NASA today said it has built a tiny, low-cost satellite it says will be ideal for adventure seekers or companies with high-tech space applications who need to get into space quickly and relatively inexpensively.
The Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology SATellite (FASTSAT) is 39.5 inches in diameter - not much larger than an exercise ball. It is hexagonally shaped and clocks in at a little less than 200 Lbs. It can carry a payload up to 110 Lbs.
These dimensions place FASTSAT squarely in the microsatellite category where it will compete with such as SpaceX's Falcon 1 and Kistler's K-1, NASA said.
NASA said FASTSAT is just the right size for earth observing missions, space science missions, and technology demonstrations. "We think we can do whole missions for less than $10 million instead of the traditional $100s of millions, and that includes the launch vehicle, the satellite, and the widget you want to test," said Marshall Space Flight Center's Edward "Sandy" Montgomery in a release.
The first FASTSAT prototype was completed in under 11 months for the relatively thrifty sum of $4 million, Montgomery said. The satellite is made out of aluminum instead of expensive titanium. And they used a design so simple "even a cave man could do it," Montgomery said. The design required few cuts in the metal, so fabrication was fast.
The satellite is also designed to be simple - no complicated rockets. Magnets provide its attitude control instead of jets, so there are no propellants onboard to explode. The satellite has no moving parts - no blades or momentum wheels whirring around. All of these factors add up to subtract cost. "We are kind of like the bargain basement of satellite building," Montgomery said.
Satellites could morph the same way that roles for unmanned aircraft have changed. For example, automated unmanned helicopters and other flying aircraft, whose current roles are mostly in the military, will be used to track everything from traffic congestion to forest fires.
And NASA continues to grow its own satellite programs. For example, it recently said its Applied Sciences Program will be using 14 satellites to watch the Earth's environment and help predict and prevent infectious disease outbreaks around the world.
I knew a couple of people at my University who were involved with this sort of thing. And I picked up a little of the lingo which I'll briefly include. A micro sat was classified as anywhere from 35 kilos to 100 kilos. Below that was nano-sat from about 10-30kilos. I don't think anyone bothered defining pico sats, the only sub nano-sats that I knew about were a class of satellites called cube sats. link
In any case NASA has done some funding of University Nano-sat programs. I knew a couple of people that worked for this one link They emailed me and were excited to hear that NASA was going to try micro-sats. The guys I knew liked this because you could try out new stuff that wasn't space rated and your risk wouldn't be nearly as bad as on a normal satellite.
The rain it falls on all alike
Upon the just and unjust fella'
But more upon the just one for
The Unjust hath the Just's Umbrella
The satellite is also designed to be simple - no complicated rockets. Magnets provide its attitude control instead of jets, so there are no propellants onboard to explode. The satellite has no moving parts - no blades or momentum wheels whirring around. All of these factors add up to subtract cost. "We are kind of like the bargain basement of satellite building," Montgomery said.
Well, I'm not a scientist/engineer, but the Earth does have a magnetic field. Perhaps they use that, along with magnets on board, to provide attitude control?
Strictly a WAG, of course.
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Broomstick wrote:Well, I'm not a scientist/engineer, but the Earth does have a magnetic field. Perhaps they use that, along with magnets on board, to provide attitude control?
Strictly a WAG, of course.
When I came to that I remember an article in some science magazine or another (Scientific American or Discover?) about using the Earth's magnetic field for propulsion.
You use a magnet to literally push against the earth’s magnetic field; this obviously works best with very light satellites which can use permanent magnets. This idea isn’t anything new; it was first used decades ago. It doesn’t scale up that well, because the magnetic field will eventually be strong enough to cause serious interference with the satellites electronics.
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