Tag Archives: Hackers

Jun 15 2012

ArduSat Arduino CubeSat Update

The NanoSatisfi team is building an Arduino CubeSat ArduSat. On this satellite they plan to put up to 5 Arduino’s and plug in 50+ sensors into them as well as 2 optical and 1 IR camera.

Once the satellite is on orbit they aim to give access to the general public/citizen scientists to the payload (Arduinos, sensors and camera) to upload their own scientific experiments.

The team want to capture the attention of the DIY community, hackers and makers, amateur astronomers and in general those interested in space exploration and the next frontier.

Sensor wise they have so far magnetometers, O3 sensors, GPS , gyros, plasma sensors, photometer, thermometer, pressure sensor, space radiation (bitflip) sensor, Geiger counter and 2 optical and 1 IR camera etc. The idea is that people can rent scientific packages for a week, during the week they run their experiment the team will send data constantly back to them to analyze.

Imagine general public, including teachers having access to experiment platform in space for a couple of hundreds of dollar and they analyze data and engage students, friends etc., it could revolutionize the way people see space and perceive space exploration.

The team are also looking for feedback from people interested in the project and want to hear ideas on sensors and experiments!

Watch ArduSat Kickstarter Video

Watch Sensor prototype demo

Watch The DISCOVER Space Challenge & ArduSat: Invent an experiment and run it in space!

Watch SciStarter & Science Cheerleader Join ArduSat as Community Partner

NanoSatisfi was founded by Austrian-born Peter Platzer a former high-energy physicist (CERN), former Hedge Fund Quantitative Trader, avid HP-41 hacker and Arduino enthusiast, along with Belgian aerospace engineer Jeroen Cappaert intern at NASA Ames Research Center, Canadian aerospace engineer Joel Spark intern at EADS Astrium and Hungarian Reka Kovacs intern at NASA Ames Research Center working on alternative methods of public outreach for space science. The four founders met at the International Space University in Strasbourg and thought that they could do something to provide affordable, open-source space exploration for everyone.

Check out the ArduSat Kickstarter page here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/575960623/ardusat-your-arduino-experiment-in-space

May 28 2012

Rocket Engineer Starts Mojave Makerspace

What happens when rocket scientists get together in their spare time?

Michael Clive builds rockets during the day and Makerspaces at night. And this is no ordinary Makerspace, it’s in the “Silicon Valley of Space”..also known as Mojave, California. Find out how Michael gained support for this unique water hole in the desert and some unique challenges he faces.

Watch How to build a place to make cool stuff

Mojave Makerspace / Hackerspace http://mojavemakers.org/

The Space Review – Hacking space http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2068/1

Mojave Air and Spaceport http://mojaveairport.com/

May 11 2012

Hackers In Space: Hackerspace Global Grid Interview

An interview given to Tom Nardi by Gregor Jehle (Hadez) of the Stuttgart Hackerspace was recently published on The Powerbase site.

In the interview Hadez discusses his ideas for distributed satellite ground station network and the creation of a Hackerspace Global Grid.

Read The Powerbase interview at
http://www.thepowerbase.com/2012/02/hackers-in-space-hackerspace-global-grid-interview/

Hackerspace Global Grid on Twitter
https://twitter.com/hxglobalgrid

Hadez took part in a presentation to the Chaos Computer Camp 2011 that can be seen at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/3892

May 4 2012

TechEdSat Challenge

Space Hackers fom Lausanne, Switzerland and San Francisco, USA have been working on the TechEdSat CubeSat challenge.

TechEdSat is a 1U CubeSat that will be launched on July 21, 2012 from Tanegashima, Japan aboard the HTV-3 ISS resupply mission. TechEdSat will be among the first CubeSats to be deployed from the ISS, and is investigating the use of Plug and Play software/hardware and intersatellite communication via Iridium and Orbcomm networks.

For this challenge, space hackers must implement a command and control system, utilizing both the OrbComm and Iridium modems as uplink and downlink. The software should be modular to facilitate the easy implementation of future commands, and should be fault tolerant.

A ground segment of the software should include the ability for a laptop (or bonus points for an Apple or Android phone) to issue commands to the spacecraft over Iridium/Orbcomm. The spacecraft segment should be written for a Linux environment able to listen for commands, and have the ability to send arbitrary data packages back to the ground.

Bonus points for relaying data received from the spacecraft automatically to Twitter. Space hackers will be issued interface documentation for Iridium and OrbComm modems, and engineering development hardware for testing. This software has the potential to fly on the TechEdSat mission if completed.

Find out more at https://github.com/AVGP/CubeSatRemote/wiki

Apr 29 2012

We Are Makers

MAKE magazine publisher Dale Dougherty says we’re all makers at heart, and shows cool new tools to tinker with, like Arduinos, affordable 3D printers, even DIY satellites.

The brief DIY satellite segment, with a picture of the Amateur Radio satellite OSCAR-7 starts 10:00 minutes into the video.

Watch Dale Dougherty: We are makers

The Making Your Own Satellites article refered to in the video appeared in editon 24 of MAKE magazine http://makezine.com/24/make_satellites/ . The $19.99 Digital Edition subscription covers 4 quarterly issues and all back issues.

Open Source Satellite Initiative DIYsatellite http://opensat.cc/download/DIYSatellite_en.pdf

London Hackspace work on HackSat1 http://www.uk.amsat.org/2482

2E0HTS Working the OSCAR-7 Satellite http://www.uk.amsat.org/4105

Apr 14 2012

TechEdSat – Challenge for Space Hackers – April 21-22

The International Space Apps Challenge is a 2 day technology development event, taking place April 21-22, during which citizens from around the world will work together to solve current challenges relevant to both space exploration and social need.

TechEdSat

TechEdSat

TechEdSat is an Amateur Radio CubeSat that will be launched on July 21, 2012 from Tanegashima, Japan aboard the HTV-3 ISS resupply mission. TechEdSat will be among the first CubeSats to be deployed from the ISS, and is investigating the use of Plug and Play software/hardware and intersatellite communication via Iridium and Orbcomm networks.

For this challenge, space hackers must implement a command and control system, utilizing both the OrbComm and Iridium modems as uplink and downlink. The software should be modular to facilitate the easy implementation of future commands, and should be fault tolerant.

A ground segment of the software should include the ability for a laptop (or bonus points for an Apple or Android phone) to issue commands to the spacecraft over Iridium/Orbcomm. The spacecraft segment should be written for a Linux environment able to listen for commands, and have the ability to send arbitrary data packages back to the ground.

Bonus points for relaying data received from the spacecraft automatically to Twitter.

Space hackers will be issued interface documentation for Iridium and OrbComm modems, and engineering development hardware for testing. This software has the potential to fly on the TechEdSat mission if completed.

Source: A New Command and Control Protocol for CubeSats
http://spaceappschallenge.org/challenge/new-command-and-control-protocol-cubesats/

International Space Apps Challenge http://spaceappschallenge.org/

TechEdSat to use ‘SatPhone’ http://www.uk.amsat.org/5018