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UT Student-Built Spacecraft Separate and Communicate
BJ_Covert_Action writes "Some students from the Cockrell School of Engineering in Austin, Texas have built, developed, launched, and operated two historic satellites. The FASTRAC satellites make up the first small-scale satellite system which is composed of two separate spacecraft that can communicate to each other. On March 22, the single FASTRAC satellite successfully separated into two smaller spacecraft that are currently operating and communicating with each other. While separation and communication has occurred between paired satellites before, this is the first time it has been done with such a small platform (the FASTRAC spacecraft weigh approximately 60 lbs.). Furthermore, this is the first time a student-designed and built space system has been composed of two separate spacecraft that can interact with each other. One of the most impressive things about this mission is that it was done incredibly cheap, at $250,000, which is far below the costs associated with traditional spacecraft."
So does this mean they're downloading songs off KaZaA, Grokster, and iMesh?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Here you can see the orbits of these spacecrafts. For such small amount of money, pretty nice achievement.
What an amazing concept than a quarter of a million dollars is cheap..
Life must be so nice in your world...
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
I for one welcome our new satellite overlords!
Now count the hours spend, add the costs of this being a project done by people are/have learned the ropes along the way of this project. Replace those factors with the hourly cost of a team of engineers and don't forget to call a insurance company for liability issues if your are offering this as a commercial service and all of a sudden we come to realize that education, labour and insurance cost more than the components your satellite + spaceship were made out of. This part wasn't exactly rocket science.
I knew Wallace Fowler would be involved in this... he was my thesis advisor at UT many moons ago. A great engineer, great teacher, and a great inspiration for several generations of aerospace engineers. And a hell of a guy.
Well done indeed.
Both craft are also radio relays. You can talk via them if overhead. http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/for_radio_operators/users/phpBB3/predictedorbit.php
FASTRAC 1 2M UP LINK / 440 DOWN LINK
FASTRAC 2 440 UP LINK / 2M DOWN LINK
AX-25 1200 AND 9600 BAUD
as we're not sure who, where, we are (eve may have been promiscuous?), what time it really is, or what's really happened so far. so we launch ourselves without much (facts) to go on.
most all future travel will be based on magnetic power sources that are available to some, now.
we'll all be using it after the big flash, & already happening fleedom of unprecedented evile et al (which includes some religious trainings/rituals that include real sex/death etc..), & it's members of our population, which is very very small #, & will not be missed.
Lets put up 120 pound of material into orbit with no more use that to prove that they can communicate. Isn't there an issue with junk in orbit?
to the left, from the north view. looks like a big star, with a small star glued to it. we rarely get to see the night sky lately because of all the fake clouds that make it be 0 out when it's really more like 35. please don't mention mars or venus, unless they are visibly falling apart, or stuck together. maybe the students could help/go there?
one million american dollars, yeah it is kind of cheap.
There is a great book about the Soviet side of the early space days. One of their test V7 rockets blew up, the chief designer and his friend were almost crying about the massive amount of money they had just wasted, enough to support whole villages several times over.
When Sputnik launched, it captured the human imagination so powerfully that even the communist apparatchiks of Kruschev's regime had to pay respect to Korolev, and even the children of the imperialists were out in their backyards tuning their radios to the transmissions of the godless communist enemy. The man Korolev, though they would not know the man's name for another couple dozens years, as he was kept a secret so the CIA would not assassinate him, and his team, inspired the whole world.
And now, this feat costs $250,000... less than the price of a fighter jet, or a hollywood movie, or a TV show episode, and it can be done by civilians. It is truly remarkable, and a great story for slashdot.
IMHO
BOOM!! HEAD SHOT!
The satellites were launched by a Minotaur IV rocket from Alaska.
These rockets are derived from converted old Minuteman/Peacekeeper ICBMs.
Despite that, the launch costs of such a rocket can still be $40-50 million
So, unless you can score a free ride for your doohickey, it ain't so cheap.
is in Tennessee, not Texas.
All I'd have to do is hire a bunch of engineers from a Third World country that went to school in the States on their government's dime and Voila! I have a Space Team!
Yours,
American Educated MBA.
Don-tcha luv this downward spiral!
For satire impaired: I meant every goddamn word.
FASTRAC 1: Hey sibling FASTRAC, anything happening over there?
FASTRAC A: Nope - it's space fool.
FASTRAC 1: Well, at least we have each other.
FASTRAC A: I hate you.
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Every now and then some moron will post something and say 'oh it was done so cheap!'
Unless you guys are delusional, nothing is cheap if something has to come out of it.
Sure gradstudent labor is cheap. Call me when they use grad student labor to send an astronaut up.
Did they pay for the rocket launch? Do these satellites do anything useful, other than being a proof of concept?
No?
Mr. original poster, you speak like a CEO who continually cries ' oh it is so cheap in India'.
Sure, if US roads were like India's, US would be cheaper too.
The students didn't even make the part for separation, they contracted that out to Planetary Systems Corporation http://www.planetarysystemscorp.com/ :'(
I am disappoint.
Are you sure that the log wasn't really as follows?
FASTRAC1: Friar Tuck... I am under attack! Pray save me!
FASTRAC1: Off (aborted)
FASTRAC2: Fear not, friend Robin! I shall rout the Sheriff of Nottingham's men!
FASTRAC1: Thank you, my good fellow!
Amazing what engineers can do effectively... when not constrained by which congressional district the funds are to be spent in!
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"One of the most impressive things about this mission is that it was done incredibly cheap, at $250,000, which is far below the costs associated with traditional spacecraft."
That's like being impressed that a moped is cheaper than Bugatti Veyron. No effing duh the moped is cheaper.
Let's trash people attempting to further science and education by berating their endeavors; that'll sure teach them.
Morons. The lot of you.
Whenever I hear the NASA budget or the cost of commercial projects like this, I always ask myself if the people working on it are being paid way too much. I mean, real technical human labor seems to have skyrocketed in price, no pun intended.
Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
my bad
i thought they had a rocket for $250k. lols.
I didn't RTFA (this is slashdot, after all), but for $250,000, I'm guessing that the engineering, assembly, overhead, and all other costs other than raw parts were not included. It's like watching HGTV renovate a kitchen for $4,000, and then asking if a local GC can renovate yours for the same amount.
It's cool that they got to do it, but when the "cost" you claim is two orders of magnitude smaller than what it actually costs, and the reason is that you didn't actually account for the total costs of the mission, it rings a bit hollow.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
It's amusing that THEIR satellite separated successfully, but we lost a climate change survey satellite because of some bad self-stealing stem bolts or something. Seriously?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
But did they Stop, Collaborate, & Listen as well?
I found the "Any" key.
150 people over 7 years who you didn't need to be pay, and they didn't pay for the launch, AND it's not a long term mission.
It was cheaper you say? I'm shocked I tell you, simply shocked.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I worked on the FASTRAC project since 2006 and am part of a reserve ground control team in Houston, TX, most of whom are UT alumni. We're pretty proud of what we've done. We have spacecraft in orbit and working, even though they're extremely recalcitrant. It's also kind of a vindication of the Air Force Research Lab's university nanosatellite competitions (we're Nanosat 3. #1 didn't got killed before it was finished and #2 was lost in the inaugural launch of the Delta IV Heavy).
I wish the summary hadn't gone the direction it had. The firsts are dubious, with an awful lot of supporting clauses. The costs are also dubious, not only for reasons cited but other posters (note that SOME of FASTRAC's staff, including some undergrads like me, actually were paid now and again, just not a whole hell of a lot) but also because of generous hardware donations and the launch slot. The mission we launched aboard, STP-S26, is remarkable because it was a full-on success with seven (IIRC) payloads. Fucking amazing.
What FASTRAC has been was an amazing educational experience for quite a lot of college students. Tens of graduate and undergraduate students, including foreign nationals, had the opportunity to do real engineering on a real satellite, then construct that satellite. Students (and alumni) built and run the groundstations that talk to the satellites. In those terms it's a huge success.
Not cheap. English please, or at least something approximating it.