Jul 14, 17 / Leo 27, 01 19:23 UTC

Proposal for civilian space research  

Thingiverse has a couple of patterns for printing femtosatellites. Search pocketcube. 

It costs 1000 dollars or thereabouts to sent a femtosatellite to the international space station. 

Research materials analysis of the effects of space weather on different materials in the pocket cube frame. The University of Calgary is busy with some of this. 

Simple experiment - send one half of two pieces of material into space. Compare differences when it returns. Your ability to do this depends on your resources. A simple microscope or magnifying glass and notepad is basic. Camera photos and up to various analyzing items, depending on your contacts or wallet. 

http://s1116.photobucket.com/user/Nyai1/media/image_24.jpeg.html

  Last edited by:  Tselin Nyai (Asgardian)  on Jul 15, 17 / Vir 00, 01 04:17 UTC, Total number of edits: 1 time

Jul 15, 17 / Vir 00, 01 19:09 UTC

Research on the printed cubesat. [above]

1- the material was PLA, suitable for models, biodegradeable. Printed on a home style printer, the parts were from thingiverse. design flaws resulted in smaller sides as the author had given little room for each connected side. Printing flaws [occlusions] resulted in stress breaks.  Sides and top/bottom were printed as one, and a 3rd side was printed separately as was the cube structure. Using crazy glue, the assembly worked, but stress breaks appeared in two of the support struts on the cube. These were partially repaired with the glue. The bottom (defined by screw holes) fit perfectly, but the top caused the breaks. An xacto knife fixed a lot of the flash from printing. Once assembled the cubesat as shown above was produced. It seems sturdy. Over time the glue and PLA reacted to darken around glued areas. This could be porosity as well. \

2- the cubesat is heavier than tap water, will test in salt water. May need buoyancy items within it for the test with docking control. 

3- mechanical docking test will be performed in tap water, with a permanent magnet glued to the cubesat and steel wires extruded from the side of an aquarium to determine attraction distance and attraction at odd angles of approach. 

4- ionization test with yet to be determined propulsion ideas (gyros?) and salt water in various states of electrification from van de graaf and other sources.

  Last edited by:  Tselin Nyai (Asgardian)  on Jul 15, 17 / Vir 00, 01 22:02 UTC, Total number of edits: 2 times

Jul 28, 17 / Vir 13, 01 05:37 UTC

Already tested the spacecraft smaller and cheaper:
http://www.breakthroughinitiatives.org/News/12
https://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=38201