WikiSat

The WikiSat project from Joshua Tristancho, Alex Csete, Anders Feder, Tobias Krieger, and Sonia Perez-Mansilla is a recent entry for the N-Prize, a challenge to place an ultra light satellite in orbit on an ultra light budget.  The N-Prize budget includes a satellite mass of ten to twenty grams, and a flight cost of a thousand pounds sterling.  The satellite must complete nine orbits.

These guys are developing the Texas Instruments MSP430 platform as a minimal mass, minimal power microprocessing architecture for space in a series of high altitude balloon test flights over Europe.  Their balloon test flights have been journaled on their website and on youtube.

The balloon test flights are tracked via GPS through redundant systems, via APRS, and an Android application called "Wikisat Balloon Recovery System".  Alex is working on APRS, Anders is working on WBRS.  The WBRS is two HTC Magic phones, one that flies and another in hand on the ground, and is installable on any `droid phone.  Both tracking systems rely on GPS, which is altitude limited, so they won't record the entirety of the flight.

The helium filled sounding balloon (US) (EU) can lift a kilogram, so there's mass to spare on the test flights.  But then they add a camera.  There's more info available from the Team FREDNET wiki.

The Team WikiSat N-Prize mission architecture is for a 100kg APCP ground launched rocket to place the WikiSat into a natural decay orbit.  The spacecraft will have no propulsion or attitude control, so the launcher is responsible for the flight.  International regulations against space debris require that the craft maintain position or deorbit.  The natural decay orbit is a common approach to deorbiting within the 25 year permitted timeframe -- heavy weight satellites reserve a final reaction / propulsion budget to enter a natural decay orbit at their end of life when it's no longer possible to maintain position.

As an all volunteer effort, Team WikiSat have adopted a "meetup" methodology.  It's a launch attempt, subject to integration and a final mission objective determination at the meetup.  Each individual is responsible for a component: Alex for the ground station, Tobias for the flight structure, Anders for the recovery system, Joshua for flight electronics, and Sonia for video reportage.  They come together in a meetup, fit the components together, do an integration test, and determine the mission profile.  The balloon flights test not only systems, but also the team.  Team WikiSat have designed their test flight program to develop their sense of both the challenge and their own capabilities.


The interview for this article is available online in our discussion group.