Orbit Your Own Satellite For $8,000 208
RobGoldsmith sends word of Interorbital's TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit, which allows anyone to send a half-pound payload to low-earth orbit for $8,000. Your satellite will fly to orbit from Tonga atop an Interorbital Systems NEPTUNE 30 rocket along with 31 other TubeSats. It will function for several weeks, then its orbit will decay and it will burn up in the atmosphere. Interorbital plans to send up a load of 32 TubeSats every month. If you pay in full in advance, you get slotted onto a particular scheduled launch. Here are Interorbital's product page and brochure (PDF).
Re:I forsee (Score:2, Funny)
Hey, the average cost of a funeral is 10,000 so...its 2000 profit to the survivors. And the grand kids will think its great fun to watch Grandma finally return to where everyone knew she came from
Do I... (Score:4, Funny)
...get to chose where it comes down? I really don't know, but I wonder if one could design a .5 pound satellite with the express intention of surviving re-entry, like a 1/2 pound slug of lead in the shape of a dart or a sphere.
I don't need much mass to survive the heat of re-entry. A few grams at orbital velocity, in the right place, would be enough to give my enemies pause...
Re:Will falling space debris be a problem? (Score:5, Funny)
What was that?
Re:Ashes in space business (Score:5, Funny)
I need a rocket scientist... (Score:3, Funny)
Given that you'd need electronics on board and three thrusters, I doubt you could get a reentry-survivable slug of any appreciable mass up there under this program.
Still, its neat to think about wiping my enemies out with artificial meteorites.
McSputnik (Score:2, Funny)
catchy name. MySputnik? Sputniklets? Sputninnies? Sputmites? Spuklings? Spuklites?
Re:I forsee (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Do I... (Score:4, Funny)
...get to chose where it comes down? I really don't know, but I wonder if one could design a .5 pound satellite with the express intention of surviving re-entry, like a 1/2 pound slug of lead in the shape of a dart or a sphere.
That's one heck of a way to commit suicide.
Re:I forsee (Score:5, Funny)
fine, then you get to chop up the body into half-pound chunks.
Re:Pirates in Space! (Score:5, Funny)
What?
You honestly expect that to stop the RIAA?
Re:planetes? (Score:3, Funny)
I thought that too, until I read further. They don't put it high enough to be remain in orbit.
But of course the day will come soon when they will be able to put it into a stable orbit, and then it will become a concern.
I recently saw a simulation showing all the currently unclassified object being tracked in orbit around the earth. My instant reaction was "how the hell will we ever get another rocket through that lot?" Alien observers must think we are building a metal sphere to hide behind. Bit like a global tin foil hat :o)
800,000 (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Weeks? (Score:2, Funny)
Chunks are only a problem if you're squeamish.
Re:Will falling space debris be a problem? (Score:3, Funny)
" half-pound ball of nickel-cobalt cement reinforced with titantium carbide" "
Aren't you going to need a zirconium oxide layer on the outside as heat shield?