[amsat-bb] Re: New Cubesat - the Ultimate Fox Hunt

[David Barber]

Having considered this yesterday I decided to 'keep quiet' but having woken
this morning to David's ceramic suggestion I'll add my own pennyworth.

As the Shuttle uses ceramic tiles it seemed logical to suggest that a device
embedded within such a material would serve the purpose.  Perhaps move away
from the cube design to a classic "flying saucer" shape.

As David says, the ceramic is transparent to RF, a classic saucer shape
offers two significant surfaces for solar cells; sized correctly the
circumference could provide for an embedded (and therefore protected) dipole
and if re-entry could be engineered to occur 'edge on' a minimal profile
would be presented.

I wonder if they have "B" grade (Shuttle) tiles left over?

David
G8OQW 

********

-----Original Message-----
From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On
Behalf Of G0MRF at aol.com
Sent: 10 August 2009 00:31
To: bruninga at usna.edu
Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: New Cubesat - the Ultimate Fox Hunt

Or, the not so 'cube'sat structure is an aerodynamic shape made from a cast 
 ceramic material which glides in at a shallow angle allowing the energy to 
be  dissipated over a much longer period of time.
OK the solar cells burn off but an internal antenna would be OK as ceramics 
 are fairly transparent to RF and a battery would provide the final hour or 
so of  tlm. 
Would love to see the temp readings as it comes down.
Would not love to be on the final end of the trajectory when it  arrives.
 
David   G0MRF
 
_______________________________________________
Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb