Make your own satellite

It is more than a quarter Century since Denmark took its first steps into space age with the first satellite called Ørsted with the purpose of measuring the magnetic fields around the Earth. The mission was a great success in many ways and paved the way for several research groups working with different astrophysical problems. But it was also the beginning of satellite production in Denmark and that is the theme of the podcast today. I was there in 2000 when the first Danish satellite was launched from The Vandenberg airbase in The USA - or rather I waited at the Launch-site but due to weather and technical problems it took a long time before the satellite went up. Today many universities and technical schools are producing satellites for different purposes. The price for launching is going down very fast. For about 2000 US$ it should be possible to buy space for a one kilo satellite to go to space. Then comes all the development and communication devices you need to control your satellite. Chief consultant Per Lundahl Thomsen from Denmarks Technical University explain to Jens Degett what you need to make your own satellite. DTU SPACE Institut for Rumforskning og Rumteknologi