For the price of a new car, some lucky schools and non-profit organizations will get the chance to drive a new satellite instead.
NASA calls them CubeSats: small cubes of approximately 4 inches on a side, weighing a bit over two pounds, these ‘picosatellites’ as NASA has dubbed them will be going up as bits of small, additional payload on missions already planned for the next few years. But precisely what these satellites will be doing up there has been left by NASA up to those who have a great idea for a research project.
Using a proposal submission and review procedure, NASA is making the CubeSats available to organizations who send in the best ideas for projects that represent the best match for application of satellite technology as well as with NASA’s overall mission and purpose as they relate to science and exploration. Those whose proposals are selected will be asked to submit a partial reimbursement fee of $30,000, which is a pretty reasonable asking price to get behind the wheel of something that orbits the planet collecting data.
Agency scientists express enthusiasm for what will unfold during this highly unusual act of open-sourcing access to space vehicles. In a statement on NASA’s Space Operations web page, chief technologist Jason Crusan knows that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for scientists and schools whose budgets otherwise put them no where near to being able to access such technology:
“We’re anticipating some exciting proposals for this pilot program with hopes to break down the barriers to the launching of CubeSats. There are organizations that have been waiting a long time for a chance to see their satellites fly in space.”
NASA, which will receive applications and proposals through April 15, intends to announce winners by the end of June and to give flight to the dreams of some very lucky schools and non-profits beginning in 2011.
Image courtesy of NASA