When we find out that this or that space agency has built a satellite to send into space, we usually think that this task has required a lot of effort. big budget. While we may be right, not all satellites have to cost millions of euros. There are less ambitious projects that are really cheap.
A group of students from Brown University, in the United States, thought of carrying the concept from “cheap” to the extreme. And as if that weren’t enough, he not only managed to build a fully functional satellite, but also tackled a growing and complex problem: space debris. Let’s see in detail the interesting work of him.
Designed by students, launched by SpaceX
The SBUDNIC was born in 2021 as a project between the Brown School of Engineering and the Italian National Research Council. The objective? Build an inexpensive satellite to be launched aboard a spacex rocket in 12 months. Thus, the students got down to work to meet the established deadlines.
Unlike the resources that private companies or space agencies have, the members of the project had to manage to design, build and test a satellite capable of operating in outer space. All this with materials purchased from hardware stores and online stores like Amazon, which included a 20 euro CPU and 48 Energizer AA batteries.
The university allowed the use of a 3D printer for the construction of the drag sail, a Kapton polyimide film that it added to the satellite to help it re-enter earth. The satellite was ready on time and successfully passed the demanding requirements of SpaceX and NASA for launch.
Finally, the brainchild of this group of students traveled into space inside a larger carrier satellite, the D-Orbit, and began to orbit the Earth as expected. Now, the data from the Air Force Space Command indicates that the satellite has achieved its mission, and that it is descending thanks to the built-in drag sail.
This element, key to combating space debris, was deployed some 520 kilometers, well above the orbit of the International Space Station. Now, almost a year later, he is about 470 kilometers on Earth. What is interesting is that the other devices that were deployed alongside it continue to orbit at about 500 kilometers.
From the Brown School of Engineering they estimate that the SBUDNIC will complete its re-entry within five years, a substantial improvement compared to the 25 or 27 years that were estimated without the drag sail. This solution, they explain, could be adopted by other actors that launch small satellites and thus considerably reduce space debris.
Images: Marco Cruz (via Brown University)
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