While studying at Cal Poly, I was a member of the PolySat picosatellite team. We worked on designing and building a small 10cm^3 satellite which would perform remote sensing in space and relay information back to earth via HAM radio bands. While I was only briefly associated with the project, I did the early design work for the command and data handling subsystem which would eventually tie the microcontrollers with the payload sensors and communication subsystem.

Cal Poly’s two picosatellites, along with 9 others from universities around the world were launched toward space today by a Russian Dnepr rocket in Kazakhstan. These cold-war era ICBMs were retooled to serve as launch vehicles, providing a low-cost alternative for launching payloads into orbit. I suppose the old saying, “You get what you pay for”, rings true once again. Our satellites never reached orbit since the rocket’s engine failed shortly after launch. All that work for nothing….. Chinese-built Russian garbage for the lose.

Actually this makes me wonder how great the Russian threat was during the cold war. I suppose it doesn’t matter since the likely scenario that all the Russian ICBMs failed to launch would have been irrelevant since nuclear winter would have quickly ensued following a U.S. Titan II salvo. 9-megaton warheads can really kick up some dirt.

PolySat Latest News Page: http://polysat.calpoly.edu/latestNews.php