Alpha Geek: Hojun Song, DIY Satellite Builder (세계최초로 DIY 개인 인공위성 발사한 알파 청년 송호준) An amateur radio satellite launched in 2013 with Bion-M No.1. Bion-M was launched into orbit at 10:00 UTC on April 19, 2013, from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. OSSI-1 is the pet project of Hojun Song, a Korean artist and amateur radio operator. Hojun Song built a fully functioning satellite. Dubbed GOD (global orbiting device), it’s become the first comsat designed and financed by a private citizen to reach orbit. The tiny (about 60 cubic inches) and cheap (around $400) device is a masterpiece of DIY engineering: Song hacked together a solar cell, a lithium-ion battery, an Arduino board modded to withstand cosmic rays, and four LED lights powerful enough to be seen from back on Earth. It’s all part of what Song calls OSSI—the Open Source Satellite Initiative. “I wanted to lower the space program’s barrier to entry,” he explains. To make your own satellite, you can download a PDF of instructions, which feature Song’s charming hand-drawn illustrations as well as tech specs.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 11:53:41 +0000