So, you want to build a CubeSat?
orbitalindex.com
orbitalindex.com
Feel also free to check our repositories at Gitlab. https://gitlab.com/librespacefoundation
Great to see the SatNOGS network going from strength to strength!
I also follow AMSAT-BB here to keep track of radio amateur activity in space https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
But if you attend the ARRL/TAPR DCC conference there will be a four hour workshop on SatNOGS for the Sunday Seminar. :)
2. James Clear's (https://jamesclear.com/newsletter), author of the Atomic Habits, which is a fantastic book about... habits (https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits)
Both are no-bullshit and consistently provide value.
If you're interested in understanding the state of the global space supply chain, check us out [1]. We're working on digitalizing the entire global marketplace and CubeSats are a huge part of the on-going commoditization within the sector. Kinda like "Octopart for space".
The supplier ecosystem is really a lot larger than people think (including myself until we started this project). There are some legacy and strategic reasons for "hidden hubs".
The supply chain is undergoing a lot of change, as organizations try to figure out how to not stay hidden and instead ride the on-going growth wave through international business/projects.
I'm curious, I've read about radio comm and this article mentions using the GlobalSat or Iridium network is possible, but would that (or any other option) be a "broadband bandwith" available to whatever software is running on the CubeSat?
My rough estimation is you could create a spot 2 miles across with a standard laser pointer at 400 miles high. Maybe you could use a different kind that would have a little more spread. And you'd have even more if you weren't beaming directly downwards -- maybe you could point it at 45 degrees or more with a powerful laser and get nice coverage.
Many satellites are visible to the naked eye; some even brighter than the stars. If you want to see them, heavens-above.org is a great place to find out when to look. https://heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=42830
And if you want to see an absolute cornucopia of satellites, grab a pair of binoculars, and look straight up, an hour or two after sunset.
You'll see faint little lights, crossing your field of vision, to and fro, on a very regular basis.
Interesting link. Another interesting one is https://spotthestation.nasa.gov about the ISS, which is probably the most visible to the naked eye.
Move over, high falutin' space types! I want a laser pointer pointing at my house every night!
[Warning, very stupid idea ahead]: Since I don't know well enough the topic, why wouldn't be possible to use a satellite to collect solar energy (because outside the atmosphere you can collect ~40% more (edited) the solar energy due to lack of atmospheric filtering effect),and then transmit that energy back to earth via some sort of wireless energy distribution mechanism (laser?). I guess a YoYo satellite with real tens of KM of wire to earth has a lot of reasons for not be feasible.
> Average annual solar radiation arriving at the top of the Earth's atmosphere is roughly 1361 W/m^2. The Sun's rays are attenuated as they pass through the atmosphere, leaving maximum normal surface irradiance at approximately 1000 W /m^2 at sea level on a clear day.
There are practical challenges, but otherwise, yes, it should work.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_irradiance#Irradiance_on...
Like so many things it's got a few unsolved technical difficulties thought that make it not-quite feasible.
I do think that its certainly going to be one of the ways humanity powers themselves going into the future. As our power needs increase, we will inevitably look to more efficently use the power eminating from our star and one of the first steps in doing that is by harnessing it without the atmospheric effects.
I dropped Rust and found SPARK easier to work with, and one of the book's authors is a professor at Vermont Technical College (VTC) in the CubeSat Laboratory[2] where Ada/SPARK are used.
The book is a great way to get exposed to a lot of subjects around high integrity, secure software. Highly recommended.
[1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/building-high-integrity...
Would there be any restrictions for people not living in the USA?
From what I can tell, cubesats might be able to get ride-alongs on future launches towards the moon, so that is basically what this challenge would be hinging on.
You'd have to figure out long distance communication, a simple LoRa module won't cut it. Your power needs to handle 3 days of travel, possibly without power until the sat gets deployed and sees the sun for the first time.
You'd have to figure out how to orient and point a camera outside the stronger parts of the earth's magnetic field (commonly cubesats seem to rely on magnets to orient themselves).
Then you'd have to bring a camera with decent quality and that works in vacuum along, snap a picture or ten and finally send them back.
It would be awesome if I, as a private person, could organize and launch that.
The projectile has a rocket motor too.
Get the cannon as high as possible with a balloon.
At the limit, the cannon fires the projectile at high velocity. The rocket motor ignites giving the extra velocity.
Do you think it could reach escape velocity?
IANARS (I am not a rocket scientist)
That's how the Pegasus rocket launches, as well as some rockets currently under development by companies like Virgin and Stratolaunch
Most people underestimate the speed required to obtain a reasonable orbit, and the amount of tube required to accelerate an object to that speed.
You also might be interested in SpinLaunch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpinLaunch
While this isn't consumer pricing yet, the orders of magnitude cost decrease because of lower cost / smaller satellites have made this much more accessible, and it's only going to continue as launch costs come down.
"Why build a computer if it costs $10K+ for a special room?"- 1960's naysayers.
This orders of magnitude cheaper than it used to be and will enable a broad wealth of new startups and applications in LEO. It's nothing short of a revolution.
Not particularly, and even less so with this clichéd, condescending headline.
It's a meme that needs to die, why do we have to see these titles popping up in HN every month?