Homemade Satellite (ESA/European Students)

Palomar · 2005-09-22 06:12:16

It took only 18 months for more than 400 students - spread across 23 universities and 12 countries - to design and build the SSETI Express spacecraft

*Weighs 136 pounds, is about the size of a small washing machine. Has multiple uses/objectives:

The 136-pound (62-kilogram) spacecraft is expected to snap photographs of Earth, test a cold-gas attitude control system and function as a radio transponder for amateur radio operators.
The spacecraft will also serve as a mothership for three picosatellites, tiny cubes just under four inches (10 centimeters) wide, built by universities in Germany, Japan and Norway. The picosatellites will be ejected into space on orbit.

Cost to ESA Education Dept. was less than $121,185.

Best of luck on this.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-09-22 11:49:22

Here yet another very simular effort but from this side of the fence this time.
Ex-Cold War Missile May Boost University-Built Satellites

We have heard how many of the cold war missles of Russia are finding new life in the reuse for peaceful purposes.

BIG SKY, Montana – University-built space payloads may get a lift from deactivated intercontinental ballistic missiles that are now on a trajectory for the scrap heap.
The idea is to utilize the Peacekeeper missile, phased out under mutual nuclear arms reduction agreements inked between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The mothballing of the Peacekeeper is part of a reduction in U.S. missile forces from 6,000 to between 1,700 and 2,200. Russia’s Putin agreed to pursue a similar course of action.
The Peacekeeper began its development back in 1979, and some nine years later became fully operational. According to the U.S. Air Force, each Peacekeeper was built at a cost of about $70 million. The deactivation is estimated to save the Air Force more than $600 million through 2010.
Peacekeeper was designed to carry up to 10 independently targeted warheads. But now they could be tipped with student-built research gear.

Gee now only if the common man could get it for cheap and start delivering cargo to the ISS for some big cash....

SpaceNut · 2005-09-27 11:00:50

This article talks of low cost access to space for small satelites.

Rocket launch paints sky with breath-taking scene

The Orbital Sciences-managed Minotaur rocket uses decommissioned first and second stages from a Minuteman 2 ICBM missile and solid-propellant motors from the commercial Pegasus rocket program for its third and fourth stages. The vehicle is designed to provide the U.S. government with reliable access to space for small satellites.
The $20 million Minotaur deployed into a sun-synchronous orbit around the planet's poles the Space Test Program-R1 mission's Streak satellite. Built by General Dynamics C4 Systems/Spectrum Astro Space Systems in Gilbert, Arizona, the craft will be operated by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-09-28 10:26:46

SSETI Express
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/sseti_expre … 9DE_0.html
After finishing the final preparations of SSETI Express we found out that due to a significant failure on one of the other spacecraft the whole launch has to be postponed. Unfortunately a new launch date has yet to be decided.

Palomar · 2005-09-28 10:38:24

SSETI Express
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/sseti_expre … 9DE_0.html
After finishing the final preparations of SSETI Express we found out that due to a significant failure on one of the other spacecraft the whole launch has to be postponed. Unfortunately a new launch date has yet to be decided.

*Hi, yes I saw a similar article yesterday but didn't have time to post it. Sad. Hopefully it's just a minor delay and they'll soon be back on track.

P.S. Pizza tonight - a well deserved change.

That's the spirit! Lol!

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-10-28 08:47:49

Launched this morning!

*Successful launch. Congratulations to them. First signal already received.

On-board the student-built spacecraft were three pico-satellites, extremely small satellites weighing around one kg each. These were deployed one hour and 40 minutes after launch. In addition to acting as a test bed for many designs, including a cold-gas attitude control system, SSETI Express will also take pictures of the Earth and function as a radio transponder.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-10-28 14:44:00

*A bit of a "speed bump": SSETI goes into safe mode. This is from an article posted at space.com; one portion of the article deals with this and the other deals with an entirely unrelated rocket. To avoid going off-topic, I'm going to copy and paste only what's relevant to this thread:

SSETI Express in “safe mode”
Meanwhile, another satellite launched into orbit with Mozhayets-5 – the European Space Agency’s (ESA) student-built SSETI Express spacecraft – is in a “safe mode” after reaching its own proper orbit, ESA officials said.
“SSETI Express went into a safe mode due to an undervoltage caused by battery charging problems,” the ESA said in a statement.
SSETI Express, short for Student Space Exploration Technology Initiative (SSETI) Express, is Europe’s first satellite built primarily by university students. The spacecraft is designed primarily to photograph the Earth and serve as a transponder for amateur radio operators.
ESA officials said the $121,185 (100,000 Euro) SSETI Express spacecraft entered a protective “safe mode” after accomplishing many of its initial objectives, including the deployment of three small, cube-shaped satellites built by universities in Germany, Japan and Norway.
The two-pound (one-kilogram) CubeSats – each four inches (10 centimeters) wide per side – deployed about 64 minutes after launching into space at 2:52 a.m. EDT (0652 GMT) on Oct. 27.
Since then, Japan’s XI-V satellite, from the University of Tokyo, and Germany’s UWE-1 spacecraft built by the University of Würzburg have returned strong signals to their respective ground station, ESA officials said. Student’s controlling Norway’s Ncube2 satellite have not yet heard from their spacecraft, they added.
Meanwhile, SSETI Express’ operations team is currently working to resume normal flight operations and has been aided by the amateur radio community, ESA officials said.

Keeping my fingers crossed for them. Hopefully all will soon be smooth sailing again.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2016-04-20 19:35:11

The minotaur uses recycled stages from decomissioned rockets and there is currently addition request for others to make use of more of them...

These old nuclear missiles could be used to clean up space debris

GettyImages-13252741460750110.jpg&w=480

An MX or "Peacekeeper" missile, left, and two versions of the Minuteman missile sit at the entrance of Warren Air Force base in 2001.

One space company, Orbital ATK, wants to be able to buy parts of the Cold-War era nuclear arsenal, repurpose them to launch commercial satellites. That would give the dormant missiles a purposeful use, save taxpayer money and help U.S. industry compete against foreign launch companies, such as Russia, whose rockets are subsidized by the government, it argues.

Space Junk....

After 50 years of spaceflight, the vastness of space has become something of a celestial junkyard, littered with hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris. Traveling at 17,500 m.p.h. around the globe, even small pieces of debris, say a bolt, can cause big problems.
In 2007, China blew up one of its dead weather satellites, and then two years later, an active U.S. communications satellite crashed into a defunct Russian satellite. Those two events alone created thousands of pieces of debris, which now pose a threat to satellites and even the International Space Station, which occasionally has to move out the way of the flying junk.

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#1 2005-09-22 06:12:16

Re: Homemade Satellite (ESA/European Students)

#2 2005-09-22 11:49:22

Re: Homemade Satellite (ESA/European Students)

#3 2005-09-27 11:00:50

Re: Homemade Satellite (ESA/European Students)

#4 2005-09-28 10:26:46

Re: Homemade Satellite (ESA/European Students)

#5 2005-09-28 10:38:24

Re: Homemade Satellite (ESA/European Students)

#6 2005-10-28 08:47:49

Re: Homemade Satellite (ESA/European Students)

#7 2005-10-28 14:44:00

Re: Homemade Satellite (ESA/European Students)

#8 2016-04-20 19:35:11

Re: Homemade Satellite (ESA/European Students)

Board footer