Kentucky Space

Cute-1.7+APD II Cubesat shoots video

Here's a very brief video passed along by Tyler that was shot from Cute-1.7+APD II. According to the email, it is the first video shot from a cubesat, which makes it very interesting indeed.

Wayne

National Science Foundation: Little cubes can do Big science

Space.com has run a piece on the National Science Foundation cubesat solicitation for proposals to do atmospheric research:

The first solicitation for mission proposals in the new NSF program was issued in late February, resulting in proposals for 29 CubeSat science missions, explained Therese Moretto Jorgensen, program director in the Upper Atmospheric Research Section of NSF's Geosciences Directorate, Division of Atmospheric Sciences.

'If anybody thought that these CubeSats would not do things ... this set of proposals just proved everybody so wrong,' Jorgensen told SPACE.com. 'There are a lot of questions in space weather research that are still being struggled with ... even though we've been flying satellites for many years now,' she said. Furthermore, the NSF program is meant to help train the next generation of experimental space scientists and aerospace engineers, she added....

The NSF will spend $500,000 to start the program, Jorgensen said, but her wish is to add another $1 million in 2009. 'We hope to start a pipeline of missions depending on how the budget turns out for 2009. We will start fast or slow, but we are committed to start a pipeline.'

The goal of the NSF program is to construct a five- to 10-year program with annual proposal competitions. The CubeSat support is a first step, she said. Another goal is to secure a series of regular, low-cost launches, spawned by establishing partnerships with other government agencies and private industry, Jorgensen said.

One of the issues yet to be addressed is three-axis stabilization of the small satellites, a problem, as Gerard Aalbers explains, at least one program is set to tackle.

Wayne

Earth view from Cute-1.7 + APD II

The view from Cute-1.7 + APD II. Thanks Tyler for pointing out the image. I'm really looking forward to the view from KySat-1! More here.

Wayne

Do it yourself satellites

A mecca for do-it-yourselfers, MAKE magazine, features a blog post on cubesats!

Wayne

TEMPO-3, the Mars Cube

Kindly responding to an inquiry about The Mars Society's new Cubesat-based project to work on artificial gravity, Tom Hill pointed out that there would be an article in The Space Review very soon. And so it is:

To date, very little practical research has been conducted into the generation of artificial gravity in space; while NASA began to examine the issue in the Gemini days, it was abandoned during Apollo, and has not been re-examined since. Few, if any, private research projects have been conducted. Given that astronauts on a six-month trip to Mars will want to be in tip-top shape when they arrive on the Red Planet, ensuring that they’re not suffering from the potentially debilitating effects of an extended period of zero gravity will be a high priority for mission planners. With decades of study into medical solutions for reversing those effects yielding little in the way of results, determining whether spacecraft can supply astronauts with artificial gravity is a logical next step.

TEMPO³ stands for "Tethered Expirement for Mars interPlanetary Operations Cubed."

Goals for the project call for it to be far enough along that a presentation might be made at the CubeSat Developers Workshop next April. Further details about the project, "including a reference design and a full copy of the initial proposal," should be available online soon according to The Space Review.

Wayne

Asteroid Mining Workshop

Everyone around here is still basking in the excitement of our asteroid mining workshop, which brought together some of the most talented experts.

The goal was zen-simplistic. To bring together experts from mining, asteroids, engineering, business and policy in order to explore the challenges and the possible paths to mining materials from asteroids and maybe the moon.

We were lead by Dr. John Lewis, author of more books than I have fingers. His knowledge of asteroids is poetic, he can recite attributes of each asteroid like a real estate agent depicting an exotic vacation property in Italy. This asteroid has a certain gravity field, this one has platinum, this is why the moon has Helium 3 from the solar winds, but the meteorites.

Supporting Lewis in the technical arena was a diverse group including Brad Blair and Ed McCullough. Mike Duke was there to promote lunar mining and the arguments were passionate. Representing the legal and the business were Jim Dunstan and Larry Austin.

Other voices included Bob Twiggs, who brought a perspective of both education and engineering, and Neville Marzwell whose lead a number of fascinating technical projects.

All told there were some 18 of us, lead by Kris Kimel, who pushed us on to really, really consider what it will take to launch a commercial space mining venture.

We did as Kimel asked, much to our own surprise and delight.

And Andy Mead wrote a nice piece in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Jeffrey

Image: Dawn Mission Page. Credit: McREL

Carnival of Space no. 68

The very latest Carnival of Space is now up.

Wayne

Spacecraft by credit card

Spacecraft by credit card? SatNews Daily makes mention of a new web site debuted by Clyde Space, a supplier for Kentucky Space, and adds this note:

Clyde Space has opened a website and online shop with all sorts of new features such as newsletters, blogs, case studies of previous missions, and more. However, what sets this website apart from other space company websites is that the site allows the visitor to buy spacecraft online with a credit card. There is currently a mini revolution taking place in the space industry; the revolution is called CubeSats and it has set in motion an unstoppable demand for standardized, low-cost spacecraft and spacecraft subsystems on demand. For an industry that is used to having to wait for 12 weeks for a high reliability resistor to be delivered, CubeSat customers can expect delivery of complete satellite units in 4 weeks or less.

Wayne

Galaxy Zoo collects Ghostly specimen

Combing the archives of the Galaxy Zoo as a volunteer and unable to find a match for the object, an amateur Dutch astronomer has discovered  a one of kind light, a ghostly echo that may be entirely new to science.

In the past year 150,000 amateurs have helped classify more than 1 million galaxies as part of the Galaxy Zoo project. As Pamela Gay has suggested, astronomy is one of the rare science disciplines where amateurs can make significant contributions.

Wayne

Combing the archives of the Galaxy Zoo as a volunteer and unable to find a match for the object, an amateur Dutch astronomer has discovered  a one of kind light, a ghostly echo that may be entirely new to science.

In the past year 150,000 amateurs have helped classify more than 1 million galaxies as part of the Galaxy Zoo project. As Pamela Gay has suggested, astronomy is one of the rare science disciplines where amateurs can make significant contributions.

Wayne

Mars Society project to use CubeSats to explore artificial gravity

Information Week: "Aiming to supplement research on the feasibility of long-term space flight for humans," The Mars Society has chosen a Mars Project Challenge proposal to explore the use of artificial gravity that will employ CubeSats.

Mars Society president Robert Zubrin said that while space agencies around the world have 'chosen to study the effects of zero gravity on humans with no end in sight,' his group seeks to develop technology to provide humans with gravity in space....

The details about the craft's configuration and the project's schedule have not yet been determined. [Tom] Hill [of the Mars Society] will manage the project.

The project name is "Tethered Experiment for Mars inter-Planetary Operations (TEMPO 3 or TEMPO cubed)," according to the Information Week report.

Wayne