Author Topic: KickSat Sprites aboard CRS 3 (Read 30958 times)

Bob Shaw · « **on:** 04/05/2014 02:57 am »

I'm one of 104 owners of the tiny KickSat Sprite satellites due to be launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 CRS 3 mission to the ISS in the next fortnight. My Sprite will, if all goes well, broadcast the name of my business in Morse Code (GPS) to the world, while the KickSat bus will display the full company name in laser-etched letters on the side. Arthur C Clarke would be proud, RAH prouder still!

I'll attempt, with a radio enthusiast friend, to receive the signal from the Sprite, but obviously that may not happen - but, we will try.

The whole project was funded via KickStarter, a crowdfunding website which allowed supporters to choose a variety of funding levels and rewards, including an actual orbital launch.

During the 1970s and early 1980s I pursued the goal of low-cost satellite development (via my 'By your Own Bootrap SATellite' or BOBSAT proposal and later through the NASA 'Getaway Special' program) and I have to say that having - at last - even a tiny satellite payload aboard a rocket is intensely gratifying. I'm very pleased that Zac Manchester (the guiding light of KickSat) finally developed the new paradigm of personal spaceflight to the point of flight. Even more importantly, he found a way to pay for the hardware, a point at which pre-Internet proposals tended to stall. Thanks, Zac!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KickSat

I'll try to pick up press and web coverage and post links to it in this thread; any contributions are welcome.

Jimmy_C · « **Reply #1 on:** 04/05/2014 06:22 am »

That's really cool. What kind of science can be done with a satellite that small? Can it be tracked by radar? Stuff already done, but useful for school or college students perhaps. (How fast it's going by Doppler shift maybe? Perhaps details about the Earth's magnetic field, gravitational field, or atmosphere at that height? How digital circuits respond to radiation at that altitude? Just guessing.)

dsobin · « **Reply #2 on:** 04/05/2014 05:12 pm »

So, please tell us the frequency and modulation of your transmission so we can all listen! I'm sure after launch it will be easy to find the orbital elements online.

tait13 · « **Reply #3 on:** 04/05/2014 09:37 pm »

https://github.com/zacinaction/kicksat/wiki/Radio-Info The KickSat wiki has all this info. It appears all the sprites are using the same frequency.

Bob Shaw · « **Reply #4 on:** 04/05/2014 11:47 pm »

The initial KickSats are very much proof of concept test articles, which will hopefully prove that a swarm of femtosats can be effectively ejected from an already tiny 3u CubeSat. The subsequent possibilities are enormous!

Here are a few qualitative applications (feel free to comment):

* multi-point observation of transient events
* 3D observation of processes
* massively redundant data points in harsh environments

For specifics, consider magnetosphere research, synthetic aperture RADAR, and upper atmosphere dynamics.

The obvious limitations are power, data transmission rates and the physicality of instruments - but in the right place, femtosats offer many possibilities.

Future crowd-funded (etc) projects include a swarm mission to the Moon, and there are also serious discussions regarding CubeSat Mars missions and associated very safe boost stage technologies (eg PV water breakdown into H and O2 or small electric drives within the CubeSat size specification).

Go and Google!

Bob Shaw · « **Reply #5 on:** 04/05/2014 11:59 pm »

Quote from: Jimmy_C on 04/05/2014 06:22 am

That's really cool. What kind of science can be done with a satellite that small? Can it be tracked by radar? Stuff already done, but useful for school or college students perhaps. (How fast it's going by Doppler shift maybe? Perhaps details about the Earth's magnetic field, gravitational field, or atmosphere at that height? How digital circuits respond to radiation at that altitude? Just guessing.)

RADAR is probably not a starter, I think, but the femtosats themselves can possibly talk to GPS satellites. See my other post!

Lar · « **Reply #6 on:** 04/06/2014 02:44 am »

Quote from: Paul Howard on 04/06/2014 02:27 am

Another Kickstarter thread, causing people to willingly give these companies free advertising on forums. Reported to mod.

1 ) this is a private citizen (and NSF member in good standing) who HAS A SATELLITE about to launch. Not kickstarter advertising, but rather, something quite momentous.

2 ) If you have an issue, report it, DO NOT POST.

3 ) If you report something, be nice. Don't be nasty, don't be snide, don't disparage others, just report the issue.

Bob Shaw · « **Reply #7 on:** 04/06/2014 01:57 pm »

Gosh, that was a raw nerve that got touched there! I'm sorry if my post caused offence - I linked to the Kickstarter page because it was a crucial part of the story, and my role throughout has been merely that of a consumer rather than an originator. So, it was important to hear about it from the horse's mouth, so speak.

I hope everyone else found it interesting.

zacinaction · « **Reply #8 on:** 04/06/2014 05:57 pm »

Hi Everyone,

I run the KickSat project (it's my PhD thesis). If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. If you're a Ham, I'd love to have you try to listen to KickSat and/or the Sprites. Check out our website for some background info: kicksat.net.

- Zac

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #9 on:** 04/06/2014 06:07 pm »

Good man Zac, welcome to the site's forum.

Lots of news and not enough fingers, but I'll e-mail you later today and see if there's something we can put together for the news site. It's a cool idea and there's automatic interest in CRS-3.

ArbitraryConstant · « **Reply #10 on:** 04/06/2014 08:06 pm »

Quote from: Bob Shaw on 04/05/2014 11:47 pm

synthetic aperture RADAR, and upper atmosphere dynamics.

That seems like a really interesting application. With computer technology we're getting really good at solving for complex problems using dispersed data points like this.

How long will they remain in orbit? Do you think this technology represents a debris problem if used on large scale?

Bob Shaw · « **Reply #11 on:** 04/06/2014 11:58 pm »

The KickSat Sprites won't remain in orbit long - I understand that the KickSat carrier with it's cargo will be ejected before the circularisation burn, so will have a low perigee to start with. In addition, their surface area is large relative to their mass (not that they are very dense to start with) so they will 'feel' atmospheric drag very quickly. Finally, the Sprites won't be ejected from the KickSat immediately, so although the KickSat bus won't suffer the same rapid drag effects it will be in orbit for (I think) a fortnight, and will certainly feel something by then. This sounds like Zac's territory, though!

I'd imagine that future sprites will have more solar cell area (eg on both sides) and perhaps use supercapacitor power storage to allow a burst of electrical energy to fire up an instrument, transmitter or whatever. Even so, the design limitations are clear: the things are, by definition, tiny. One project for a Lunar femtosat mission envisages hundreds of - literally - printed spacecraft, with the circuitry and components on a very light foil base rather than KickSat's circuit-board so clearly things could get even lighter.

Vultur · « **Reply #12 on:** 04/07/2014 04:38 am »

I find the idea of these ultra-tiny satellites very intriguing. I wish I'd been involved in KickSat, but at the time I'd never even heard of Kickstarter (and was in college so couldn't have afforded one anyway)...

Lar · « **Reply #13 on:** 04/07/2014 05:02 am »

Quote from: Bob Shaw on 04/06/2014 11:58 pm

One project for a Lunar femtosat mission envisages hundreds of - literally - printed spacecraft, with the circuitry and components on a very light foil base rather than KickSat's circuit-board so clearly things could get even lighter.

I supported that one but I don't think it got past the goal to get funded...

Bob Shaw · « **Reply #14 on:** 04/07/2014 05:30 am »

The Lunar project failed in it's original attempt to raise money, but was then offered adequate funding elsewhere (as I understand it).

I *do* hope to be aboard, at least in terms of a fraction of the payload!

Hmmm... ...LEO, the Moon... ...anybody going to Mars?

Sohl · « **Reply #15 on:** 04/07/2014 12:54 pm »

Good luck Bob and Zac!

Prober · « **Reply #16 on:** 04/12/2014 04:18 pm »

Quote from: zacinaction on 04/06/2014 05:57 pm

Hi Everyone,

I run the KickSat project (it's my PhD thesis). If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. If you're a Ham, I'd love to have you try to listen to KickSat and/or the Sprites. Check out our website for some background info: kicksat.net.

- Zac

congrats on your kickstarter and the project.

Get in your head question: What Radiation-hardening techniques did you use? What was your thinking with this project?

Bob Shaw · « **Reply #17 on:** 04/25/2014 10:15 pm »

There's an interview with Zac on NASA Edge:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/46645286

He's on at 1:08:35 or so.

Interestingly, he says that the Sprites will last "from two days to a week" in orbit. The KickSat Bus has been described as staying up for less than ninety days.

I met a bunch of old friends in the space game over the Easter weekend at the Eastercon SF Convention in Glasgow - and I delighted in pointing out to them that Sputnik could broadcast just one letter, but my satellite was able to send three: G P S. Oh, and in deference to a *lot* of history, my Sprite has now been officially named 'BOBSat' after my original 1970s By your Own Bootstrap Satellite proposal. And yes, there were many pints of real ale raised to toast the wee beastie!

Prober · « **Reply #18 on:** 05/02/2014 01:53 am »

Any more to this story?

Vultur · « **Reply #19 on:** 05/02/2014 04:07 am »

Quote from: Prober on 05/02/2014 01:53 am

Any more to this story?

According to this the Sprites will be released May 4th

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts/816584

Quote from: Bob Shaw on 04/07/2014 05:30 am

The Lunar project failed in it's original attempt to raise money, but was then offered adequate funding elsewhere (as I understand it).

I *do* hope to be aboard, at least in terms of a fraction of the payload!

This is the Pocket Spacecraft project http://pocketspacecraft.com/

I saw that, but wasn't sure how "real" / likely to happen it was. So the mission probably will happen then?