KickSat -- Your personal spacecraft in space

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/251588730/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space

by PanMan • 15 years ago

58 7 15 years ago

"As soon as funding is in place, we'll apply for a free launch through several programs, such as NASA's ELaNa CubeSat program. While we are not guaranteed a free launch, there are many such opportunities each year and I believe this project has enough technical appeal and value to NASA to compete with anything out there."

They'll only be able to buy commercial launch if they get more money than the kickstarter requires.

So what happens to the money if there's no free ride and they don't have enough for a commercial launch?

stfu• 15 years ago

Exactly. "while we are not guaranteed a free launch" - seems to be depending a lot on "ifs" and "buts".

There are also a bunch of similar projects around and the "getting the stuff to space" aspect seems to be the central issue. For example:

http://www.cubesatkit.com/ http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=1414

smackfu• 15 years ago

Isn't that a general issue with Kickstarter: what if these people fund but then fail to deliver? The Kickstarter FAQ page says you are expected to cancel your funding.

nyellin• 15 years ago

I read about Sprite in IEEE Spectrum and love the concept. http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/satellites/exploring-spac...

That said, where are technical specifications? What microcontroller are they using? What is the range of the wireless radio?

Will we be able to program the Sprite ourselves? Can we add more physical sensors at our own expense? If so, is there a weight-limit?

Edit: KickStarter has some of the answers after all:

With a donation of $300 or more, you will be sponsoring the launch of a single Sprite which you can call your own. You'll be able to name it and specify the short message (for example, your initials) that it will transmit. You'll also be able to see its position updated on KickSat.org as it flies over a network of amateur ground stations.

For a donation of $1000 or more, you can request a Sprite development kit, including a fully functioning Sprite with all schematics, source code, and programming tools so that you can write your own flight code. You'll also receive a step-by-step guide explaining how to receive and deconvolve the radio signals from the spacecraft if you want to set up your own ground station in addition to using the KickSat.org mission control website.

slamdunc• 15 years ago

Really glad that they address this issue:

Q: Aren’t you going to create a lot of space debris doing this?

A: Debris is a huge concern to everyone in the space community. We certainly want to be responsible space citizens in making sure that we don’t create more of it and will comply with the international rules and guidelines for debris mitigation...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/science/space/06orbi.html

Ixiaus• 15 years ago

That was the first thing I thought about when reading this - it would create a lot of debris!

quattrofan• 15 years ago

Love this, chucked them $75.

KickSat -- Your personal spacecraft in space

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