WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.220 What if I told you that a spacecraft the size 00:00:03.220 --> 00:00:06.519 of a kiwi fruit, powered by the exact same lithium 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:09.080 ion battery sitting inside your old digital camera, 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:11.460 spent a year and a half successfully orbiting 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:14.320 the Earth? And, you know, not just orbiting, 00:00:14.500 --> 00:00:17.280 but fully functioning. Right. Welcome to the 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:20.480 Deep Dive. Today we are unpacking the story of 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:26.280 $50 Sat. It also goes by Eagle 2 or Oscar 76. 00:00:26.359 --> 00:00:28.660 Yeah. But whatever you call it, the main takeaway 00:00:28.660 --> 00:00:31.339 here is that this is a fully functional satellite 00:00:31.339 --> 00:00:34.340 that costs less than $250 in parts to build. 00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:37.439 Which is just wild. It really is. Its chassis 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:40.020 was constructed from local sheet metal, and it 00:00:40.020 --> 00:00:42.340 completely shatters the illusion that space is, 00:00:42.340 --> 00:00:44.799 you know, exclusively a multi -billion dollar 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:47.359 club with pristine clean rooms and gold foil 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.880 wrapped probes. Because space has historically 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:52.460 been heavily gate -kept by massive government 00:00:52.460 --> 00:00:54.780 agencies, right? And defense contractors. Oh, 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:57.140 absolutely. You usually have thousands of engineers 00:00:57.140 --> 00:00:59.060 treating every single component like a priceless 00:00:59.060 --> 00:01:02.240 artifact. But $50SAT was a deliberate, scrappy 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:04.540 mission to prove that real -world space engineering 00:01:04.540 --> 00:01:06.890 could be fundamentally stripped down. And today, 00:01:07.109 --> 00:01:09.909 we are going to explore the physical nuts and 00:01:09.909 --> 00:01:12.290 bolts of how you actually build a spacecraft 00:01:12.290 --> 00:01:15.790 for the cost of, like, a decent pair of sneakers. 00:01:16.170 --> 00:01:18.010 Right. And also the philosophy behind what's 00:01:18.010 --> 00:01:20.209 known as the pocket cube standard. We'll look 00:01:20.209 --> 00:01:22.969 at how this specific project sought to make aerospace 00:01:22.969 --> 00:01:25.290 engineering accessible for college students. 00:01:25.689 --> 00:01:28.129 OK, let's unpack this, because before we open 00:01:28.129 --> 00:01:30.609 up the hood of this incredibly cheap satellite, 00:01:31.069 --> 00:01:33.700 we need to understand the minds behind it. This 00:01:33.700 --> 00:01:36.420 feels akin to a high school shop class deciding 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:39.540 that instead of building a wooden birdhouse they 00:01:39.540 --> 00:01:43.359 are They're going to construct a deep -sea submarine. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:46.019 That's a great analogy The collaborative educational 00:01:46.019 --> 00:01:48.359 spirit is really the entire foundation of the 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:50.819 project It was spearheaded by a professor named 00:01:50.819 --> 00:01:53.599 Bob twigs at Moorhead State University alongside 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.400 three radio amateurs, right? Howie de Fleece 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:58.900 Michael Kirkhart and Stuart Robinson exactly 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:01.159 and their primary objective was never to take 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:04.200 high -resolution photos of galaxies or you know 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:06.579 conduct groundbreaking astrophysics. It was more 00:02:06.579 --> 00:02:09.960 of a proof of concept. Completely. Their goal 00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:13.819 was to evaluate if the pocket cube standard which 00:02:13.819 --> 00:02:17.000 is a specific set of design parameters for incredibly 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.039 small satellites, could be a viable, cost -effective 00:02:20.039 --> 00:02:23.139 way for engineering and science students to learn 00:02:23.139 --> 00:02:25.840 real -world aerospace skills. And when we say 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.000 pocket -cube, the dimensions we're talking about 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.099 are almost comically small. Oh, they're tiny! 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:33.360 The design specs show it measures just 5 by 5 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:37.560 by 7 .5 centimeters. It's classified as a 1 .5 00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:40.280 cubesat size. Right. Literally the size of a 00:02:40.280 --> 00:02:42.389 piece of fruit. But looking at the launch manifest 00:02:42.389 --> 00:02:44.349 data, there's a number that immediately jumps 00:02:44.349 --> 00:02:47.449 out. The listed launch mass is 21 kilograms. 00:02:47.750 --> 00:02:49.250 Yeah, that catches a lot of people off guard. 00:02:49.469 --> 00:02:52.129 That's 46 pounds. I mean, you cannot physically 00:02:52.129 --> 00:02:55.150 pack 46 pounds of material into a five centimeter 00:02:55.150 --> 00:02:58.150 sheet metal box unless you are synthesizing dark 00:02:58.150 --> 00:03:00.669 matter in a university lab. Right. Well, that 00:03:00.669 --> 00:03:03.050 21 kilograms has to be the deployment mechanism 00:03:03.050 --> 00:03:06.080 it rode in on. Ah, okay, so it's not the satellite 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:08.840 itself. Exactly. It is the deployment mechanism, 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:11.680 and it's a crucial piece of the engineering reality 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:14.659 for low -cost spaceflight. When you launch a 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:16.840 satellite, you aren't just tossing a piece of 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:18.620 sheet metal out the window of a rocket. Which 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:21.139 would be fun, but probably not very safe. Not 00:03:21.139 --> 00:03:24.800 at all. $50 sat was a secondary payload. The 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.620 primary payload on these rockets is often a multi 00:03:27.620 --> 00:03:30.099 -million dollar piece of highly sensitive equipment. 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:32.580 The launch providers are not going to let a $200 00:03:32.580 --> 00:03:35.460 to $50 university project anywhere near their 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:38.520 primary payload unless it is locked inside an 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:40.460 indestructible, spring -loaded casing. Right, 00:03:40.460 --> 00:03:42.000 like a deployer. I think the source mentions 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.620 a PPOD or a MRFOD. Squad on. So the deployer 00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:48.919 is basically a heavy -duty, 46 -pound titanium 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:51.520 jack -in -the -box. It acts as a quarantine box. 00:03:51.780 --> 00:03:53.939 That's a perfect way to put it. If the cheap 00:03:53.939 --> 00:03:56.580 university satellite rattles apart violently 00:03:56.580 --> 00:03:59.960 during the intense vibrations of liftoff, Scrapnel 00:03:59.960 --> 00:04:02.699 is safely contained inside the heavy deployer 00:04:02.699 --> 00:04:04.879 and doesn't destroy the billion -dollar satellite 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:07.960 sitting next to it. What's fascinating here is 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:10.479 how the massive weight of the deployer highlights 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:13.419 the absolute intentionality behind the $50 Sats 00:04:13.419 --> 00:04:16.920 design. The pocket cube chassis requires absolutely 00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:20.160 no precision mechanical parts. Which is huge 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:23.120 for the budget. Massive. By building it from 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.639 locally obtained sheet metal, they remove the 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:28.339 huge financial and technical gatekeepers that 00:04:28.339 --> 00:04:30.959 keep aerospace engineering out of reach for most 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:33.180 schools. Right, because the challenge wasn't 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:35.000 just getting it into orbit. The challenge was 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:36.899 designing something functional that could survive 00:04:36.899 --> 00:04:39.959 the journey without relying on custom machined 00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:42.660 aerospace -grade titanium. Exactly. So if the 00:04:42.660 --> 00:04:45.399 goal is to keep costs absurdly low, you can't 00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:47.319 use custom aerospace parts. You have to use off 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:49.899 -the -shelf components. But how do you stop consumer 00:04:49.899 --> 00:04:52.240 -grade electronics from instantly frying in the 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.379 radiation of space? It's clever engineering. 00:04:54.569 --> 00:04:56.430 Because looking at the internal hardware, it 00:04:56.430 --> 00:04:59.250 consists of just two 40 millimeter square circuit 00:04:59.250 --> 00:05:02.310 boards. It sounds like someone raided a Best 00:05:02.310 --> 00:05:04.889 Buy clearance bin and a hardware store to build 00:05:04.889 --> 00:05:07.560 a spaceship. It really does. So board number 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:10.620 one is the processor and radio board. It holds 00:05:10.620 --> 00:05:13.839 a PCAXE40X2 processor, which is a very common 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:16.839 microcontroller used by hobbyists. Oh, wow. So 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:20.680 very basic. Extremely basic. It also has a Hope 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.860 RFM22B transceiver module for communication, 00:05:24.500 --> 00:05:26.720 a temperature sensor, and these vital components 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.160 called latch up and watchdog protection devices. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:30.980 OK, wait, I'm looking at the battery specs here. 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:36.079 A 3 .7 volt lithium ion camera battery. Completely 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:38.540 standard. I mean, if I leave my digital camera 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:41.199 in a cold car overnight, the battery drains to 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:44.060 zero. In low Earth orbit, temperatures swing 00:05:44.060 --> 00:05:46.600 from searing heat and direct unfiltered sunlight 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:49.620 to hundreds of degrees below zero when the satellite 00:05:49.620 --> 00:05:52.600 passes into the Earth's shadow. The thermal cycling 00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:54.740 is incredibly harsh. He must have wrapped this 00:05:54.740 --> 00:05:56.839 thing in layers of heavy thermal blankets or 00:05:56.839 --> 00:05:59.040 used active internal heaters, right? They didn't 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:01.079 heavily insulate it or use active heaters at 00:06:01.079 --> 00:06:03.279 all, actually. Wait, really? How did it survive? 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:05.500 They manage the vulnerability electronically. 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:08.379 That's the job of board number two, the solar 00:06:08.379 --> 00:06:11.399 power control and monitor board. It utilizes 00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:13.500 what are called maximum power point controllers 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:17.810 or MPPTs alongside current monitors. OK, how 00:06:17.810 --> 00:06:19.370 does that work? Well, the voltage coming from 00:06:19.370 --> 00:06:22.189 a tiny solar panel fluctuates wildly depending 00:06:22.189 --> 00:06:24.629 on the angle of the sun and the rapidly changing 00:06:24.629 --> 00:06:27.430 temperature in orbit. A standard basic charger 00:06:27.430 --> 00:06:29.550 would just waste that power or fail to push it 00:06:29.550 --> 00:06:32.689 into the battery. So an MPPT acts like a smart 00:06:32.689 --> 00:06:35.769 automatic gearbox. Exactly. If the solar panel 00:06:35.769 --> 00:06:38.410 is only getting a weird angle of sunlight, the 00:06:38.410 --> 00:06:41.449 MPPT constantly adjusts the electrical resistance 00:06:41.449 --> 00:06:44.189 to ring out the maximum possible wattage at any 00:06:44.189 --> 00:06:46.670 given millisecond. You've got it. It forces every 00:06:46.540 --> 00:06:49.420 available drop of energy into that camera battery 00:06:49.420 --> 00:06:52.199 so it doesn't freeze or die during the 45 minutes 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:54.579 of darkness on every orbit. The ingenuity is 00:06:54.579 --> 00:06:56.600 just incredible. They're adapting a terrestrial 00:06:56.600 --> 00:06:59.680 concept for an extreme environment. The power 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:01.899 management is constantly babysitting the battery 00:07:01.899 --> 00:07:04.579 chemistry. It really is. And you brought up the 00:07:04.579 --> 00:07:07.180 radiation of space earlier. High -energy particles 00:07:07.180 --> 00:07:10.220 zip through commercial silicon in low -Earth 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:12.939 orbit constantly. Which is a huge problem for 00:07:12.939 --> 00:07:15.259 standard ships. Huge problem. When a particle 00:07:15.259 --> 00:07:18.339 hits a microscopic transistor inside that hobbyist 00:07:18.339 --> 00:07:22.120 pike axi processor, it can literally flip a binary 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:25.439 zero to a one. Which causes the processor to 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:27.660 lock up in an infinite loop. It's like when your 00:07:27.660 --> 00:07:29.300 laptop freezes and you have to hold the power 00:07:29.300 --> 00:07:32.019 button down. Exactly. But there's nobody in space 00:07:32.019 --> 00:07:34.240 to hold the power button down. So that must be 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:36.560 what the watchdog timer is doing. That is exactly 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:38.819 what it's doing. The watchdog is a completely 00:07:38.819 --> 00:07:41.889 separate, extremely simple ruggedized circuit. 00:07:42.769 --> 00:07:44.810 Its only job is to wait for the main processor 00:07:44.810 --> 00:07:47.610 to send a regular, I'm alive, signal like a heartbeat. 00:07:47.949 --> 00:07:50.170 Oh, that's smart. Right. If the main processor 00:07:50.170 --> 00:07:52.430 takes a radiation hit and freezes, that heartbeat 00:07:52.430 --> 00:07:55.990 stops. Watchdog timer notices the silence, physically 00:07:55.990 --> 00:07:58.089 cuts the power to the main board, and restores 00:07:58.089 --> 00:08:01.100 it a moment later. It forces a hard reboot. So 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:04.399 they didn't buy radiation hardened military chips 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:07.100 that cost millions of dollars. They bought cheap 00:08:07.100 --> 00:08:10.360 vulnerable chips and then built a separate cheek 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:13.279 circuit whose entire purpose is to constantly 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:16.000 turn the satellite off and back on again whenever 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:18.300 it inevitably crashes. It's brilliant in its 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:21.180 simplicity. That is the ultimate MacGyver engineering. 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:23.839 They accepted that failure would happen and designed 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:27.199 a system to automatically recover from it. It's 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:29.420 smart design overcoming the limitations of cheap 00:08:29.420 --> 00:08:33.700 materials. OK, so we have this $250 camera battery 00:08:33.700 --> 00:08:36.960 powered sheet metal box that is constantly rebooting 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:39.620 itself and bringing out solar power. The next 00:08:39.620 --> 00:08:41.460 question for anyone listening is how did this 00:08:41.460 --> 00:08:44.320 little box of scraps actually get to space? And 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:46.649 more importantly, did it work? It absolutely 00:08:46.649 --> 00:08:50.730 worked. On November 21st, 2013, $50 Sat launched 00:08:50.730 --> 00:08:53.110 from the Dumbrovsky Air Base in Orenburg, Russia. 00:08:53.289 --> 00:08:55.950 What kind of rocket was it on? It rode on a Dnieper 00:08:55.950 --> 00:08:58.789 rocket, which is essentially a converted Soviet 00:08:58.789 --> 00:09:01.389 era intercontinental ballistic missile. Wow. 00:09:01.610 --> 00:09:04.850 OK. The launch was part of a larger multinational 00:09:04.850 --> 00:09:07.450 deployment called the Unisat 5 satellite program 00:09:07.450 --> 00:09:10.830 run by GOS, which is the group of astrodynamics 00:09:10.830 --> 00:09:13.070 for the use of space systems. And it gets dropped 00:09:13.070 --> 00:09:16.289 off into low Earth orbit. or LEO, the orbital 00:09:16.289 --> 00:09:18.330 specs are incredibly precise. They really are. 00:09:18.429 --> 00:09:20.750 It had a perigee, which is the closest it gets 00:09:20.750 --> 00:09:25.090 to Earth, of 376 kilometers, and an apogee, the 00:09:25.090 --> 00:09:28.809 farthest point of 382 kilometers. So it's sitting 00:09:28.809 --> 00:09:31.909 in a wonderfully tight circular orbit. Yep. It's 00:09:31.909 --> 00:09:36.769 traveling at an inclination of 97 .70 degrees, 00:09:37.210 --> 00:09:39.429 completing a full orbit around the entire planet 00:09:39.429 --> 00:09:42.090 every 92 minutes. Every 92 minutes. That's so 00:09:42.090 --> 00:09:45.070 fast. It was traveling at roughly 17 ,000 miles 00:09:45.070 --> 00:09:47.639 per hour. Every hour and a half, it completed 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:50.179 a lap around the globe. And as it made those 00:09:50.179 --> 00:09:52.639 laps, it was doing exactly what it was designed 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:55.200 to do, which is communicate telemetry. Right. 00:09:55.740 --> 00:09:58.480 It operated in the 70 centimeter amateur radio 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:01.279 band, repeating a specific transmission sequence 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:04.080 every 75 seconds. Here's where it gets really 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:06.350 interesting for anyone listening. You didn't 00:10:06.350 --> 00:10:09.110 need a multi -million dollar government dish 00:10:09.110 --> 00:10:11.309 in the desert to hear this thing. Not at all. 00:10:11.549 --> 00:10:13.870 Imagine standing in your backyard on a Tuesday 00:10:13.870 --> 00:10:16.990 night. You have a basic handheld ham radio you 00:10:16.990 --> 00:10:19.610 bought online. You tune it to the 70 centimeter 00:10:19.610 --> 00:10:22.590 band and suddenly through the static you hear 00:10:22.590 --> 00:10:27.289 a slow Morse code beep. You are literally receiving 00:10:27.289 --> 00:10:29.450 a message from a piece of sheet metal flying 00:10:29.450 --> 00:10:33.289 overhead at 17 ,000 miles an hour. Is this essentially 00:10:33.289 --> 00:10:35.490 the satellite equivalent of texting Earth with 00:10:35.490 --> 00:10:38.690 Morse code? Essentially, yes. The satellite transmitted 00:10:38.690 --> 00:10:42.070 an FM slow Morse call sign beacon. If the satellite 00:10:42.070 --> 00:10:44.970 was about 800 kilometers away or closer, that 00:10:44.970 --> 00:10:47.669 simple handheld UHF receiver in your backyard 00:10:47.669 --> 00:10:50.330 was entirely sufficient to pick it up. That is 00:10:50.330 --> 00:10:52.549 so cool. But if you wanted to track it from further 00:10:52.549 --> 00:10:54.529 away, you needed slightly better hardware, right? 00:10:54.590 --> 00:10:56.750 Correct. The documentation mentions listeners 00:10:56.750 --> 00:10:59.809 upgrading to a BiQuad, a Moxon, or a small Yagi 00:10:59.809 --> 00:11:02.090 antenna to improve the signal. For you listening, 00:11:02.289 --> 00:11:05.389 if a standard omnidirectional antenna on a handheld 00:11:05.389 --> 00:11:07.909 radio is like a bare light bulb shining in all 00:11:07.909 --> 00:11:11.190 directions, a Yagi antenna is like a focused 00:11:11.190 --> 00:11:13.850 flashlight beam. That's a great vision. You have 00:11:13.850 --> 00:11:16.029 to physically point it right at the satellite 00:11:16.029 --> 00:11:18.710 as it moves across the sky, but that focused 00:11:18.710 --> 00:11:21.230 beam allows the signal to reach much further. 00:11:21.590 --> 00:11:23.649 And that directional focus allowed operators 00:11:23.649 --> 00:11:26.350 to receive far more than just the slow morse 00:11:26.350 --> 00:11:30.889 code. $50 sat was transmitting actual data telemetry. 00:11:30.889 --> 00:11:34.509 It used something called FSK RTTY data. Right. 00:11:34.789 --> 00:11:38.169 FSK stands for frequency shift keying, and RTTY 00:11:38.169 --> 00:11:40.950 is radio teletype. It's essentially shifting 00:11:40.950 --> 00:11:43.389 the frequency up and down slightly to represent 00:11:43.389 --> 00:11:45.929 binary ones and zeros. Exactly. If you've ever 00:11:45.929 --> 00:11:47.950 heard the screeching sound of an old dial -up 00:11:47.950 --> 00:11:50.590 internet modem connecting, you've heard a form 00:11:50.590 --> 00:11:53.200 of frequency shift keying. It was broadcasting 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:55.899 its vital health statistics, the battery voltage, 00:11:56.139 --> 00:11:58.019 the internal temperature, the solar panel output. 00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:02.019 This FSK RTTY data was successfully decoded at 00:12:02.019 --> 00:12:04.519 distances up to roughly 2 ,400 kilometers away. 00:12:04.700 --> 00:12:07.720 Yeah, provided the listener had a good omnidirectional 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:10.600 antenna and a low noise amplifier to filter out 00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:12.899 the background static of space. And it goes even 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:15.419 further than that. The pinnacle of its communication 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:18.139 was sending digital data telemetry packets moving 00:12:18.139 --> 00:12:21.700 at one kilobit per second. The T -Logo Coupe 00:12:21.700 --> 00:12:24.779 team reported that by using a high gain Yagi 00:12:24.779 --> 00:12:27.639 tracking antenna, basically a very precise, very 00:12:27.639 --> 00:12:30.419 powerful flashlight beam, they were able to send 00:12:30.419 --> 00:12:32.799 and receive these data packets at an astonishing 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:37.230 range of up to 20 Which is incredible. The varying 00:12:37.230 --> 00:12:39.870 ranges from 800 kilometers on a basic handheld 00:12:39.870 --> 00:12:43.610 radio to 2 ,700 kilometers using a precise Yagi 00:12:43.610 --> 00:12:46.470 setup proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that 00:12:46.470 --> 00:12:48.309 the satellite could broadcast effectively. And 00:12:48.309 --> 00:12:50.370 that regular people could talk to it. Exactly. 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:53.460 It demonstrated that a global community of amateur 00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:56.299 radio operators could successfully interact with 00:12:56.299 --> 00:12:58.940 orbital hardware using incredibly accessible, 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:01.799 relatively cheap ground equipment. It's a staggering 00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:04.860 achievement. 2 ,700 kilometers of range from 00:13:04.860 --> 00:13:08.320 a $250 metal box the size of a piece of fruit. 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:11.159 Which brings us to the natural conclusion of 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:13.179 any piece of technology running on a battery. 00:13:13.620 --> 00:13:16.070 Right, eventually it has to end. We've tracked 00:13:16.070 --> 00:13:19.029 the MacGyver -like construction, the Soviet -era 00:13:19.029 --> 00:13:22.009 ICBM launch, and the massive communication success. 00:13:22.409 --> 00:13:24.990 But eventually, the laws of physics and battery 00:13:24.990 --> 00:13:27.929 chemistry dictate that the ride is over. The 00:13:27.929 --> 00:13:30.889 operational mission of $50 SAD lasted a solid 00:13:30.889 --> 00:13:33.929 one year and eight months. Throughout that time, 00:13:34.149 --> 00:13:37.879 it endured thousands of extreme thermal cycles, 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:40.779 just freezing and baking every 92 minutes. So 00:13:40.779 --> 00:13:42.299 what does this all mean? Because it wasn't hit 00:13:42.299 --> 00:13:44.460 by a micrometeor and it didn't immediately burn 00:13:44.460 --> 00:13:46.679 up in the atmosphere. It simply ran out of juice. 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:48.320 Yeah, the battery just couldn't hold the charge 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:51.259 anymore. After facing months of issues with degrading 00:13:51.259 --> 00:13:54.620 battery voltage, $50 set finally dropped below 00:13:54.620 --> 00:13:58.460 a critical threshold of 3 .3 volts on July 19th, 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:01.679 2015. At that point, the processor just didn't 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:04.000 have enough power to run the transceiver. It 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.519 lost its ability to transmit data and ceased 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:09.740 operations. It's a quiet end to a loud mission. 00:14:09.899 --> 00:14:12.720 We've all experienced that universally frustrating 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:15.759 moment of watching your smartphone battery hit 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:19.480 1 % and the screen just goes black mid -text. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:22.759 It's strangely poignant to link that everyday 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:25.480 annoyance to the literal death of a spacecraft. 00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:28.820 The voltage dropped below 3 .3 the chemistry 00:14:28.820 --> 00:14:31.519 gave out and it went to sleep. The physical end 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:34.200 came a bit later, though. The silent satellite 00:14:34.200 --> 00:14:36.399 remained in its decaying orbit for a few more 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:39.200 years, slowly being dragged down by the microscopic 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:41.559 particles in the upper atmosphere. Until it finally 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:45.019 burned up upon reentry on May 19th, 2018. Right. 00:14:45.259 --> 00:14:47.379 If we connect this to the bigger picture, the 00:14:47.379 --> 00:14:49.720 inevitable depletion of that lithium ion battery 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:52.460 is entirely overshadowed by the monumental success 00:14:52.460 --> 00:14:54.639 of the mission itself. Because it proved the 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:57.559 concept. It was a massive stress test for the 00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:01.139 pocket cube standard. $50 SAT was the very first 00:15:01.139 --> 00:15:03.379 of the new pocket cube standard satellites to 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.740 be launched, riding alongside others like T -Logo 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:10.580 Kube, Quibscout S1, and Wren. It didn't just 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:13.580 survive, it thrived for over a year and a half. 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:18.259 It permanently proved that very low cost, incredibly 00:15:18.259 --> 00:15:20.919 small satellites are completely viable in low 00:15:20.919 --> 00:15:23.519 Earth orbit. It fundamentally altered the landscape 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:26.259 for STEM education. Because the barrier to entry 00:15:26.259 --> 00:15:29.440 has just completely evaporated, a low build cost 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:32.460 of less than $250 means that functional space 00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:35.100 -ready engineering models are now readily affordable 00:15:35.100 --> 00:15:37.740 for high schools, community colleges, and amateur 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:40.259 radio clubs. Exactly. Students no longer have 00:15:40.259 --> 00:15:42.019 to just read about space engineering in a textbook 00:15:42.019 --> 00:15:44.039 or watch a live stream of a government agency 00:15:44.039 --> 00:15:45.980 doing it. They can actually bend the sheet metal, 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:48.100 solder the watchdog circuits, and participate 00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:50.759 in it directly. It completely democratizes access 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:53.230 to low -res orbit. It bridges the gap between 00:15:53.230 --> 00:15:55.690 theoretical physics and applied engineering for 00:15:55.690 --> 00:15:57.450 students who otherwise would never have the budget 00:15:57.450 --> 00:15:59.590 to touch aerospace hardware. The next time you 00:15:59.590 --> 00:16:01.950 look up at the night sky, I really want you to 00:16:01.950 --> 00:16:04.429 remember that space isn't just the domain of 00:16:04.429 --> 00:16:07.110 billionaires, massive government budgets, and 00:16:07.110 --> 00:16:10.289 impenetrable clean rooms anymore. The exclusive 00:16:10.289 --> 00:16:12.610 club has had its doors kicked open. It really 00:16:12.610 --> 00:16:16.009 has. Orbit is also home to brilliant, scrappy 00:16:16.009 --> 00:16:19.090 student projects made of local sheet metal, off 00:16:19.090 --> 00:16:21.230 -the -shelf camera batteries, and clearance b 00:16:21.230 --> 00:16:24.159 - processors. It's entirely accessible. This 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:26.220 raises an important question to consider though. 00:16:26.580 --> 00:16:29.539 $50 satellites successfully prove that a $250 00:16:29.539 --> 00:16:32.580 budget and some rigorous ingenuity is all it 00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:35.120 takes to put a functional communicating satellite 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:39.139 into low Earth orbit. Right. But if the financial 00:16:39.139 --> 00:16:41.759 and technical barriers to space are now officially 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:44.480 this low, What happens a decade from now? Oh, 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:46.220 that's a good point. If every college, every 00:16:46.220 --> 00:16:48.659 high school STEM class, and every dedicated amateur 00:16:48.659 --> 00:16:51.120 radio hobbyist on Earth can suddenly afford to 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:53.200 build and launch their own piece of orbital real 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:56.419 estate, how will humanity manage the ultimate 00:16:56.419 --> 00:16:58.820 traffic jam in the sky? Now there's a thought 00:16:58.820 --> 00:17:01.740 to keep you up at night. You start with a $250 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:04.480 box of parts in a university lab and you end 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:07.380 up completely redefining who gets to claim the 00:17:07.380 --> 00:17:09.519 stars and how crowded those stars are about to 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.039 become. Thanks for joining us on this deep dive.