Satellite to blink morse code across the sky

I'm not certain if this will be visible from Ireland, but its interesting nonetheless:

gizmodo.com/5929857/tiny-satellite-to-sc...across-the-night-sky

Dave

Dave

I'm not really sure what the benefit of this is. Could be that a third-level academic institution got to get a micro-satellite piggy-backed onto another project.

Apart from arousing interest in the general public (a good-enough cause) I don't see much value - but a nice accomplishment for the institution involved.

Morse-code is as good as dead but visually it will be clearly something man-made.

The technical aspects which interest me is, will the magnets align the micro-satellite in the north-south orientation as intended - magnetic flux will vary - especially if there is solar activity. This could cause wobble with respect to the tangent of its orbit. The thing may spin if certain knocks take place when it is released resulting in the LEDs face not being correctly oriented for parts of the Morse code sequence. There is no active mechanisms to correct for any deviations in these areas. A lot of imagination was used for the above paragraph - don't imagine that I know what I'm talking about.

Still - stuff can be learned from it.

I suspect that it will be in a sub-orbit (quickly re-enter atmosphere) and I don't expect that anyone other than the Japanese will get to see it.

A fun thing, in my opinion.

However, I look forward to learning that it was one of the greatest experiments of the decade and that I have a lot to learn...

If it works as planned then visualise the future - micro-satellites (in arrays like matrix head printers) streaming messages across the night sky:-

"Things go better with Coca-cola"

"Vote Republican"

"Vote No for proposition 43"

"Whaling is good for the environment"


Mark C.

Mark - I'm not sure either - unless it is a test of the design of a low-cost tiny satellite... That of itself might lead to new applications - cheap satellite broadband or tiny little hoovers mopping up the remains of the Chinese satellite blown up a year or so ago?

I'd say the morse code bit is a sales gimmick to give the project a bit of advertising (seems to have worked!). But like you, I can imagine some pretty nifty campaigns that could be run. Perhaps constantly updated scores during the next world cup? The size of the Irish Debt? Guess that would need something bigger than a microsatellite though... Possibly "Angela Merkel thinks we're working"? Perhaps a simple LED arrow pointing in the direction of the ISS? That would save a euro

Of course, we'd have to have clear skies if it were visible LEDs... But why not some kind of tranmitter - you're own personal satnav system? TV station? Cell phone? Laser blaster? Hmmm.

It would make for an interesting image though if it were to fly over Ireland (and if it was clear).