R.U. Sirius interviewed Randa Milliron, CEO of Interorbital Systems, "a 'rocket and spacecraft manufacturing company' that locates itself at the Mojave Airport and Spaceport in Mojave, California. They recently announced that they were offering to send people's personal satellites into low-earth orbit on a NEPTUNE 30 rocket for the low low low cost of $8,000."
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Yves Béhar (who is in an epic struggle with Marc Newson to claim the title of "sexiest industrial designer alive") designed this vibrator. It looks like a Miyazaki cartoon creature. The Form 2 takes a two-pronged approach to the vibrator, giving its user what they're calling "Sensation in Stereo.... More.
Michæl.Paukner's "The ancient Hebrew Conception of the Universe to illustrate the account of creation and the flood." Flickr link, but you really have to see it at the largest possible size.... More.
Michael Jackson's funeral cost one million dollars. His final outfit cost $35,000, and the flowers cost $16,000. Lord. Obviously I'm no MJ anyhow, but when I die, if there's a mil lying around? Feel free to bury me in nekkid dirt and use the rest to feed pie to starving kids.... More.
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Oh my. At that price, it's almost worth coming up with something just so I can say I touched space, however indirectly.
The interview doesn't say how much mass is permitted. I presume Not Much.
NO MORE SPACE JUNK!
On the Interorbital Systems webpage it gives a list of potential applications for such a satellite, one of them is "Private e-mail."
Does a Reed Malenfant work there?
@1 - if their naming convention is consistent, you get about 1kg or so.
They use graphics that poor, yet they're going to mine the moon and already sell moon rocks. If it was easier than "they" want you to believe, no nation would be struggling to make long range missiles.
By the sound of it they haven't even gotten a launch vehicle off the ground.
There are potentially cheaper alternatives to the highly engineered government built rockets, sure. But the way the article reads they have elves in a tree baking up nice fresh rockets for them.
I'm with StupidJerk. You shouldn't be allowed to launch anything without a way to safely and reliably bring it back down.
I don't suspect that this thing can lift that much mass. More than likely LEO, and very LEO at that. Good orbital altitude for research and what (and what research hasn't been done at that altitude anyway?). Given that the satellite would possess low mass more than likely, chances are good it would dispose of itself in the form of reentry, spreading its remnants as dust across the upper atmosphere. Recovery systems, heatshields and the like incur more mass; any applications would be nudged out by the increase. Satellites have been meeting a fiery end since 1957, chances are that any you could launch for $8000 would encounter the same fate.
But $8000? I'll wait to see if they can get any bird to fly first.
I've heard about this company before. I'll believe this when they actually get a launch vehicle into space.
The satellite you get will be launched into a very low orbit. It is low enough that atmospheric drag will de-orbit the satellite in a matter of weeks. No worries about long term space junk, but a rather limited life for whatever you put up. Of course what do you expect for $8k?
Sounds good. My satellite will consist of a sealed capsule containing a live goldfish (and water, of course!). I don't expect it to survive in orbit for very long - if it does it will certainly die upon re-entry. Should be interesting.
Space junk indeed.
This has my vote for dumbest idea of the year.
There is already so much garbage in orbit, let's not worsen the situation. NASA estimates there are more than 8000 of those debris in the stratosphere. It's pretty dangerous for those astronauts out there.
Wow. Get off my space lawn.
JoePosts,
good call, but what about a sealed (reinforced) biosphere?
That aside, I'm soooo with the SpaceJunkers saying there should at least be restrictions based on graceful (or explosive!) degradation of your payload.
Stop the clutter!
You shouldn't be allowed to launch anything without a way to safely and reliably bring it back down.
I'd like to introduce you to an old friend of mine, Sir Issac Newton.
Thank you for message. I am currently in Low Earth Orbit with limited access to e-mail.
I will be returning in approximately 8 weeks.
After some digging...
"Planet Earth has entered the age of the Personal Satellite with the introduction of Interorbital's TubeSat Personal Satellite (PS) Kit. The new IOS TubeSat PS Kit is the low-cost alternative to the CubeSat. It has three-quarters of the mass (0.75-kg or 1.65-lb) and volume of a CubeSat, but still offers plenty of room for most experiments or applications. And, best of all, the price of the TubeSat kit actually includes the price of a launch into Low-Earth-Orbit on an IOS NEPTUNE 30 launch vehicle. Since the TubeSats are placed into self-decaying orbits 310 kilometers (192 miles) above the Earth's surface, they do not contribute to the long-term build-up of orbital debris. After operating for a few months (the exact length of time on orbit is dependent on solar activity), they will safely re-enter the atmosphere and burn-up. TubeSats are designed to be orbit-friendly. Launches are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010."
lessee....1.1 lbs BBs, 0.5lbs C-4....well, maybe not.
#10
Uhm, stratosphere?
@#15
So, basically, what we're talking about here is a series of tubes...
Amazing that people worry about space junk when there's so much more EARTH junk.
It's about time that people can now have a voice that's uncensored by the middleman. I for one would like to get TV directly from Japan or Italy.
How about a 'personal satellite' that is a Very Large Electromagnet that will attract space junk to it, eventually gaining lots of mass, leading to orbit degradation and removed of satellite AND extra junk in re-entry fireball.
Otherwise, letting the masses pop a "personal" satellite up there for $8000 is a foolhardy idea.
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!
Still, a very interesting idea. I'm sure that there are a number of universities out there, as well as private researchers, who could assemble small, low weight experiments (something like Arduinos in orbit) that could go up, do there thing for a few weeks, then end as a fireball. Something appealing about that.
Going into the 1960s and 1970's, there were a number of small technology satellites that were not much larger than this (not counting the grapefruit that was Vanguard). What I have yet to see is one of these private little launch vehicles actually succeed. Let's not forget Conestoga (http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/constoga.htm) and the likes.
They already do this. There have been many University-built satellites launched even in the last year. Have a look at the first 10 or so satellites on this page for a sample of recently launched satellites:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php
@#21
Thanks. Interesting stuff there...
If I were to spend $8000 on a satellite, I would probably make a tiny rocket that lifts itself to a more stable orbit (sorry anti-space-junk folks) and then... and then I don't know what I'd do. Probably just a solar cell and some kind of pinging emitter just barely powerful enough for me to detect it when it flies by, and built in such a way that it would keep working for a long time.
If I had a bazillion dollars and could put anything in orbit, I'd send up something like this (or, alternately, dozens of Iridium-like satellites) and use it to give open internet access to people in places like Iran and North Korea. Or to set up an unstoppable bittorrent tracker...
(@20-22:Tiny university satellites often piggyback on the launch vehicles used for really big satellites.)
IT WON"T BE SPACE JUNK!!!!!!! Low Earth Orbit!! HELLO??? Space junk is the stuff that sticks around, and trust me these low earth orbitis won't stay!! I think its a great Idea!!! send 5 up a day!!!! Send a few idiots up too!
How much mass would you need to create life-support and re-entry systems suitable for a small rodent? Because it would be really cool to have a pet that had been to space. Hell, I'd even settle for a cockroach.
I fear MDH that your physics reference may be lost on stupidjerk.
To all you kneejerk reactionaries crying about spacejunk. It is LEO. Gravity will pull it back to Earth and it will burn up upon re-entry. I guess vagabondastronomer mentioned this already, but apparently it requires a bump.
sometimes the username is all you need to read.
Oh good! A low orbit garbage dump. Thanks guys!
@#28
(face palm...)
@brainspore
If you are willing to take a mosquito...
http://www.astroengine.com/?p=3836
You could probably try quite a variety of insects, bound to be more than just mosquitos that can do this. Of course, the re-entry system will take some of (more than) your mass allowance...maybe a miniature version of this:
http://andrews-space.com/content-main.php?subsection=MTA0
just a thought
and better yet...
just throw your money into the air
today please!
Someone should attach a small camera with a power source to one of these suckers, and beam the picture back to earth in a live feed. Then hook that live feed up to the Internet from right before launch until the thing cuts out having burned up in re-entry. With a snazzy URL, you might recoop a decent part of that 8k in advertising.
You could use the heat of reentry to generate power to run the camera! Use enough of it and it'll keep it cool and it'll survive reentry. Just get a big heat sink.
[yes, that's a joke.]
If only I can get my death-ray down to under the weight limit, then I'd hold the whole world hostage for one million dollars!. /Dr. Evil
Very good info!! thanks!!
Let's put Xeni up there!
Send up a transmitter which sends a coded message saying:
"Release our emmissary immediately, or we will annihilate all carbon-based lifeforms on your planet. You have two cycles to comply."
@#19:
I like that idea. Orbital Katamari Damacy! Though how you stop it before it grabs the ISS, the Moon and (gulp) the Earth, I wouldn't venture to say.
I'd like to put up a pound or so of metallic sodium or indium. Knowing of course that it will eventually reenter. The resulting high altitude cloud/ions should be useful for some kind of atmospheric observation. It might even be visible. That is, if one knew when and where to observe.