More of a science project than engineering. Watch the video, it's amateur hour. It certainly looks like a ton of fun. I am dubious about the -10 magnitude claim. I sincerely wish them luck.
Posted on 07/11/2017 6:53:26 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets
Mayak, Russian for ‘Lighthouse or Beacon,’ is a crowd-funded 3U CubeSat developed by a group called ‘Your Sector of Space’ with support from the Moscow State University of Mechanical Engineering to create an experimental mission for establishing an artificial star – the brightest object in the night sky aside from the Moon.
Mayak is expected to deploy four triangular reflectors, each with a surface of 4m², forming a large tetrahedral reflector with a reflection coefficient of 95%. Based on pre-flight analysis, Mayak will reach an optical magnitude of -10 at the beginning of the flight – surpassing the brightness of the Space Station which can reach -4 on particularly favorable passes and also
(Excerpt) Read more at spaceflight101.com ...
More of a science project than engineering. Watch the video, it's amateur hour. It certainly looks like a ton of fun. I am dubious about the -10 magnitude claim. I sincerely wish them luck.
Laser beam tests to ensue by other university.
Seems like it will be a nuisance for serious astronomers. Who wants a -10 mag source crossing through the field of your long exposure high sensitivity imaging effort?
There’s already dozens of iridium satellites. This will be a very small increment in annoyance. BTW, I believe that the -10 Magnitude estimate is wildly optimistic.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.