Satellite engineer Song Hojun has developed a DIY personal satellite that can be launched and operated at a reasonable cost. Hojun’s Open Source Satellite Initiative makes it possible for regular people to develop and eventually launch their own satellites. He gave a presentation demonstrating his satellite at the Machine Project last week.

Song Hojun has also written a book, DIY Satellite, which can be downloaded from Google Books.

Reading through Hojun’s book, it seems as if most of the supplies needed to build a satellite are readily available, and not overly expensive. The real costs show up in piggybacking the device up into space along with an official space mission.

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