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Posted on 01/13/2003 9:14:25 AM PST by RightWhale
Successful Launch of SpaceDev Spacecraft
Monday, January 13, 2003 09:36 AM ET
POWAY, Calif., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ today announced the successful launch of the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) microsatellite designed and built by SpaceDev for the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) under a NASA-funded contract.
In an impressive evening launch on January 12, CHIPSat was successfully delivered to low-earth orbit. The Boeing Delta II carrying CHIPSat lifted off at 4:45 p.m. PST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Approximately eighty-three minutes after liftoff, the rocket deployed the microsatellite into the desired orbit.
CHIPSat, a high-performance inexpensive microsatellite, will be the first U.S. mission ever to use end-to-end satellite operations over the Internet with TCP/IP and FTP. This concept was analyzed and demonstrated by the NASA OMNI team via UoSat-12; however, SpaceDev will be the first to implement the concept as the only means of satellite communication. The TCP/IP stack and existing utilities (such as FTP) built into the WindRiver VX Works RTOS in the spacecraft's single board computer provide an essentially free infrastructure for moving data on the spacecraft and between the spacecraft and ground systems.
The utilization of TCP/IP and standard interfaces also provided huge cost and reliability advantages for a project where team members were working from different locations. "We were able to connect systems early-on at the 'flatsat' level and work out interface problems with our major partners prior to final system build, test and delivery," said Jeff Janicik, flight systems director for SpaceDev. "Phased development of integration and testing greatly eased the cost and schedule of bringing hardware together at specific milestones in the project."
SpaceDev is using proven, less expensive commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components to develop small high-performance satellites and miniaturized subsystems at lower cost than traditional systems. The utilization of COTS hardware and software allows for more rapid development time because of reduced lead times and the existence of well-known interfaces and specifications. Likewise, testing time is greatly reduced because the tools and protocols are well established and maintained in the worldwide user community. Another benefit is that early integration activities are encouraged which helps to discover specification and implementation problems early in the project when they are easier and less expensive to fix.
"I'm extremely proud of my team at SpaceDev for successfully designing and building this innovative small spacecraft for a mere $6.8 million and delighted to be a part of helping to make affordable access to space a reality," said Jim Benson, chairman and chief executive officer of SpaceDev. "We wish our UCB and NASA colleagues every success with the science portion of the mission and look forward to supporting their mission control and operation needs for the duration of the mission."
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. . . . This news release may contain forward-looking statements . . .
I'm guessing that the COTS hardware they're talking about is in the electronics. For their sake, I hope they've included enough radiation hardening....
Time is the controlling variable. However, the time to bring mined materials from the asteroid belt is roughly the same as the time to mine the asteroid. A delay of about 20 years would occur between beginning and first delivery. After that it would be continuous operation.
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