CHIPSat will be the first satellite to be controlled using TCP/IP and FTP Internet protocols. Satellite control over the Internet using TCP/IP and FTP was demonstrated on the UoSat-12 microsat, but CHIPSat will be the first to implement the concept as the only means of satellite communication.
SpaceDev is building the microsat for Berkeley’s Space Science Lab, under a NASA-funded $6.8 million fixed-price contract. The Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) satellite is designed for a one year mission to photograph interstellar background using all-sky spectroscopy. It’s on-schedule for a mid-December launch.
SpaceDev develops micro and nano satellites, as well as hybrid rocket-based orbital Maneuvering and orbital Transfer Vehicles.
Berkeley’s Space Science Lab is involved in dozens of space research projects and has an advanced Microsat program.
Many colleges and high schools are building their own CubeSat. Stanford’s CubeSat has the kit. CubeSats cost $5,000 to build and $30,000 to launch. They can be built and launched in a year. The first launch was last year. They use amateur-satellite frequencies at 435 – 438 MHz, 260 – 270 MHz, 400 – 450 MHz, 400 – 410 MHz, 650 – 670 MHz, 830 850 MHz, 10.45 – 10.5 GHz, 76 – 81 GHz, 144 – 149 GHz, and 241 – 248 GHz. AMSAT has been doing it for years.
The world leader in microsats is probably the University of Surrey which also has links to great microsat resources including Lloyd Wood’s Satellite Constellation Guide.
Today, birds wearing tiny transponders are satellite tracked. Tiny deviced might also link via a SkyNet Global Hawk, solar airplanes, a $50K geocache hobby satellite or a geosynch cluster sat. Self-assembling, “ad hoc” networks with sensing nodes can be dropped from airplanes and hidden in rocks. The big trick; getting close enough to “dart” the dog.
Nanoantennas could dramatically increase the precision of medical imaging and detect chemical and biological warfare agents. Nanoantennas work by using clouds of electrons, all moving in unison as if they were a single object instead of millions of individual electrons. Nanotechnology goes Beyond Alchemy. Intel will unfurl its nanotechnology plans at its developer conference next week
Interconnected “microsat swarms” with fractal arrays and light power may be possible. Berkeley has also developed an ad hoc sensor network that Intel has been talking up. Intel will integrate WiFi into their processors and may use ad hoc sensor networks to link them. Throw up a few hundred clustered Intel Media Players with embedded single chip cell phones and watch what happens.
