3 ms·
Expensive materials? It's mostly aluminum and silicon... Sure, there are trace amounts of precious metals in the circuitry and batteries, but hardly enough to
by JshWright 10y ago
Expensive materials? It's mostly aluminum and silicon...
Sure, there are trace amounts of precious metals in the circuitry and batteries, but hardly enough to worry about.
Drones sound far more expensive and complicated. Not only does it need all the complexity of this satellite, it also needs to be a high endurance autonomous drone...
- TeMPOraL 10y ago> Drones sound far more expensive and complicated. Not only does it need all the complexity of this satellite, it also needs to be a high endurance autonomous drone... Drones per se, yes, but a satellite also needs to reach orbital velocity to be anything more than an expensive metal brick. We do that using huge amounts of rocket fuel. So I think if you add in the costs of rocket, solar-powered UAVs would have a great price advantage. The complexity isn't that of a problem - satellites have to be simple because if something breaks in orbit, you'll need another rocket to get someone up there to fix it. RE endurance requirements, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't upper atmosphere quite calm?
- JshWright 10y agoSure, but the advantage of cubesats is that they 'piggyback' on other launches that were happening anyway (in this case, an ISS resupply mission).