Plenty of Cubesats to be Launched

[VK2FAK]

Hi All,,,

Have been reading about the Minotaur launch tomorrow and some of the Cubesats onboard.

I see there is another satellite to be launched with LED's that should be visible with binoculars or Telescope...

Vermont Lunar Cubesat..

[VK1KW]

Certainly a lot of short duration Sputnik class beeping satellites again.
I'll say it if no one else will -
They are not much use to Amateur satellite circles and with the use of amateur frequencies, in the big picture its only a University flag waving exercise.
Are we ever going to see an Oscar 10/13 HEO class satellite launched again. After all this time, I doubt it!
Regards
Rob VK1KW

[VK2FAK]

Hi all...

Well the chances are not good that we will see a HEO again. Everyone wants a lot of money to launch those things and the Amateur community just does not have it.......

BUT with technology going the way it is, its only a matter of time before they push a cubesat into a higher orbit...a short burst of some gas...or maybe a strong person on the space station could give it a good push...hi hi..

Or they could try the trick being used by the Mars Mission....a single burst at perigee to boost it into a higher elipical orbit.

John

[VK1KW]

I don't think it is a case of just money John.
I think the rules are now that the spacecraft must be disposed of at the end of mission. eg de-orbited or pushed out of earth orbit to help with removal of the space junk.
Also I suspect launch insurance is very high. Imagine putting a cubesat thru the ISS or a communications satellite on launch or hitting a city with the wayward rocket.
AMSAT Eagle has been sitting on the bench for ages but no one is saying why no go.

[VK2FAK]

Hi all....

Everything that I have read is that it is basically a cost issue..

In the past some satellites were put up for free or at low cost , specially the Germans, which have a Sat sitting there.....I did read the German Gov't withdrew support....which means amateurs have to pay for the launches now..
There is also the problem that the US guys can't share details with the German guys......or anyone else.


John

[VK2XSO]

They are not much use to Amateur satellite circles and with the use of amateur frequencies, in the big picture its only a University flag waving exercise.
Are we ever going to see an Oscar 10/13 HEO class satellite launched again. After all this time, I doubt it!

I'm not so negative about it. While I can't see an obvious or immediate advantage, I can't help but think that some useful information may be gained from throwing blinking LED's overboard.

Think of some kid who's built a tiny particle accelerator in his his bedroom and has worked out it would make a great ion motor for a satellite, if only he could get it into space ?
It's not the useless applications we can see that matters, it's the useful applications that we can't see that is where progress is made.

I think about something like an ultra simple spy satellite. A flying disposable LEO SDR dongle. While that thought leaves a lot of room for imagination, it's not hard to see how the military could deploy lots of these kinds of short lived femtosats.

Sounds silly ? Remove the screen from you mobile phone and add a much larger lithium battery. Now how silly does the disposable spy satellite sound ?
When the battery goes flat, the satellite is disposed of by allowing it to de-orbit a few weeks later.

If I hear of an astronaut throwing an android phone out the ISS airlock wrapped in aluminium foil in the next couple of months, I hope they mention their source of inspiration

[ZL2FAE]

From AMSAT.

"The Eagle project has been terminated by the AMSAT Board because no affordable launch opportunity could be found and ITAR regulations made it almost impossible to work with our international AMSAT partners on this ambitious project. "

[VK2FAK]

Hi all....

Well with the blinking LED's, some of these astronomy types...could test out how accurate the satellite predictions are.

Getting a visual and compare to where the software says it should be...

John

[VK3DXE]

Hi all....

Well with the blinking LED's, some of these astronomy types...could test out how accurate the satellite predictions are.

Getting a visual and compare to where the software says it should be...

John

You can do that with any tracking software or app that gives you an indication of relative brightness of an object so you can look for sats that are bright enough to see with naked eye. Have a look at http://www.heavens-above.com/

[VK2FAK]

Hi all..

Yes that is true....but this one wont need to be getting some sunlight.....better off in the dark or you wont see an blinking leds anyway...

Yes I think space exploration and the like is going to be a slow process if some of these countries can't get together ....I can see this cubesat fad that is happening now will slowly die off...there going to run out of simple to test experiments that can be put in a cubesat.

John

[VK2XSO]

I wonder how cheap India can launch junk into space ?
Iran could use a few extra dollars sending infidel electronics into orbit and North Korea could use some hard currency and win a few friends.

China might have priced itself out a bit lately, but then again I can't help but wonder if some private companies might make some 元 from cheaper Chinese copies of real Chinese rockets.

[VK2AVR]

....I can see this cubesat fad that is happening now will slowly die off...there going to run out of simple to test experiments that can be put in a cubesat.

On the contrary, it depends on how it's pitched. I had the good fortune of talking to some of the guys from Freetronics yesterday at Sydney's Maker Faire, they have a few cubesats in orbit currently with Arduino payloads and several experimental sensors available.

These satellites have the ability for you to upload your own Arduino code to the satellite and get some runtime to run your own experiments. The experiments are not what's groundbreaking. Being able to upload something of your own creation to try out in space for a modest cost is groundbreaking. It has the potential to be a very successful teaching tool and encourage more people to be programmers and more people to be interested in space. This can only be a good thing.

[VK2GOM]

Sydney's Maker Faire?

Didn't hear a thing about it. Would loved to have gone.

73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH