Tue, Jan 21, 2003
Student-Made Satellite Going Out in Blaze of Glory
Depending on how early you're reading this Tuesday morning, you
may have already missed it: Starshine, a 3-foot diameter aluminum
ball covered with mirrors, is fini today.
Students had a hand in the design and even the manufacture of
the unsophisticated satellite, a 200-pound ball launched in
September of 2001, by an Air Force/NASA rocket, on what was called
the "Kodiak Star Mission." The the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
did the actual design work; and Project Starshine, including
thousands of schoolkids, picked up the lion's share of the outside
labor. Each of the satellite's mirrors, for instance, was
hand-polished by school-age volunteers.
This particular satellite, Starshine 3, was actually the second
to be launched. Starshines 1 and 2 were deployed on Shuttle
Missions.
It contains, as its only working parts, a small radio
transmitter that allows amateur radio buffs a chance to pick it up,
every minute or two. Its dual raison d'etre is to show
itself to us earthbound clods, through its high reflectivity; and
to demonstrate orbital decay; and its show will be over by 9AM EST
today.
The little sphere is expected to be fully-burned
in the high atmosphere, a parameter of its original design,
somewhere between Canada and India. Project Starshine continues to
involve schoolkids -- Starshine 4 and 5 are waiting for room on
future launches. The whole program is a labor of love, of Gil Moore
(above, with smaller Starshine, in Kerry Kirkland photo), who,
MSNBC says, was involved in the space program from the early days
at White Sands (NM) before retirement. "We don’t own motor
homes or have time-shares in Florida," he told the news service.
"This is what we do with our retirement money. We teach kids about
science."
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