

KickSat -- Your personal spacecraft in space - PanMan
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/251588730/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space

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MichaelApproved
_"As soon as funding is in place, we'll apply for a free launch through
several programs, such as NASA's ELaNa CubeSat program. While we are not
guaranteed a free launch, there are many such opportunities each year and I
believe this project has enough technical appeal and value to NASA to compete
with anything out there."_

They'll only be able to buy commercial launch if they get more money than the
kickstarter requires.

So what happens to the money if there's no free ride and they don't have
enough for a commercial launch?

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stfu
Exactly. "while we are not guaranteed a free launch" - seems to be depending a
lot on "ifs" and "buts".

There are also a bunch of similar projects around and the "getting the stuff
to space" aspect seems to be the central issue. For example:

<http://www.cubesatkit.com/>
<http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=1414>

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slamdunc
Really glad that they address this issue:

Q: Aren’t you going to create a lot of space debris doing this?

A: Debris is a huge concern to everyone in the space community. We certainly
want to be responsible space citizens in making sure that we don’t create more
of it and will comply with the international rules and guidelines for debris
mitigation...

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/science/space/06orbi.html>

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Ixiaus
That was the first thing I thought about when reading this - it would create a
lot of debris!

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nyellin
I read about Sprite in IEEE Spectrum and love the concept.
[http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/satellites/exploring-
spac...](http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/satellites/exploring-space-with-
chipsized-satellites/0)

That said, where are technical specifications? What microcontroller are they
using? What is the range of the wireless radio?

Will we be able to program the Sprite ourselves? Can we add more physical
sensors at our own expense? If so, is there a weight-limit?

Edit: KickStarter has some of the answers after all:

 _With a donation of $300 or more, you will be sponsoring the launch of a
single Sprite which you can call your own. You'll be able to name it and
specify the short message (for example, your initials) that it will transmit.
You'll also be able to see its position updated on KickSat.org as it flies
over a network of amateur ground stations.

For a donation of $1000 or more, you can request a Sprite development kit,
including a fully functioning Sprite with all schematics, source code, and
programming tools so that you can write your own flight code. You'll also
receive a step-by-step guide explaining how to receive and deconvolve the
radio signals from the spacecraft if you want to set up your own ground
station in addition to using the KickSat.org mission control website._

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quattrofan
Love this, chucked them $75.

