Kickstarter and Cubesats=Cheaper space?

My Clearancejobs.com post regarding Kickstarter PocketQube. Relatively inexpensive satellites the size of a Rubik’s cube. Not much information about this (yet).

Cubesats galore

I’m sure everyone has read, seen, or heard about the latest feat regarding cubesats this November: 29 cubesats were deployed from one rocket launched in the US; and another 33 cubesats were deployed from a rocket launched by the Russians. The US launch was done courtesy of Orbital Sciences from Wallops Island, in Virginia using […]

Going Dutch

I’ve talked about cubesats before–they’re very inexpensive and let a lot of other people try their different ideas out in orbit. So, aside from SmallSat, the conference in Logan, Utah, others are hosting less ambitious, but just as dedicated meet-ups. Here’s an announcement for one in a restaurant in the Netherlands next Saturday. Sounds quite […]

Antenna airbags on cubesats

An inflatable antenna is an interesting alternative on a cubesat. This article talks about the boost in signal range with one of these things. Very interesting idea indeed, but not new. There are ground antennas that are inflatable, such as the GATR. But the idea is the same–make it cheaper and smaller, but keep the […]

Why space matters: Imaging satellite operations, Part 5

One is a lonely number. It takes a while for one low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite’s payload (the camera) to see the entire Earth’s surface. If you want to get pictures more quickly, say the same day something like a hurricane or a forest fire is happening, you want a CONSTELLATION of satellites orbiting the […]