KSP Community CubeSat

[mythic_fci]

After looking at all of this, why not use this mission as a ion-drive testbed? Electric propulsion is still very primitive in terms of in-space tests, and if we succeed with Earth orbit testing, we can reach for the Sun-Earth L1 point to research things like solar radiation.

[Aethon]

Do we have a better cost estimate yet? Even a LEO mission could be in the hundreds of thousands.

Holy cow (not cussing sucks and isn't as motivational) people. Last I checked this thread had 2000 views. If I can't come up with $1000 for this project in the next year- without ever delving into my own resources, I'll hang my head in shame. Maybe this is just my skill here but come on.

'Member that science teacher you had in school. Yeah that one you liked so much. No the one that's still teaching. Go see him /her- thank them for the time they spent on you, talk about how their sciencing inspired you, and when they're done yackin'..... (wait for it...) just mention this project to them... progress to Kerbal EDU. If five percent of us get an AP physics class involved, or a bake sale, or a- gulp, hot summer, ch-cheerleader car wash.

Or those of you still in primary school ( whatever they call it where you live ). Ask mom or dad ( whoever's easier ) if they remember that video game they didn't want to cough up 16 bucks for during the Steam sale because games are good for nothing??? Well you and a bunch of your new friends from the game are sending an actual freaking space craft into space, and that some time in the near future, you're going to need an additional $10, $20, (euros whatever)- wait two days and then hit up the other parent.

If there are just a hundred others out there like me ($1000) ..well you have math skills.

We're our own dern kickstart!

Edited July 16, 2014 by Aethon

[dharak1]

I know my science teacher from last year could probably help me raise money for it.

[Nicholander]

Yeah, we definitely are doing a KickStarter! But one of the first things we should do is actually figure out what our first mission to LEO (And maybe, just MAYBE, to GTO) is going to do ounce in orbit other then take a few pictures. To bad we can't do a debris de-orbit tech demo.

[Kevon87]

My question is: Are the cubesat kits made to order by the company or do you have to put it together by yourself, like a kit built plane? If its the latter, who's going to be doing the actual construction.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Kevon87

[dharak1]

As far as I know you have to put them together yourself.

[Tommygun]

I think they supply the metal cubesat frame?

The rest is built and supplied by the buyers.

[Nicholander]

My question is: Are the cubesat kits made to order by the company or do you have to put it together by yourself, like a kit built plane? If its the latter, who's going to be doing the actual construction.

I think it's going to be constructed where K^2 lives.

[dharak1]

You have to buy the frame from them too. A 2U chassis from clyde space costs 1600$

[Aethon]

To bad we can't do a debris de-orbit tech demo.

Well you've got at least a year, to come up with a revolutionary, paradigm shifting, ketchup in a squeeze bottle, imagine what it's like to ride on a light beam, way to DO IT!

[Kevon87]

You have to buy the frame from them too. A 2U chassis from clyde space costs 1600$

A lot cheaper than here:http://www.cubesatshop.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=66 Thats like $4000.

[AngelLestat]

My question is: Are the cubesat kits made to order by the company or do you have to put it together by yourself, like a kit built plane? If its the latter, who's going to be doing the actual construction.

This are just some of the sites who sell this parts:

http://www.cubesatkit.com/

http://www.cubesat.org/index.php/collaborate/suppliers

http://www.cubesatshop.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=88&category_id=9&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=71&vmcchk=1&Itemid=71

http://stephenmurphey.com/where-to-buy-cubesat-parts/

We need to connect all parts depending our mission.

The problem is that we are not an university or some group well organized. We all live in different locations.

But it would depend on how good the submitted idea would be, and how feasible it is to be done.

Then with attention, all is possible. Maybe squad can help with the project organization.

[PakledHostage]

If there are just a hundred others out there like me ($1000) ..well you have math skills

With that much enthusiasm and skill at writing passionately, I think you may have just volunteered yourself for writing the Kickstarter campaign blurb!

But seriously, I'd be willing to kick in time and money to help this actually come together too if the goals are realistic. But there are a lot of logistics that would need to be sorted out first: Financial, marketing, technical, project management, etc. And we need a "hook" to capture people's imaginations. Maybe something as simple as sending a Bill, Bob and Jeb figurine into orbit with a camera showing the view outside, plus little inset images of our heros?

[Moss]

I think it's going to be constructed where K^2 lives.

Are we allowed to know where that is?

[dharak1]

I noticed a 6U chassis on that cubesat shop website. Is anyone offering launches for a satellite with that form?

[Kevon87]

and we need a "hook" to capture people's imaginations. Maybe something as simple as sending a bill, bob and jeb figurine into orbit with a camera showing the view outside, plus little inset images of our heros?

exactly! Thank you!

"Like KSP? Well here's your chance to send Bill,Bob and Jeb into space for real!"

We could even sell t-shirts with the guys under a pic of a cubesat with the slogan "Ship just got real"

Edited July 16, 2014 by Kevon87

[cpast]

You don't need to buy anything, not even the chassis (although they recommend you get deployment springs from Cal Poly, even that's not a requirement) -- you can make just about all of it if you so choose, provided it meets specs. Cubesat isn't a company, it's a standard. Anything meeting the Cubesat spec is perfectly fine for a launch, whether you built it from scratch, paid someone to design and build the whole thing, or anywhere in between (many launches are universities who build the satellite themselves). Cal Poly inspects Cubesats before flight, and decides on waivers for anything violating spec, although the launch provider has ultimate control over what flies on their rocket and can require whatever additional things they want.

Points in the spec to note:

* Mass of a 3U is limited to 4 kg, although there can be exceptions on a mission-by-mission basis. 6U can have up to 12 kg.

* Ordinarily, stored chemical energy is at most 100 Watt-hours (can be higher on a case-by-case basis, but not all launchers will be OK with that)

* All propulsion has to comply with AFSPVMAN91-710, so anything does not quite go.

[RuBisCO]

I was thinking if we want to go beyond LEO we are going to have to piggyback on someone else that doing some exotic propulsion technology demonstrators.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=651178434927366&id=111800578865157

Fat chance their kooky propellant-less propulsion system will work but success or failure it's all good, is that not the kerbal moto? And if by some technological miracle it does work then Jeb, Bill and Bob could go around the Moon, Mars, Phobos and back!

[Aethon]

With that much enthusiasm ... goodness snipped

Thank you. Tho as I said in the other thread, one wall of text, a three minute KSP movie by Nassault with a cubesat mod and his mad skills (Pale blue dot... Tito- gimme a tissue).. Hell, I'll probably fund the whole thing myself.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Aethon

[Nicholander]

Speaking of propulsion, how much would a basic propulsion system that could raise the apogee enough to have noticeably different results from any of the science experiments we put on the CubeSat cost? (I'm assuming that we're going to put some experiments on it.)

Edited July 16, 2014 by Nicholander

[dharak1]

If k^2 is OK with construction happening in his town I'm all for it otherwise we can always pick a major city in the US we can put it together at. Also I'm not going to have internet until Friday so I'll have lots of catching up to do.

[K^2]

I did some math on the tether. A 10cm x 10cm cross sectional area will generate 18μN of drag (ballistic model) and up to 7.8mA of current at 300km. (3x10^-11kg/m³) At field strength of 40μT, which is pretty typical near Earth surface, that's just 0.3μN per meter of tether. So the tether would have to be at least 60 meters long just to compensate for the drag of the cubesat itself. And it will generate its own drag as well. The tidal force is barely sufficient at these scales as well.

Tethered electromagnetic drive is obviously a workable principle based on these numbers, but not for a cubesat. You need a significantly larger satellite to do a good demo of it.

Pity. It would have been a great project. But there are some other propulsion methods that can be looked into.

[Nicholander]

A pity indeed. Though, what are some other ideas for propulsion, like how much would an ion engine cost?

EDIT: And I just got an EXTREMELY Kerbal idea, trying to do PROJECT ORION. (Much smaller, and non-nuclear bombs, and it's expensive, probably illegal, impossible for Launch Vehicle providers to even consider launching it, and the CubeSat would probably not be able to handle the explosions, and.... But still.)

Edited July 16, 2014 by Nicholander

[EpicRootHairCell]

Non nuclear pulse propulsion, is a terrible idea as it would have low isp compared to chemical rockets, however it would satisfy our criteria for doing something wacky

[Nicholander]

I know that actually it would be an absolutely terrible idea and we should not even consider it, but I just thought of it and thought that I'd just tell you the very Kerbal but also very stupid idea.