The satellites above Berlin

A satellite is an artificial object that orbits the earth and can be as big as the International Space Station, and as small as (and sometimes even smaller) than 10 cm cube shaped objects, called cubesats.

Weighing in at slightly more than a kilogram, cubesats fulfil a number of important missions while passing high above our heads, such as scientific reasearch, education, and earth observation. Currently there are thousands of these little cubes in orbit, many of which were brought up into space via piggy back launches like the record breaking launch from the Indian Space Research Organisation just last week.

In this episode, we sat down with Sascha Kapitola, research assistant at the Chair of Space Technology at the TU Berlin to talk about his work with these fascinating little cubes of communication.

Take a listen, and learn everything you've ever wanted to know about satellites, like how they go up, how they come down, and what happens inbetween.

Links

• Cubesats
• Heavens Above website
• Code of Conduct for space debris
• Satellite research at the TU
• Deploying cubesats from the ISS
• Music I dunno by grapes under CC-BY 3.0

Events

• NOW: Rails Girls Summer of Code Campaign opens
• March 4: Open Data Day
• March 31: Deadline for Prototype Fund