Aerospace

Mission Lifetimes

All space missions end-- some with a whimper, some with a 'fwoosh' of reentry.  For longevity, it's hard to surpass the twin Voyager probes.  They have been flying steadily for almost 30 years (since 1977), have passed the heliopause's ...

Article - Project Calliope - Feb 15 2011 - 8:47pm

The Science 2.0 Satellite: Where It Started

Back before I became a ham-licensed PCB-ordering flux-soldering basement-building boutique satellite maker, it all started with an idea-- actually, with a column on my other ID here at Science 2.0.  And since I'm still cooking with a 101-degree fever, ...

Blog Post - Project Calliope - Mar 8 2011 - 9:56pm

Geoid: What Earth Would Look Like Shaped Only By Gravity

Gravity does funny things.   While the Earth looks rather round in pictures from space, the distortions that would have to occur in order to have uniform gravity everywhere would make it look more like...a potato, or a squashed basketball. ESA's GOCE ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 31 2011 - 4:09pm

If Interorbital Fails (Tubesat2Cubesat)

I am launching my Project Calliope picosatellite on an Interorbital Systems (IOS) rocket.  IOS invented the Tubesat format.  What if Interorbital fails-- their rockets all blow up, they run out of money, they decide to do interpretive dance instead of rock ...

Article - Project Calliope - Apr 20 2011 - 9:10am

50 Years Of Manned Space Flight- Alan Shepard And Freedom 7

50 years ago today, Alan Shepard journeyed into the Final Frontier and became the first American in space, following USSR cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin by a period of weeks. Here is a look at some of details from that period and, when you are done, you can see ou ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Sep 9 2012 - 9:27pm

Project Mercury- Inside The Cocoon

50 years ago today Alan Shepard became the first American into space, launching at just after 9AM from the Space Coast of Florida and finishing just over 15 minutes and 117 miles up later.  The most famous book (and movie) about the early days of NASA is & ...

Article - News Staff - May 5 2011 - 2:19pm

The 6 Classic Orbital Elements

'Project Calliope' will have a nearly circular polar low-earth orbit... but what does that actually mean?  Here's a brief mini course in orbital mechanics. Any orbit requires 6 elements to specify the position and motion fully.  Since we liv ...

Article - Project Calliope - May 31 2011 - 10:09pm

Orbit Power Calculations

Fellow Tubesat pioneer Wesley Faler of Fluid&Reason has calculated power curves we can expect for our orbiting picosatellites.  His summarized estimate is that 6-cell solar panel in a sun-synchronous polar orbit with perfect positioning can expect to p ...

Article - Project Calliope - Jun 8 2011 - 11:15am

A Typical Week In A 1-Person Satellite Project

Into every satellite a little grunt work must fall.  Today you get to read the exceedingly boring but entirely real details of a typical week of satellite construction and project management. Outreach Work The flight pins and first mission patches have ar ...

Article - Project Calliope - Jun 14 2011 - 2:55pm

The Risks Of Shielding Electronics

Calliope, like any Low Earth Orbit satellite (LEO), is going up to, well, LEO.  Space weather-- radiation and energetic particles emitted from an active Sun-- can damage satellites.  This region of space is partially protected from the worst effects of sp ...

Article - Project Calliope - Jun 23 2011 - 3:43pm