A Thousand Dollar Sprite...

One of the Sprite nanosatellites (Photo: KickSat)

Pssst, do you wanna buy a satellite? No, really - do you? Well, Zac Manchester would like to sell you one. Not only that, but he claims that the thing could be built and launched into orbit for just a few hundred dollars. For that price, however, you're not going to be getting a big satellite. Manchester's Sprite spacecraft are actually about the size of a couple of postage stamps, but they have tiny versions of all the basic equipment that the big ones have.

One of the Sprite nanosatellites (Photo: Cornell University)

Zac is a graduate student in Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University, and was part of the team that originally designed the Sprites for use as space probes - the idea being that they could travel on solar winds, like cosmic dust, traveling deep into space without the need for fuel. Three of the one-square-inch spacecraft were delivered to the International Space Station this May, to see how they how well they could stand up to the rigors of outer space. They are currently still mounted on the outside of the station, and are due to be brought back to Earth in a couple of years.
Each Sprite incorporates a Texas Instruments MSP430 microcontroller, a radio transceiver, solar cells, capacitors and antenna. In their current incarnation, they can't do much more than transmit simple bits of data, but Manchester says that future versions could easily include sensors such as thermometers or cameras.

The KickSat satellite will carry hundreds or even thousands of the Sprites into orbit (Image: KickSat)

A small box-like satellite - or CubeSat - would be used to carry the Sprites into low-altitude orbit. It could contain hundreds or even thousands of spring-loaded Sprites, which would shoot out as soon as the CubeSat's lid was opened from ground control via a radio signal.
Once in orbit, the Sprites' transmitted radio signals would be monitored by a network of amateur ground-based tracking stations. The aim would be to demonstrate their communications capabilities, while also observing how long they remained in orbit, and how well they were able to perform in outer space. They should all burn up when they re-enter the earth's atmosphere, within a few days or weeks of their release.
Manchester is now raising funds for the demonstration project via the Kickstarter fund-raising website. Depending on how much money is raised, his team will either have to wait for a spot on one of several free launch programs, or be able to purchase a commercial launch of their own. If they are able to purchase a launch, he is hoping for the Sprites to be in orbit by early 2013.
Yes, but how do you get to call one of them your own? By contributing US$300 via Kickstarter, that's how. Such a donation will allow you to name one of the Sprites, specify the four-character message that it will transmit (such as your initials), and track it on the KickSat website. A donation of $1,000 or more will put an actual physical Sprite in your hands, and provide you with the source code and programming tools to write its custom flight code. Should you wish to set up your own ground station, you will also be instructed on how to receive and interpret its radio signal.
Groups are also encouraged to sponsor fleets of Sprites, each one of which will bear that group's logo on its lilliputian surface.

By Ben Coxworth for Gizmag
Original article HERE.

Texas Wildfires from ISS

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station photographed east-central Texas on September 6, 2011, highlighting numerous smoke plumes caused by wildfires burning across the state. Smoke plumes are clearly visible to the east of Austin; to the north of Houston; to the northwest of Lake Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend Reservoir; and to the west of Shreveport, Louisiana. Diffuse smoke is moving offshore into the Gulf of Mexico. Part of an ISS photovoltaic radiator panel is visible at image top center. (Reuters/NASA Earth Observatory/Handout)#

ISS Headed to the Abyss - IBT

In an effort to keep outer space clean and junk-free, Russia and its partners plan to sink the International Space Station (ISS) in the ocean after its scheduled retirement in 2020, Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said in a statement on Wednesday.

"After it completes its existence, we will be forced to sink the ISS. It cannot be left in orbit, it's too complex, too heavy an object, it can leave behind lots of rubbish," said deputy head of Roskosmos space agency Vitaly Davydov.

The ISS was placed in Earth’s lower orbit in 1988 and is a joint project of space agencies from the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.
Space junk can be disastrous for spacecrafts and satellites, according to astronauts. Mir space station was also sunk by Russia into the Pacific Ocean in 2001 when its 15-year life cycle ended.
Russia strives to lead in space exploration after NASA’s 30-year space shuttle mission ended on July 21 with successful landing of the final space shuttle, Atlantis.    

Source: The International Business Times

Kepler on Earth's Horizon

Backdropped by Earth's horizon and the blackness of space, European Space Agency's (ESA) "Johannes Kepler" Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2) ending its mission, begins its relative separation from the International Space Station. The ATV-2 undocked from the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 10:46 a.m. (EDT) on June 20, 2011.

Image NASA

The Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV) are probably the most complicated series of spacecraft ever built in Europe. The ATV-series are launched and operated by the European Space Agency. Their complexity comes from the nature of their mission and the constraints imposed by their destination, the International Space Station (ISS).

 

Like all ATVs, ATV-2 — dubbed Johannes Kepler — is designed to carry over seven tons of experiments, fuel, water, food and other supplies from Earth to the ISS orbiting at about 217 miles. When it arrives, it becomes a 777 cubic foot extension to the ISS, giving extra space for the six astronauts and cosmonauts who form the permanent ISS crew.

Kepler spacecraft on approach to the ISS. Photographed by astronaut  Paolo Nespoli from the International Space Station. Image ESA

ATV-2 docked to the ISS as seen from the space shuttle Endeavour

Image ESA

While attached, apart from transferring its cargo to the ISS, the ATV also gets loaded up with solid and liquid waste from the station; its thrusters are used to periodically boost the ISS orbit (which decays with time) and it can also be used for emergency maneuvers, such as those required if a piece of space debris is predicted to hit the station.

After about six months, the ATV is undocked from the ISS, and undergoes two carefully planned maneuvers, which direct it on a trajectory that will cause it to burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere over an uninhabited area of the Pacific ocean. The first ATV, Jules Verne, was launched on 9 March 2008 and reentered the atmosphere on 29 September 2008. Johannes Kepler flew its mission between 16 February and 21 June 2011.

ATV-2 automatically docking with the ISS in February 2011.

Guide Earth Tour from Space (Video)

The coast of Namibia from space.

Amazing Digital Photography and video from the space shuttle.

Click Here for your own guided tour of earth from space.

Exactly How Many People are in Space Right Now?

The Answer is 6.