You could do something similar with a weather balloon, a lot cheaper and easier, practical for the average person. Get about 24 miles up, not space, but you can still capture stunning images of earth, and do some very unique experiments. Maybe send an SDR up and see what you can pick up and relay from space or around the globe, deploy a $20 drone and watch the video feed on the relay and see what happens at it tumbles down. Get your own weather data because you can.
Am I the only one who find really awesome how cheap this application have become in the last decade? I mean, not that anyone can launch a satellite in space, but this is much more accessible and provide so much data for scientific research, plus engineers to learn and tinker to improve equipment.
One by one. North Korea has been thinking of targeting individuals with these as they'll be doing about 1,340 km/s when they hit the target's head. (Neglecting air resistance because its thin up there and always marginal ;) ) So that's what 202.5 thousand tons on their head. They're still in the preliminary stages of course. First they have to have the smallest children ride a rocket up to plug into these little satellites or just tap them towards the Earth.
The average person almost could do it on their own, using weather balloons, you can reach 24 miles up, not space, but still an area with an amazing view, and while space experiments won't happen, atmosphere experiments and imaging are awesome, some of the images are better than from real satellites.
The purpose of this is to allow who might not have the education and skills to program a satellite access to sensors in space. It gives high school students the ability to collect real data from a satellite. The actual flight computer has an ARM processor to control orientation and systems. The idea, and it's a good one, is to make it easy for students and others to run experiments in space. The Arduino is a prefect platform for that because it's easy.
So this is cool beans and I want a spot on one of these satellites for the novelty value alone, but what kind of experiments can actually be done with this?
When I was in school I was on a team designing a 6U (6 of those cubes in a 3x2 configuration) nanosatellite to track space debris. What's really cool about those magnetorquers is that you can design them directly into your solar panels.
Lead shielding is very heavy, commonly for designs like this memory is done in triple and a three way voting system is implemented for each byte. When reading memory two of the version are checked and if they differ the third version is used and assumed to be correct.
you use shielding so that the only electronics that are really exposed to the harsh conditions of space are the solar panels. I worked on a cube sat a couple years ago when I was in school.
Due to the slow clock speed of the Arduino, you don't get anywhere near as much interference, nor do you need to worry about space hardening them as much. For long running experiments that monitor only 1-2 sensors, an Arduino is ideal, without all the extra overhead an ARM CPU might add.
Because this project is clearly about allowing amateurs to experiment in space, and test things out without the need to have major expertise. Why do people always criticise the use of Arduino, PIC, etc... Sometimes the right tool for the job is the one the average person can use, not the one designed for engineers.
These satellites are deployed in low Earth orbit, so they are still well shielded by the Earth's magnetosphere - radiation on the same order of magnitude as for commercial airlines. The frequency of hits is unlikely to overwhelm the microcontroller's ECC implementation (ie. Hamming codes). If these satellites were up for longer, I might worry about the probability of cumulative damage to the ICs, though. Or exposure to solar flares.
Actually, I meant the system as s/w and not the physical system. You can always use some hi-tech materials that can withstand the delta T and other harsh space environment.
I believe you incorrectly stated that it has no mass. That would be incorrect, object in space still have mass even though they remain weightless (Sort of). Either way fun project and as an active ham radio operator I look forward to finding it on my HT one day.
Dave, Great blog entry! I think you need to develop a project for the cube sat. That would make some great blog entries! Maybe a microphone listening to an audio generator to prove that "if a tree falls in space and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound!".
Jon also has plans for larger production runs of those boards, assuming that they work well. If not, they'll go through some design revisions first. Also: You gotta remember that once a CubeSat goes into space, you ain't getting it back - it'll either burn up on re-entry (decaying orbit) or if launched appropriately, it'll end up wandering space for the rest of it's life.
the big players launch their own satellites on their own (well other companies make them, so bought might be a better term) rockets, they don't have to worry about whether there is anything explosive in their payload (as long as it isn't THAT explosive, weaponizing space is still illegal).
Also wish we would have hackerspace events over here. Ho wait, hold the presses, just looked it up. I am getting old and don't even know we have tons of those over here. Even in my own city.... Damn me... Nice that hackerspacesDOTorg shows by country where to find them. I really should start using the internet the right way after using it since '94. Damn, have to start looking for a "for dummies" internet book ;).
You are not alone in thinking that satellites either used fuel or gyro for stabilization... I just assumed that was part of why they weighed so much and were so expensive. Now I want my own satellites. :) I wonder if it would be possibly to launch these into a higher orbit from the ISS, 6 months seems like such a short window to play with them.
Given the short expected lifespan of the satellite, I don't think it will be a problem, it should last the expected 6 months until reentry just fine...
didnt quite get what you said but I also had both my cellphone and my old pc for 6 years before changing it, and the new has 4 years already and the old one i gave it to my mom so it's still working. But what i buy is usually of good quality, most crap doesnt last more than 2 years. But the problem is the consumerist culture, people throw stuff away even if it still works fine and if something fails, also throw it and buy a new one as there's no way to repair anything.
Can they put a motorized laser pointer on it? Then have a competition to see how many people you can piss off from space? Also, don't most passives such as capacitors fail quickly after repeated heating and cooling?
probably a combination of crc, light shielding (aluminum or something similar), and the fact that they are operating inside the earth's magnetic field (which shields the earth from said radiation).
Just one of those CPU chips has more memory and processing power than there was in all the spacecraft ever sent to the moon. That's not silly; that's awesome.
I wonder how this sat copes with cosmic radiation scrambling the memory, as energetic particles hit the Dram or flash and cause bit flips. Great project !
I'd like to offer a custom magnetograph application written in C++ that I am currently using in my own custom ground magnetometer station. The project is ready to go into production in-house for public consumption. The software, hardware & firmware, all developed by myself, uses the same exact atmega platform (arduino nano/ATMega32). My version also gets it's data from a similar honeywell 3axis magnetometer which sends the data to PC via bluetooth. (continued.....)
does the sat have an onboard magnetometer? I have an app already developed, a magnetograph that could probably be easily interfaced with an onboard sensor. all i need is x/y/z data
What if ratio of mass and surface of small space object is such that there is no enough speed during re-entry to create high temp to incinerate everything?
I think arduino is great for what it was designed for which is simple introduction to microcontrollers for inexperienced people. I dislike arduino being used for stuff it's not good for like this. Anyone who is writing code for a satellite would be most likely proficient enough to make the same code for say an ARM which would be considerably more powerful and use the same amount of power in an application like this. Use the right tool for the job.
it's not robust at all, i dont think it could withstand space radiation for too long. plus you have a delta T of 120 degrees, so i imagine the solder joints could break too after some time just like it happens with the hot water pipes (old lead ones, delta T less than 30ºC) due to thermal expansion (also what happened to the xbox360 with its red ring of death which also had less than 120 degrees delta T)
Building and deploying an operational satellite is definitely on my bucket list.
same
Same here.
You could do something similar with a weather balloon, a lot cheaper and easier, practical for the average person. Get about 24 miles up, not space, but you can still capture stunning images of earth, and do some very unique experiments. Maybe send an SDR up and see what you can pick up and relay from space or around the globe, deploy a $20 drone and watch the video feed on the relay and see what happens at it tumbles down. Get your own weather data because you can.
Well that is incredibly cool too, and gives you a different world of data.
This comment thread is just a minuscule fraction of the reason as to why there is as much spacejunk as there is currently.
BLINK IN SPACE!
Serial print fibonacci numbers to a 7 segment display so you at least pretend to be doing something cool xDD
I was serious! I want to see my LED blink against the backdrop of the earth. Screw the other experiments, that's all I need!
Am I the only one who find really awesome how cheap this application have become in the last decade? I mean, not that anyone can launch a satellite in space, but this is much more accessible and provide so much data for scientific research, plus engineers to learn and tinker to improve equipment.
+Luiz Fernando Cavalcanti dos Santos
I just had a thought. One day there will be thousands of these sharp boxes plummeting to earth.
One by one. North Korea has been thinking of targeting individuals with these as they'll be doing about 1,340 km/s when they hit the target's head. (Neglecting air resistance because its thin up there and always marginal ;) ) So that's what 202.5 thousand tons on their head. They're still in the preliminary stages of course. First they have to have the smallest children ride a rocket up to plug into these little satellites or just tap them towards the Earth.
The average person almost could do it on their own, using weather balloons, you can reach 24 miles up, not space, but still an area with an amazing view, and while space experiments won't happen, atmosphere experiments and imaging are awesome, some of the images are better than from real satellites.
+Micky Not from that altitude, they would burn up completely in the atmosphere on the way down.
Micky congratulations you’re an idiot
Am I the only one who wants to see him tear down one of those CubeSat satellites?
Wow magnetic satellite attitude control !! I was stuck with gyroscopic wheels... Neat concept !!
Dave, do more talks with Jonathan... he exudes so much passion and enthusiasm!
+JG Or if Jon did his own videos maybe? :D
I didn't even notice until reading that comment. Amazing how the brain can filter out the background noise when focusing on a person speaking.
I've listened to joxer online a few times now, and he would make a wonderful educator. So clearly spoken, so easy to understand.
The purpose of this is to allow who might not have the education and skills to program a satellite access to sensors in space. It gives high school students the ability to collect real data from a satellite. The actual flight computer has an ARM processor to control orientation and systems. The idea, and it's a good one, is to make it easy for students and others to run experiments in space. The Arduino is a prefect platform for that because it's easy.
One great Idea. Thanks Dave. The idea of using a simple coil of wire to maneuver sat is mind boggling.
Modern chips are quite robust against ESD, esp when soldered in circuit.
So this is cool beans and I want a spot on one of these satellites for the novelty value alone, but what kind of experiments can actually be done with this?
It was a very busy and noisy hackerspace with dozens of people working and chatting. Impossible to get good audio.
When I was in school I was on a team designing a 6U (6 of those cubes in a 3x2 configuration) nanosatellite to track space debris. What's really cool about those magnetorquers is that you can design them directly into your solar panels.
Love the magnetic coil course correction! That's just brilliant.
Lead shielding is very heavy, commonly for designs like this memory is done in triple and a three way voting system is implemented for each byte. When reading memory two of the version are checked and if they differ the third version is used and assumed to be correct.
Neat! I hope it will survive the harsh space conditions. Looking forward for this project.
Gives new meaning to the term Hackerspace...
That is possibly one of the sexiest circuit boards I have ever seen
I love cubesat projects and this can use for not skilled users. I love it, fantastic project!
you use shielding so that the only electronics that are really exposed to the harsh conditions of space are the solar panels. I worked on a cube sat a couple years ago when I was in school.
Due to the slow clock speed of the Arduino, you don't get anywhere near as much interference, nor do you need to worry about space hardening them as much. For long running experiments that monitor only 1-2 sensors, an Arduino is ideal, without all the extra overhead an ARM CPU might add.
This is a brilliantly awesome project. I love to hear about this sort of stuff.
Awesome! didn't know anything about this. Tuned in now. Thanks Dave!
I like the idea of orientation control using the Earth's magnetic field.
Because this project is clearly about allowing amateurs to experiment in space, and test things out without the need to have major expertise.
Why do people always criticise the use of Arduino, PIC, etc... Sometimes the right tool for the job is the one the average person can use, not the one designed for engineers.
Dave, If you can get in touch with someone who's equipped to listen on those CubeSat. That'd make for a great RF tutorial and interview.
These satellites are deployed in low Earth orbit, so they are still well shielded by the Earth's magnetosphere - radiation on the same order of magnitude as for commercial airlines. The frequency of hits is unlikely to overwhelm the microcontroller's ECC implementation (ie. Hamming codes).
If these satellites were up for longer, I might worry about the probability of cumulative damage to the ICs, though. Or exposure to solar flares.
are arduino microcontrollers actually space-rated, or is this part of the project?
Very neat to see how the Cubesats are designed, built, and how they use Amateur Radio for communications.
Actually, I meant the system as s/w and not the physical system. You can always use some hi-tech materials that can withstand the delta T and other harsh space environment.
Its a fantastic, fantastic idea.
I would push for this really hard if I was a school teacher.
"Hello other worlds!"
or
"Hello Space"
or
"Hello moon"
I saw Jon present on this at linux.conf.au in Canberra this year. Very very cool project! Nice coverage, Dave!
A good hello world for satellite construction! Basically an arduino version of sputnik. :3
I believe you incorrectly stated that it has no mass. That would be incorrect, object in space still have mass even though they remain weightless (Sort of). Either way fun project and as an active ham radio operator I look forward to finding it on my HT one day.
A way cool video. These are cooler than I even thought.
The magnetic torque is simply genius.
Dave, Great blog entry! I think you need to develop a project for the cube sat. That would make some great blog entries! Maybe a microphone listening to an audio generator to prove that "if a tree falls in space and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound!".
Jon also has plans for larger production runs of those boards, assuming that they work well. If not, they'll go through some design revisions first. Also: You gotta remember that once a CubeSat goes into space, you ain't getting it back - it'll either burn up on re-entry (decaying orbit) or if launched appropriately, it'll end up wandering space for the rest of it's life.
Excellent video, I was always curious about cube-sats and this one particularly with the ability to upload sketches to it :)
Runs on "Blink sketch"
Fantastic! We live in interesting times indeed ;-)
Probably some shielding. I doubt it's in a Tupperware box. :)
Arduino powered Jack in the box IN SPAAAACE! Wow. This is awesome tech. You a hobby radio operator by any chance? (epic stuff for a cool follow up)
My don't throw my comps away. I am using same tower for 15 years. Old components I keep under bad :)
the big players launch their own satellites on their own (well other companies make them, so bought might be a better term) rockets, they don't have to worry about whether there is anything explosive in their payload (as long as it isn't THAT explosive, weaponizing space is still illegal).
Good thinking, Thats something i would really like to know more about too.. Would be a fantastic follow up video.
Seriously cool!
Also wish we would have hackerspace events over here. Ho wait, hold the presses, just looked it up. I am getting old and don't even know we have tons of those over here. Even in my own city.... Damn me... Nice that hackerspacesDOTorg shows by country where to find them. I really should start using the internet the right way after using it since '94. Damn, have to start looking for a "for dummies" internet book ;).
I would also like to know this. Since the satellite is cheap and made from commercial components, my guess is that there is little or no hardening.
That is so cool. I wonder if there is hardening (cosmic rays) in the board or if all of that is in the case...
You are not alone in thinking that satellites either used fuel or gyro for stabilization... I just assumed that was part of why they weighed so much and were so expensive. Now I want my own satellites. :) I wonder if it would be possibly to launch these into a higher orbit from the ISS, 6 months seems like such a short window to play with them.
Given the short expected lifespan of the satellite, I don't think it will be a problem, it should last the expected 6 months until reentry just fine...
they should put a parachute on the cube sat to deploy on re entry
best line ever , have you got a live feed , so you can see your LED's blinking hahahah
Wow, coils adjust orientations!
How about exposure to radiations in space, are the component used for these boards certified for that ?
didnt quite get what you said but I also had both my cellphone and my old pc for 6 years before changing it, and the new has 4 years already and the old one i gave it to my mom so it's still working. But what i buy is usually of good quality, most crap doesnt last more than 2 years. But the problem is the consumerist culture, people throw stuff away even if it still works fine and if something fails, also throw it and buy a new one as there's no way to repair anything.
Outstanding! A future AmpHour guest (if he hasn't been already)?
Can they put a motorized laser pointer on it? Then have a competition to see how many people you can piss off from space?
Also, don't most passives such as capacitors fail quickly after repeated heating and cooling?
A "Hello World!" in Space would seriously be a great tribute to geeks everywhere!
According to the wiki page, it contains "one digital 3-axis magnetometer (MAG3110)".
probably a combination of crc, light shielding (aluminum or something similar), and the fact that they are operating inside the earth's magnetic field (which shields the earth from said radiation).
aluminium is terrible for shielding.
if you would know anything about electrionics, there is always an optimal temperature it works on.
Arduino on satellites? Really? Has it come to this?
Come to what?
it's a bit silly
Just one of those CPU chips has more memory and processing power than there was in all the spacecraft ever sent to the moon. That's not silly; that's awesome.
Yes, I don't see what's wrong with the Arduino.
@@JasonMasters That's not true
Aww.. for a second I thought you could directly upload your sketches through ham radio 2 meter /w satellite antenna and a computer somehow
yeah, we like Devo too
You should include that in your docu ... If you'll ever finish editing :)
This would be worth following up on. I thought the main enemy to batteries is heat?
Doesn't matter, these boards are made to withstand the radiation and heat of space at least for a few years before the chips degrade.
I wonder how this sat copes with cosmic radiation scrambling the memory, as energetic particles hit the Dram or flash and cause bit flips. Great project !
I'd like to offer a custom magnetograph application written in C++ that I am currently using in my own custom ground magnetometer station. The project is ready to go into production in-house for public consumption. The software, hardware & firmware, all developed by myself, uses the same exact atmega platform (arduino nano/ATMega32). My version also gets it's data from a similar honeywell 3axis magnetometer which sends the data to PC via bluetooth. (continued.....)
Would love to be intouch
This is epic!
I would like to know, what kind of experiments are being done on cubesat?
Very good idea
This video is AWESOME! I want to upload a sketch!
wow.. seems like very smart man....
Gonna have to set up a Serial.print(LEDstate) on your arduino sat then I guess? :)
Ashar Farhan has begun to build a CubeSat in India. BIXT and uBIXT
does the sat have an onboard magnetometer? I have an app already developed, a magnetograph that could probably be easily interfaced with an onboard sensor. all i need is x/y/z data
wow its really amazing....
Does this mean that the board with multiple "micro arduinos" could be ran as a cluster computer on a single board?
Did you not understand that the orbit is not maintained and decays ?
I didn't know that Arduino has became such a robust and reliable system to control satellites, I thought it was for hobbyist only!!
True, but it'll be an awesome 6 months :), I know I'm ganna send a few sketches if i can
Great video. What sort of radiation hardening or shielding is in place on the spacecraft? Greetings from Apache Junction, Arizona.
How do you think it will survive re-entry and crash landing at terminal velocity ?
Didn't get the arduino array (matrix) idea .... Why not a CORTEX there ?.
How hard would it be to program it to do a barrel roll?
What if ratio of mass and surface of small space object is such that there is no enough speed during re-entry to create high temp to incinerate everything?
google "tungsten rods from god".
Lead shielding most likely to absorb high energy particles or at least reduce them.
Might be enough for the satellites lifetime whic his quite short.
I think arduino is great for what it was designed for which is simple introduction to microcontrollers for inexperienced people. I dislike arduino being used for stuff it's not good for like this. Anyone who is writing code for a satellite would be most likely proficient enough to make the same code for say an ARM which would be considerably more powerful and use the same amount of power in an application like this. Use the right tool for the job.
'cause it in SPAAACE
I would hope they use a crapton of shielding.
how long would it take to hack those connections?
So what again were the EXPERIMENTS on this satellite?
it's not robust at all, i dont think it could withstand space radiation for too long. plus you have a delta T of 120 degrees, so i imagine the solder joints could break too after some time just like it happens with the hot water pipes (old lead ones, delta T less than 30ºC) due to thermal expansion (also what happened to the xbox360 with its red ring of death which also had less than 120 degrees delta T)
i heard is a small voice calling dave to build a background reduction system :D