 10,000 so...its 2000 profit to the survivors. And the grand kids will think its great fun to watch Grandma finally return to where everyone knew she came from

  2. Do I... by Johnny+Mnemonic · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...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...

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    $tar -xvf .sig.tar
    1. Re:Do I... by Narnie · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...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.

      That's one heck of a way to commit suicide.

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      greed@All_Evils:~#
  3. Re:Will falling space debris be a problem? by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 5, Funny

    /me hides half-pound ball of nickel-cobalt cement reinforced with titantium carbide behind his back

    What was that?

  4. Re:Ashes in space business by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think there are people who can get you that high for even less per gram. Well, for your first hit anyway.

  5. I need a rocket scientist... by Baron_Yam · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.

  6. McSputnik by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Funny

    catchy name. MySputnik? Sputniklets? Sputninnies? Sputmites? Spuklings? Spuklites?

  7. Re:I forsee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Panspermia

  8. Re:I forsee by OrangeTide · · Score: 4, Funny

    fine, then you get to chop up the body into half-pound chunks.

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    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  9. Re:Pirates in Space! by Dan541 · · Score: 4, Funny

    What?

    You honestly expect that to stop the RIAA?

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    An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
  10. Re:planetes? by mustafap · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought that too, until I read further. They don't put it high enough to be remain in orbit.

    But of course the day will come soon when they will be able to put it into a stable orbit, and then it will become a concern.

    I recently saw a simulation showing all the currently unclassified object being tracked in orbit around the earth. My instant reaction was "how the hell will we ever get another rocket through that lot?" Alien observers must think we are building a metal sphere to hide behind. Bit like a global tin foil hat :o)

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    Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
  11. 800,000 by Illender · · Score: 2, Funny

    weeellll. By my calculation, it would cost almost 800,000 to send my ex-wife.

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    When I rule the world, I'll have squads of flame throwers fanned out around me, and for me, winter shall cease to exist
  12. Re:Weeks? by davester666 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Chunks are only a problem if you're squeamish.

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    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  13. Re:Will falling space debris be a problem? by rs79 · · Score: 2, Funny

    " half-pound ball of nickel-cobalt cement reinforced with titantium carbide" "

    Aren't you going to need a zirconium oxide layer on the outside as heat shield?

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