Oddest Satellite Ever Set To Launch February 3
It's exceedingly weird, yet innovative and, above all,
cost-effective. Is it any surprise that it's also Russian?
Following in the grand tradition of industrious cosmonauts who
have learned to make due with less -- and who kept Mir in
orbit with little more than duct tape and bailing wire --
Russian scientists are expected to send the first-ever 'SuitSat'
into orbit this Friday. Astronauts onboard the International Space
Station will toss out a Russian Orlan spacesuit outfitted with a
radio transmitter inside.
It's an idea that strikes one as odd, at first... but upon
further reflection, you must wonder why no one has ever tried this
before.
"SuitSat is a Russian brainstorm," explains Frank Bauer of
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "Some of our Russian partners
in the ISS program, mainly a group led by Sergey Samburov, had an
idea: Maybe we can turn old spacesuits into useful satellites."
'SuitSat' will be the first test of that idea.
"We've equipped a Russian Orlan spacesuit with three batteries,
a radio transmitter, and internal sensors to measure temperature
and battery power," says Bauer. "As SuitSat circles Earth, it will
transmit its condition to the ground."
'SuitSat' won't be able to do very much -- in fact, it may not
even work at all.
"Will the suit overheat? How long will the batteries last? Can
we get a clear transmission if the suit tumbles?" said Bauer,
asking a few of the questions surrounding the project.
Despite the possibility it may spin out of control -- or have
its components fried by solar rays (SuitSat will not be equipped
with an internal cooling system, unlike the suits used by
astronauts) -- if SuitSat is able to carry out its mission, it will
pave the way for other SuitSats to follow. And that may represent a
new, far less expensive way of putting satellites into orbit.
Consider this: what happens to a spacesuit when the astronaut no
longer needs it? Suits used for EVAs are heavy, after all, and take
up space inside the ISS and the Soyuz capsule. They're usually
tossed overboard with the rest of the garbage.
Now, instead of discarding the suit into orbit -- potentially
creating dangerous debris before it eventually burns up in the
atmosphere -- a SuitSat could serve important functions past its
useful life as a spacesuit.
Much like when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, when
the inaugural SuitSat is launched Friday, those on the ground will
be able to listen for its signal.
"All you need is an antenna -- the bigger the better -- and a
radio receiver that you can tune to 145.990 MHz FM," says Bauer. "A
police band scanner or a hand-talkie ham radio would work just
fine."
Those who tune in will hear SuitSat transmit for 30 seconds,
pause for 30 seconds, and then repeat the signal. Students involved
with NASA's Amateur Radio on International Space Station (ARISS)
program will be listening, as well, for clues they can use to win
prizes.
"This is SuitSat-1, RS0RS," the transmission will begin,
followed by a prerecorded greeting in five languages. The greeting
contains "special words" in English, French, Japanese, Russian,
German and Spanish for students to record and decipher. This is
where those prizes come in.
After the greeting, SuitSat will present telemetry information
-- internal temperature, battery power, and elapsed mission time --
using a voice synthesizer.
"The telemetry is stated in plain language -- in English," says
Bauer. "It's pretty amazing."
Lastly, a surprise Slow Scan TV picture is displayed. "We're not
telling [what the picture is]," laughs Bauer. "It's a mystery
picture."
Students and Ham radio groups with the equipment to see the
transmission will be able to send their guesses of what it is, to
win more prizes.
To determine when SuitSat -- or the ISS, as both will be in
approximately the same orbit -- will be in the skies over your
house, you can click here to access NASA's
J-Pass program. Enter your zip code, and a map of the skies for
your area is displayed.
For most North American viewers, SuitSat should pass overhead at
least once per day, usually between midnight at 4 am.
The batteries on SuitSat are only expected to last a few days.
After that, the suit's orbit will begin to degrade, before it
eventually falls into the atmosphere and burns up.