nwfdailynews.com — A group of students, former students and professors stood quietly in an electronics-filled room on a recent Tuesday, intently listening for contact from a 4-inch cubed satellite hurtling miles overhead. Those gathered are part of a program called Cubesat, which allows universities to cheaply launch satellites.
Apr 21, 2007 View in Crawl 4
daftwillyApr 22, 2007
Cash - thanks for the project site, that's what I was looking for. Weather balloons as launch system ...
jonnycashApr 22, 2007
"Weather balloons as launch system" ...that is about the only thing that could be affordable enough for this type of thing I guess.
ekarulfApr 22, 2007
Cubesats are actually a small part of the student satellite competitions. In addition to cubesats, most colleges build nano-satellites (nanosats) Nanosats are generally larger (~70Kg) and generally get launched into a low earth orbit. Due to the cost, the Air Force and NASA actually sponsor a lot of these more advanced launches, if you are interested check out : <a class="user" href="http://www.vs.afrl.af.mil/UNP/">http://www.vs.afrl.af.mil/UNP/</a>So what is the use? Well, I am personally affiliated with the aerospace systems laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis. We are in our fourth nanosat competition building something like a carrier from Starcraft. In essence, a big ship launches little ships that them orbit the big ship and then redock. It sounds trivial, but it is not. If you want to read more, check out <a class="user" href="http://nanosat.wustl.edu/nanosat-4/">http://nanosat.wustl.edu/nanosat-4/</a>Regardless, the cubesat and nanosat programs are great opportunities for college students to work on actual spacecraft systems. I'm glad to see them getting some digg coverage.
jkwagnerApr 22, 2007
The website JonnyCash linked to is outdated since we lost access to the site. (Head webmaster of UL quit, long story) Also the pics you linked to were an early experiment before the actual development of CAPE-1 started.The most recent information about CAPE-1 is available at <a class="user" href="http://ulcape.org/wiki/Main_Page">http://ulcape.org/wiki/Main_Page</a>More recent pics of CAPE-1:<a class="user" href="http://jonathanwagner.net/2006/12/cape1-tvac-photos/">http://jonathanwagner.net/2006/12/cape1-tvac-photos/</a><a class="user" href="http://jonathanwagner.net/2006/12/cape-vibe-photos/">http://jonathanwagner.net/2006/12/cape-vibe-photos/</a><a class="user" href="http://jonathanwagner.net/2006/07/cape1-solar-panel-photos/">http://jonathanwagner.net/2006/07/cape1-solar-panel-photos/</a>Some other links:<a class="user" href="http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/scitech/7075751.html">http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/scitech/7075751.html</a><a class="user" href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070417/NEWS01/70417025">http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070417/NEWS01/70417025</a><a class="user" href="http://cubesat.calpoly.edu">http://cubesat.calpoly.edu</a>
magicbobertApr 22, 2007
Cal Poly rocks. ;)
jrghoullApr 22, 2007
"tens of thousands of dollars"makes sense if ya think about it...all the equipmen needed to build it would cost a hefty amount of money in and of itself...and then the cost of getting it up there...you know that over 95% of the money spent by nasa on space ships is spent soley on the fuel for getting it up there? crazy huih? thats also alot of why it would cost so much (how much do u think an intercontenent balistic missle, all fueled up and se o launch goes for?). they are currently working on getting a elevator to space (which would save TREMENDOUS amounts of money) and they could always mass produce something similar to what these students are...i gotta say, i think alot of people would digg having something like this (pun intended) but right now there doesnt seem to be much of a poin...unless they did a sort of "adop a satelight" in which you buy a satelight, and nasa sends it to whereever it wants to for space missions to gather up information.
flickrApr 22, 2007
Great, I can't wait until every University has built several of these things and we've got thousands of them whipping around smashing holes in our shuttles, space stations and useful satellites. What? Space is really big? ohhhhh
peb0424Apr 22, 2007
My Roommate in college is on this team, I can testify to the amount of work that went into this project, oh and go Cajuns!
saleemApr 22, 2007
cornell has an excellent student-designed satellite program too: <a class="user" href="http://cusat.cornell.edu/">http://cusat.cornell.edu/</a>
pcslugsterApr 23, 2007
durr