DailyDirt: Get Your Own Satellite

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Private space technology is becoming ever more affordable. Not too long ago, only large governments were able to send stuff into space. Now, large companies can do it, and even some wealthy individuals can control their own satellite (or their own part of one). Here are just a few (more) interesting projects that suggest satellites will be ever more accessible to regular folks (and not just for satellite TV or internet access).

• George Clooney controls a satellite that has spied on Sudan since 2010. The Satellite Sentinel Project promotes human rights by keeping an eye on possible war crimes. [url]
• NASA couldn't continue operating its GALEX satellite due to budget constraints, so it's lending the aging satellite to Caltech to keep it running and observing ultraviolet wavelengths in our galaxy. This is the only satellite currently observing UV events, and this science mission is being privately funded to keep it going. [url]
• The European Student Earth Orbiter (ESEO) mission aims to put a micro-satellite in low Earth orbit to provide students hands-on experience with an active space project. It will be launched in 2015-2016 and stay in orbit for at least 6 months. [url]
• The Arkyd project has succeeded in achieving its Kickstarter goal, making a crowdfunded satellite a reality. Planetary Resources is expected to deliver a functioning satellite sometime around August 2015. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: arkyd, caltech, esa, galex, george clooney, inexpensive space projects, micro-satellite, nasa, satellite, satellite sentinel project, science, space, sudan
Companies: esa, kickstarter, nasa, planetary resources