Finding Launch Cost Serenity with FireFly

SpaceX isn’t the only launch company boasting about cheap launch prices. According to this GigaOm post, Firefly is a company that will be trying to compete with SpaceX. The rocket they’ll be using is a different design, not using traditional bell nozzles to guide the rocket’s power, but a system called an aerospike. And, just guessing here […]

DIY Space: Personal Satellite Kits

For this DIY project things are a bit pricey–as in thousands of dollars pricey. If you’re one of those lucky few who happens to have that kind of money sitting around, then perhaps these two kits are meant for you. The kits are available online from Interorbital Systems (IOS). If you buy one or two, the rest […]

Smallsats, Cubesats, and Chipsats: Klein, Aber Oho!

Nope, you aren’t seeing things. There’s some German in the title there. The phrase essentially means small but mighty (like my wife). And the phrase describes, in a nutshell, the explosive growth and growing capabilities of these miniature mighty man-made moons. Nature.com has a fairly good write-up about the history and current state of Cubesats. It’s exciting […]

Small Satellite Building Event at Oxford

If you live near Harwell, Oxford, you have the opportunity to build a small satellite. Satellite Applications Catapult is hosting this event, “Build Your Own Cubesat Weekend,” near the end of this March, on the 29 and 30th. This event is meant to get ANYONE who has an interest in building a small satellite involved […]

Satellite Kits=Cheaper Satellites?

This TMCNet post points to SEA (Systems Engineering and Assessment, Ltd), a United Kingdom company that’s trying to make micro-satellites smaller and cheaper. They’re latest project is an OmniSat kit. The kit is supposed to be modular but flexible. What SEA is providing, is a common micro-satellite bus (you can read more about what a bus […]