How to Make a CubeSat
orbitalindex.com
How to Make a CubeSat
1–10 of 57 posts
Re: How to Make a CubeSat
#2What’s the ballpark price these days for building and launching a basic cubesat?
Re: How to Make a CubeSat
#3What’s the ballpark price these days for building and launching a basic cubesat?
Something like 100-200k for a small one, which are rather limited in abilities and most of interest to amateur radio nerds.
There are several companies that sell partially built kits with aluminum chassis, PV cells and battery/charge system.
Re: How to Make a CubeSat
#4What’s the ballpark price these days for building and launching a basic cubesat?
Something like 100-200k for a small one, which are rather limited in abilities and most of interest to amateur radio nerds. There are several companies that sell partially built kits with aluminum chassis, PV cells and battery/charge system.
Why aluminum chassis rather than carbon fiber or titanium?
Re: How to Make a CubeSat
#5What’s the ballpark price these days for building and launching a basic cubesat?
Depends on how much effort you're willing to put in. Back in the mid-2010s, our team made a 1U with a BOM cost of ~$3k, but we manufactured everything except the bare PCBs in-house. I'm sure the kits are a lot more expensive.
Re: How to Make a CubeSat
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Something like 100-200k for a small one, which are rather limited in abilities and most of interest to amateur radio nerds. There are several companies that sell partially built kits with aluminum chassis, PV cells and battery/charge system.
Why aluminum chassis rather than carbon fiber or titanium?
No post body was provided.
Re: How to Make a CubeSat
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Something like 100-200k for a small one, which are rather limited in abilities and most of interest to amateur radio nerds. There are several companies that sell partially built kits with aluminum chassis, PV cells and battery/charge system.
Why aluminum chassis rather than carbon fiber or titanium?
Price.
Re: How to Make a CubeSat
#8What’s the ballpark price these days for building and launching a basic cubesat?
Depends on what you're doing. Last I checked a 1U cubesat cost around $50k to launch, but there also also says to get free or cheaper launches depending on the payload.
Speaking of the payload, that will greatly impact the build cost. I imagine you could put together the Cubesat equivalent of Sputnik for like $100, then another $200 or so for the FCC paperwork. If you want to send up interesting sensors, build something more durable/long lasting, have any sort of propulsion or decorating capabilities, etc the cost will start to approach or exceed what you're paying for the launch.
Re: How to Make a CubeSat
#9Re: How to Make a CubeSat
#10I'm unfamiliar with the innards of the cubesat industry, but one question I have had for a while is are there any players out there offering CaaS (Cubesat as a Service)? E.g. A company sends up a bunch of cubesats, each with a variety of instrument suites, and then essentially timeshares them on some web platform.