KickSat

Zachary R. Manchester and KickSat

KickSat Sprite prototype

KickSat is a small-satellite (femtosatellite) project inaugurated in early October, 2011, to launch a large number of very small satellites from a 3U CubeSat. The satellites have been characterized as being the size of a large postage stamp.^[1][2] and also as "cracker size".^[3] The mission launch was originally scheduled for late 2013^[4] and was launched April 18, 2014.^[5][6]

Kicksat reached its orbit and transmitted beacon signals that were received by radio amateurs, telemetry data allowed the prediction of the orbit and the reentry on 15 May 2014 at about 01:30 UTC. Due to a clock reset, however, the femtosatellites were not deployed but burned up inside the KickSat mothership.

History

The project was crowdfunded through Kickstarter.^[7][8][9] Part of the appeal was in offering "personal spaceflight", the chance to effectively and affordably own and operate one's own satellite.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Design

In its minimal configuration, each Sprite femtosatellite will be designed to send a very short message (a few bytes long) to a network of ground stations.^[14] Firmware developer kits were sent to donors who contributed enough to qualify for customizing their own Sprite.^[15]

Sprites can be organized into fleets; one of them will be named for the British Interplanetary Society.^[16] London Hackspace has begun work on its own ground station.^[17]

Inaugural mission

KickSat launched on an ISS commercial resupply mission, SpaceX CRS-3, originally scheduled for late 2013,^[4] but ultimately delayed until April 18, 2014.^[18] On April 30, 2014 the microcontroller managing the master clock had been reset due to a technical problem. This resulted in a two-week delay of the launch of the sprites. On May 14, 2014 KickSat reentered the atmosphere and burned up; all sprites were lost.^[19]

Future work

Plans to launch KickSat-2 have been announced.^[20] In February 2015, NASA announced it had selected KickSat-2 for launch as part of its CubeSat Launch Initiative.^[21]

References

Further reading

• Peter Murray (August 15, 2011). "Computer Chip-Sized Spacecraft Will Explore Space In Swarms". Singularity Hub. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
• Jim Waymer (May 13, 2011). "Cornell mini-satellites to ride on shuttle". The Ithaca Journal (Ithaca, N.Y.). p. A1. 
• Charles Q. Choi (April 29, 2011). "Cracker-size satellites to launch with Space Shuttle Endeavour". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
• Paul Gilster (April 28, 2011). "Tiny Spacecraft Point to Future Sails". Tau Zero Foundation. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
• Mason Peck (August 2011). "Exploring Space with Chip-sized Satellites". IEEE Spectrum (IEEE). Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
• Jennifer Ouellette (May 16, 2011). "'Satellite on a Chip' to Launch with Space Shuttle". Discovery News: Space News. Discovery Communications. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
• Clay Dillow (28 April 2011). "Cornell's Thumbnail-Sized Satellites Are Headed to Space, Could Soon be Bound for Saturn". popsci.com. Popular Science. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
• Elizabeth Simpson (April 27, 2011). "Chip satellites -- designed to blow in the solar wind -- depart on Endeavour's final launch". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 2012-12-06. 
• Caleb Garling (December 24, 2012). "Personal satellites that fly into space". SFGate. Retrieved 2012-12-28. 

External links

• "Space Systems Design Studio". Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Cornell University College of Engineering. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
• "Kicksat - The First Personal Satellite - Interview with inventor Zac Manchester" (video). buzzumi. January 10, 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-12.  External link in |publisher= (help)
• Maria Minsker (January 25, 2012). "Grad Student Launches Personal Satellites". The Cornell Daily Sun (Ithaca, NY). Retrieved 2012-01-25. 
• Zac Manchester; Michael Romanko; Rob Schwartz. "KickSat @ GitHub". GitHub. Retrieved 2012-05-24. 
• Anne Ju (Dec 5, 2012). "Crowd-funded, DIY spacecraft to float into low-Earth orbit". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 2012-12-06. 
• Anne Ju (December 5, 2012). "Cornell's KickSat to launch sprites into space". Ithaca Independent. Retrieved 2012-12-06. 
• Kelvin Long (Jan 2, 2013). "Project KickSat Update". British Interplanetary Society. Retrieved 2012-01-06. 
• Zac Manchester (December 12, 2011). "The Sprite Project: Satellite on a Chip". Engineering Colloquium. Greenbelt, Maryland: Goddard Spaceflight Center. Retrieved 2013-07-27. ; presentation here: