Really Rocket Science

Got a spare $80,000 and a dream of putting your own satellite into space?

Well, you’ve come to the right place. A recent article from News.com showcases the exciting CubeSat program, based at Stanford and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, which allows students and companies from a around the world to launch tiny satellites for cut-rate prices without the bureaucratic and logistical hurdles they might experience if they tried to launch them on their own.

For around $40,000 for development and $40,000 for launch, the CubeSat program has put dozens of one kilogram, ten-centimeter cubed satellites 240-360 miles up in the heavens. Says one of the program’s principle founders Prof. Bob Twiggs:

"I kind of look at this as the Apple II. The ordinary person can get something into space. We don’t know what the ultimate use is, but look what happened to the Internet.”

So what are these mini satellites doing other than helping schools and individuals claim their own chunk of Space? Well, Stanford launch a three-cubed CubeSat in 2003, called QuakeSat, which monitors the seismic energy released over faults which could be used to predict earthquakes… a useful device if there ever was one for quake-prone California.

Students around the world have been using the CubeSat program to gain a working knowledge of spacecraft design that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to engage in. University students in Columbia and Romania are currently in the process of putting together their own CubeSat, as are high school students at San Jose’s Independence High.

While no word is out yet about how you could go about building your own CubeSat with the declining price of space technology, here’s $5 saying you’ll find a CubeSat in a box of Cracker Jacks in the next twenty years.

While you may not normally turn to Really Rocket Science for book recommendations, we’ve always believed that even the best engineers (and enthusiasts) could use a little literature in their life.  Still, if you’re going to indulge in the good stuff, its always a good idea to start with some work that has some applicability to your every day life, which is why we’re recommending a work written by a French playwright chronicle the afterlife of the 20th century’s most preeminent scientist… errr… ummm… Well, now that I think about it, it probably isn’t even close to applicable to your everyday life, but it does sound pretty cool, right?

While the review NYT Science Editor Dennis Overbye gave Jean-Claude Carrière’s Please, Mr. Einstein (Amazon, Powells) was a little ho-hum, the topic of the book, the musings and travails of Albert Einstein from beyond the grave, was interesting enough that it might be worth a look. Written as a play, it appears a little heavy on the monologue, but seems to work, overall, as a novel that "isn’t so much[…] about physics as it is[…] about how people feel about physics."

Sure, we may be more inclined to cosy up to a copy of Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Amazon, Powells) but, come on, how often do you find a play/novel that work in discussions of spacetime between the cameos of Picasso, Newton, and Elvis?

While snow days might elicit cries of joy from kids here in the US, half-way around the world loss of a satellite signal might shutter the school house doors, albeit without as much elation.

The Indian Express (an online source for news from India) reported last week that many small towns and villages throughout India regularly suffer visual freezes for up to 10 minutes on live telecasts transmitted over the country’s EDUSAT education-only satellite. What’s worse is that residents of the country’s wetter northern regions occasionally lose access to the system for days and weeks at a time when rain blocks clear access to the bird.

The irony of the system’s failure, of course, is that it might be preventing those tasked with fixing its problem in the future from learning from it. While post graduate sociology students and civil service aspirants, who have been completely tuned out of the ongoing Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) exam coaching currently going on are rumored to be the one’s losing the most, Anna University, whose schools use the satellite system, educates engineers at 250 locations around the country.

If you didn’t already know about it, the EDUSAT, launched in 2004, is a path-breaking project that aims to insure access to education to everyone throughout the world’s largest democracy and is the first satellite meant exclusively for formal education, ranging from grade school to higher education. According to the Indian News article,

"It provides audio-visual lessons employing Direct To Home (DTH) quality broadcast. The satellite has multiple regional beams covering different parts of India — five Ku-band transponders with spot beams covering northern, north-eastern, eastern, southern and western regions and six C-band transponders with their footprints covering the entire country."

Maybe NASA Watch didn’t mean any disrespect when it said in an editors note a couple of weeks ago that,

"Sources inside the development of the Ares 1 launch vehicle (aka Crew Launch Vehicle or "The Stick") have reported that the current design is underpowered to the tune of a metric ton or more. As currently designed, Ares 1 would not be able to put the present Orion spacecraft design (Crew Exploration Vehicle) into the orbit NASA desires for missions to the ISS. This issue is more pronounced for CEV missions to the moon."

But Jeff Hanley, the manager of NASA’s Constellation Project which is responsible for developing the rockets and spacecraft the United States is building to replace the space shuttle and return to the Moon, took it as a "Yo Mama" joke gone too far and responded to the allegations as if the blog had broken his slide ruler just for the fun of it.

As he said in an email sent Nov. 13 and circulated far beyond NASA in the hours that followed:

"[M]any who carp from the sidelines do not seem to understand the systems engineering process. They instead want to sensationalize any issue to whatever end or preferred outcome they wish."

Ooooo, how do you like ‘dem apples NASA Watch?

According to a Nov. 15 Space News Interview, Hanley wanted to make sure that the critics of the program (e.g. that trash talking NASA Watch) got his message.

"I thought it was important that we set the record straight on some of the external stuff that’s been going around. I don’t want people to think that because they don’t see us responding to it on a regular basis that has any basis in truth."

For their part, Space Watch editor recognized the effort Hanley went to to make sure they got his message… and see it as a pretty chump move.

"Jeff Hanley went to great lengths to make certain that I got his email. The way he did so (I have the original distribution list) makes me wonder why he was so eager to use other people to get his thoughts to me – but not do so himself – either directly – or through PAO. Moreover, if Hanley holds PAO- accredited news sources such as NASA Watch in such distain, one wonders why he’d even bother to reply in the first place. Just one of life’s little mysteries, I suppose."

Awww, snap. Who said NASA wasn’t a little like high school?

Well, I know I’m a horrible driver, but my friends tell me I’m pretty decent with directions, so on long road-trips I’m usually the "navigator." In addition to my excellent map reading skills, knowledge of the compass rose, and keen sense of direction, I’m also pretty good at announcing where we should be turning, staying straight, or getting off the highway — oh my god, you just missed that exit. How could you have missed it? — just a few seconds before the necessary maneuver.

Still, while I may be pretty good at my shotgun role, I’m probably not nearly as a good as a device dedicated solely to the task. That’s why, even if you can’t afford one of those fancier devices or always have that navigating, right-hand man at your stead, you could always assemble a GPS navigating system yourself. Although the task isn’t too difficult, we found instructions over a navigadget for turning your Dell X50 palm PC into a lean, mean navigating machine with the help of a wireless bluetooth GPS a receiver and a little know-how.

And, although this might not be the most off the wall DIY Friday, just remember to thank us when you cut the time to Grandma’s house next Thursday with a little help from RRS, we’re smaller that that navigating buddy of yours and certainly require far less pit stops.

Infamous Dubai-based news network, Al Jazeera announced today that it would be making its programming availablie to the U.S. using Globecast, according to an AP story.

While we here at Really Rocket Science choose to ignore the politics have Al Jazeera’s U.S. debut, we are all about giving you access to the coordinates for the satellite should you choose to take a look. Just the same, your Al-TV is not going to be free, Globecast’s website says news from the gulf is going to cost you a a one-time fee of $179.

Infamous Qatar-based news network, Al Jazeera announced today that it would be making its programming availablie to the U.S. using Globecast, according to an AP story.

While we here at Really Rocket Science choose to ignore the politics have Al Jazeera’s U.S. debut, we are all about giving you access to the coordinates for the satellite should you choose to take a look. Just the same, your Al-TV is not going to be free, Globecast’s website says news from the gulf is going to cost you a  one-time fee of $179.

Despite the costs and the politics, if you get a chance to to check the Al Jazeera out it’d certainly be worth your time.  While you have some differences of opinion with the news editors, there’s no doubt that the network is one of the few outlets for free speech in the Middle East and interesting way of seeing the region from the inside out.  Not sure you want to pay $179 to watching the network on your TV 24/7?  At the very least, check out the stellar 2004 documentary Control Room which chronicles the lead up to and the beginning the Iraq War from the inside of Al Jazeera.

If you’re like most RRS readers you probably have an old satellite dish (or seven) sitting around your place and loathe the idea of parting with perfectly good electronics. This being the case, here are some ideas…

1. Solar Death Ray Hot Dogs
   
   It’s probably not the most efficient way to cook a dog, but for a brat in the desert its hard to beat.
2. Redneck Deer Stand
   
   Sure, you could just make stand completely out of wood, but, come on, where’s the sport in that. Now if only we could figure out a way to use the ’82 Gremlin on cement blocks on the front lawn…
3. WiFi Antenna
   

   Certainly the most useful idea even if its not the most exciting.

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Ok, honestly, what could be cooler than having your name — yes, YOUR name — on a future piece of space junk? Well, I can probably think of a few things (a free donut, a good massage, etc.), but having your name blasted in to space does seem pretty cool.

If you agree, you should check out MIT and Georgia Tech’s Your Name In Space project, which aims to put "America’s most ambitious student spacecraft" up in the sky with the "tax-deductible" support of people looking for their "space in space". The Boson Globe had the story yesterday, but the project website gets a little more specific:

"In 2010, a small unmanned research spacecraft designed by students will launch into Earth’s orbit. The science on board will help pave the way for humankind to explore our solar system. We invite you to participate in this landmark mission by uploading content to be printed on our spacecraft…

Choose a location on the outside of the spacecraft and get pictures of your content photographed in space. Choose a location inside the return vehicle, and after five weeks in orbit we’ll return to you the actual piece of spacecraft hardware which carried your image into orbit."

The best part? Even if you can’t pony up the cold hard cash (a donation as small as $35 gets you a picture of your name or image on the craft before the flight, $250 gets you piece after reentry), you can still send your name up into the heavens. While financial supporters get a photograph of their name/logo/etc. in space or even a piece of the spacecraft following the mission, anyone can provide their name and information and have it encoded on to a DVD that will hitch a ride on the craft during its journey. Sure, it might not be a trip aboard the ISS, but, for now, its the next closest (and far cheaper) alternative.

The great science blog, Science-a-go-go, posted in an interesting story last night about an interesting last ditch solution to global warming problems, should the ice caps melt and, as Al Gore predicted, the sea start filling up lower Manhattan. The great idea? Some "sun parasols," according to University of Arizona’s Roger Angel.

"Angel’s plan involves launching a flotilla of trillions of small free-flying spacecraft a million miles above Earth into an orbit aligned with the sun, called the L1 Lagrange orbit. The spacecraft would form a long, cylindrical cloud about 4,000 miles in diameter and 60,000 miles in length. About 10 percent of the sunlight passing through the length of the cloud would be diverted away from Earth, uniformly reducing sunlight by about 2 percent over the entire planet. Enough to balance the heating caused by a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, believes Angel."

Not a half bad plan, but, if you ask me, I think we might be a little better off beating this problem to the pass, parking our harms, and enjoying a few crisp, fall bike rides.