The Personal Satellite by Italian aerospace inventor Giuseppe Talarìco is a 38 x 42 mm three-board sandwich that is compact enough for 100 units to fit into the same package as the typical cube satellite (CubeSat) deployer for 1% the unit cost of a space satellite deployment – 1000 Euros is typical for a single CubeSat launch as of 2023 – with significant improvement in the odds of successful missions per launch thanks to the sheer number of units deployed.
Additionally, the compact form factor and decaying low-Earth polar orbit after launch – starting at approximately 250 km above the Earth’s surface – means that each satellite will burn up on re-entry, eliminating worries of any contribution to the growing space debris problem. The typical lifetime for each Personal Satellite ranges from 2-3 weeks to 2-3 months at a maximum for applications that include commercial and academic research efforts and short-term radio deployment projects.
The three boards that comprise each Personal Satellite are as follows:
- Motherboard: MCU + LoRaWAN via the TTN network for global data transmission and device monitoring without the requirement for a dedicated terrestrial base station – TTN allows users to access their satellite via the internet thanks to a network of LoRa gateways across many countries.
- Payload board: This board contains your choice of mission-critical sensors and other circuitry, for example to measure UV levels or other conditions in the upper atmosphere.
- Power board: This contains the required circuitry for powering the satellite using harvested solar energy or an on-board battery.
Since the satellites are placed in an orbit that does not offer GPS coverage, an onboard motion-sensing SoC (LSM9DS1) can be used to track its position during the mission thanks to a plot of the 3-axis-acceleration, gyroscopic-velocity, and magnetic-field data picked up by this sensor.
For more information or for a sample of this device to prepare for your next mission, fill out the form below, and ipXchange will facilitate conversation to get your space journey started. ipXchange also has contacts for space launch information if you wish to act independently of Giuseppe’s channels.
