Good Evening, Starshine | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.10.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Tue, Jan 21, 2003

Good Evening, Starshine

Student-Made Satellite Going Out in Blaze of Glory

Depending on how early you're reading this Tuesday morning, you may have already missed it: Starshine, a 3-foot diameter aluminum ball covered with mirrors, is fini today.

Students had a hand in the design and even the manufacture of the unsophisticated satellite, a 200-pound ball launched in September of 2001, by an Air Force/NASA rocket, on what was called the "Kodiak Star Mission." The the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory did the actual design work; and Project Starshine, including thousands of schoolkids, picked up the lion's share of the outside labor. Each of the satellite's mirrors, for instance, was hand-polished by school-age volunteers.

This particular satellite, Starshine 3, was actually the second to be launched. Starshines 1 and 2 were deployed on Shuttle Missions.

It contains, as its only working parts, a small radio transmitter that allows amateur radio buffs a chance to pick it up, every minute or two. Its dual raison d'etre is to show itself to us earthbound clods, through its high reflectivity; and to demonstrate orbital decay; and its show will be over by 9AM EST today.

The little sphere is expected to be fully-burned in the high atmosphere, a parameter of its original design, somewhere between Canada and India. Project Starshine continues to involve schoolkids -- Starshine 4 and 5 are waiting for room on future launches. The whole program is a labor of love, of Gil Moore (above, with smaller Starshine, in Kerry Kirkland photo), who, MSNBC says, was involved in the space program from the early days at White Sands (NM) before retirement. "We don’t own motor homes or have time-shares in Florida," he told the news service. "This is what we do with our retirement money. We teach kids about science."

FMI: www.azinet.com/starshine/descript.htm

Advertisement

More News

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (07.11.25)

“Honored to accept this mission. Time to take over space. Let’s launch.” Source: SecTrans Sean Duffy commenting after President Donald Trump appointed U.S. Secret>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.11.25): Permanent Echo

Permanent Echo Radar signals reflected from fixed objects on the earth's surface; e.g., buildings, towers, terrain. Permanent echoes are distinguished from “ground clutter&rd>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.11.25)

Aero Linx: European Hang Gliding and Paragliding Union (EHPU) The general aim of the EHPU is to promote and protect hang gliding and paragliding in Europe. In order to achieve this>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Schweizer SGS 2-33A

Glider Encountered A Loss Of Lift And There Was Not Sufficient Altitude To Reach The Airport Analysis: The flight instructor reported that while turning final, the glider encounter>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Aeronca 7AC

Airplane Climbed To 100 Ft Above Ground Level, At Which Time The Airplane Experienced A Total Loss Of Engine Power On May 24, 2025, at 1300 eastern daylight time, an Aeronca 7AC, N>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC