"Making a satellite is no more difficult than making a cellphone,"
said Song Ho jun, 34, who said he built the $500 OpenSat to show people they
could achieve their dreams.
"I believe that not just a satellite, but anything can be made with the
help of the internet and social platforms. I chose a satellite to show that
symbolically."
There's a long history of do-it-yourself satellites being launched by
universities and scientific groups around the world, as well as amateur
radio clubs, but Mr Song said his is the first truly personal satellite
designed and financed by an individual.
An engineering student at university, Mr Song regularly incorporated
technology into his art pieces. In a work called Apple he used light bulbs
that would "ripen" – change colour from green to red when people
take photos of it with flashes.
After working as an intern at a private satellite company, he came up with the
idea for his "Open Satellite Initiative," which in turn led him to
contact space professionals from Slovenia
to Paris.
The bespectacled Mr Song spent nearly six years combing through academic
papers, shopping online at sites that specialise in components that can be
used for space projects, and rummaging through electronic stores hidden in
the back alleys of Seoul.
He ran a small electronics business to support himself, but the bulk of his
funds came from his parents.
(Reuters)
The cubical OpenSat weighs 1kg and measures 10 cubic centimetres. It will
transmit information about the working status of its battery, the
temperature and rotation speed of the satellite's solar panel.
Radio operators will be able to communicate with the satellite. If all goes
well, it will repeat a message in Morse code using its LED lights at a set
time and location.
The components cost only 500,000 won ($440). But the cost for launching it hit
120 million won after Song signed a contract with NovaNano, a French
technology company, which acted as a broker to arrange the launch, including
submitting paperwork and finding a rocket.
The satellite will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in
December with another satellite.
Mr Song has been invited to talk at international universities and
organisations including MIT Media Lab and CalArts, both in the United
States, and the Royal College of Art in London.
"The reason why technology or science is talked about is not because it
is an absolute truth, but rather because it generates interesting stories,"
he said. ($1 = 1146.9500 Korean won)
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