Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Cubesats1

Last night, a rocket took off. It launched from an island in Virginia, turned east over the Atlantic Ocean, and sailed into the atmosphere. Aboard were 29 satellites — a record for one launch.


And one of those satellites? It was built by high schoolers.


That satellite — in space right now, whizzing over our heads — is called the TJ3Sat. Built by Virginia high-school students and their teachers, it represents more than six years of work. It is the first orbiting spacecraft built by high-schoolers.


The TJ3Sat

The TJ3Sat


You can also interact with it right now. Go outside, bring a short-wave radio and listen to its specified frequency (437.320 MHz). You’ll hear words spoken by its on-board voice processor, which were converted into waves and beamed back to the ground. Humans submitted those words using an online form — so you’re hearing, via space, the assembled messages of TJ3Sat’s human audience. Read more...


More about Space, Earth, Education, High School, and Science



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