Cheap student-built satellite launched by SpaceX is a success.
Brown engineering students build a low-cost satellite and successfully send it into space
When we think of space missions, we assume they demand a big budget. Well, a team of engineering students at Brown University has turned that assumption on its head.
They have demonstrated that satellites can be built and launched on shoestring common materials and supplies available at hardware stores and online retailers.
SBUNDIC was born in 2021 as a project between Brown’s School of Engineering and the Italian National Research Council. Its goal was to build an inexpensive satellite to be launched, aboard SpaceX rocket, in 12 months.
The group, made of 40 students from engineering and fields as diverse as economics, international relations, and sculpture, managed to design, build and test a satellite capable to operating in outer space. All this with materials they bought from online stores like Amazon and hardware stores, which include 48 Energizer AA batteries and a $20 CPU (a microprocessor), which robotics fans will know.
The students added a 3D-printed drag sail made of Kapton polyimide film to the cubic satellite, which has allowed the satellite to leave orbit in a shorter time frame than previously calculated, thus reducing the risk of collision.
To be cleared for launch, the satellite had to pass qualification tests (vacuum, thermal and vibration), and comply with the strict rules and regulations followed by SpaceX and NASA have. For example, they used reptile heating lamps in a vacuum chamber to test the heat shield they created to protect the satellite’s electronics from the sun.
The satellite not only operated successfully but could have a huge impact on the efforts to cut down on the growing problem of space debris, which poses a potential danger to all current and future space vehicles.
References
Satellite built by Brown students and launched by SpaceX shows a low-cost way to reduce space junk | the University of Brown. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://www.brown.edu/news/2023-03-15/sbudnic
Este satélite barato lanzado por SpaceX ha sido un éxito: lo hicieron unos estudiantes con piezas compradas en Amazon | Xataka. Retrieved March 22, 2023 from https://www.xataka.com/espacio/este-satelite-barato-lanzado-spacex-ha-sido-exito-hicieron-unos-estudiantes-piezas-compradas-amazon
