Big Hopes for Tiny Satellites

shelflife writes: "ST5, according to NASA, will usher in a new era of small, smart spacecraft. Why send a human into space when you can send a computer? And why send something almost as heavy as a UNIVAC if a laptop will do? Compact nanosatellites will have everything you'd want in a full-size, luxury satellite. They will have the attitudinal and navigational capabilities needed to maintain proper orbits, and they will be capable of complex, high-bandwidth communications functions."

Why not?

[dghcasp]

Why send a human into space when you can send a computer

That would have made Apollo 11 a really boring movie: write(nasafd,"houston, we have a problem",31)

Re:If we're sending MicroSATs to space

[ekrout]

The solar flare disturbance simulator functions are right before all of the methods stolen from the Linux and BSD kernel.

(It's a joke...I ain't no troll ;-)

Re:Surviving re-entry

[unitron]

Why not just send the shuttle by to snag 'em with a big butterfly net and bring 'em home?