Category Archives: SATELLITES
Launch your own satellite for US$8000
By Brian Dodson An Interorbital Systems TubeSat in low Earth orbit Image Gallery (12 images) Interorbital Systems (IOS), a rocket and spacecraft construction company founded in 1996, is ready to fulfill its 2009 goal of making access to space available to all. Well, at least to anyone who can afford a motorcycle. For US$8K, IOS provides the [...]
NASA Demonstrating Smart Technology Through Suborbital Rocket Mission
NASA Demonstrating Smart Technology Through Suborbital Rocket Mission Source: Wallops Flight Facility A new microsatellite designed to give scientists less expensive access to space will be demonstrated during a NASA Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket flight between 7 and 10 a.m., June 9, from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The backup launch day is June [...]
Danish Amateur Team Sends Satellite into Space
–the Danish team participating in the $30 million GoogleLunar X PRIZE contest–has taken the first big step toward landing a small robotic mobile rover on the Moon. In December we are launching our test satellite MiniRomit1 from the South Pacific Island of ‘Eua, in the Kingdom of Tonga. [...]
iCubeSat
Think inside the box … Planning a CubeSat misson? Your first decisions might be the most critical. Compared to traditional multi-million-dollar satellite missions, CubeSat projects have the potential to educate the participants and implement successful and useful missions in science and industry at much lower costs. CubeSat payloads and experiments are often new and unique, [...]
Orbital Wins Iridium Next Integration
By Michael A. Taverna PARIS — Thales Alenia Space (TAS) has selected Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC) to integrate and test the 81 spacecraft in the next-generation Iridium mobile satellite system.OSC will integrate the satellite bus and communications payloads, to be provided by TAS, along with hosted payloads that the system, known as Iridium Next, is [...]
Astrium to provide satellite imagery to protect forests in the Congo Basin
France will finance the provision of SPOT satellite imagery to central African countries to help them pave the way for the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism. Satellite imagery is an essential component for establishing up-to-date cartography, baseline maps and accurate measurements to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of REDD programmes as [...]
How to hitch a ride to space (for your satellite)
Got a satellite you want to pitch into orbit? India’s space agency will take it, but the Indian government doesn’t really want to with deal you unless you’ve got a “primary”–a bird larger than 200 kilograms. Instead, businesses and universities with smaller, “secondary” satellites can hitch rides on launch vehicles designed for primaries by working [...]
