3 ms·
It's got to suck working on making a satellite, with precision engineering and the highest quality materials, to just have it go nowhere.
by smackfu 14y ago
It's got to suck working on making a satellite, with precision engineering and the highest quality materials, to just have it go nowhere.
- jinx_xnij 14y agoSure, but at the same time the article said there are 11 more of the same ones ready to go up. It is a loss, but looks like the cost of being on the first wave of a new space startup.
- damoncali 14y agoMost space hardware is made from very ordinary materials, for what it's worth. Lots of aluminum.
- smackfu 14y agoI was thinking of some of the fancy aluminium-lithium alloys, but I guess they are mainly used on the rocket bodies, not the satellites. But even if it's just aluminium, that's a lot of high-spec machining and welding to just burn up.
- JshWright 14y agoThis was just a test satellite. It's very likely they'll be able to get it into a 'good enough' orbit to complete their testing.
- syncsynchalt 14y agoLuckily this was a test satellite with a planned short lifetime (from what I can understand). They're going to use the propellant on the satellite to get as close as possible to their planned orbit, which would normally be more of a problem as it drastically shortens the lifetime of a LEO satellite which needs that propellant to keep altitude.