Friday, February 24, 2012

NASA to Launch Fox-1 Cubesat


AMSAT has had a big financial burden lifted from its shoulders with the acceptance of the planned Fox-1 satellite into NASA's "Educational Launch of NanoSat" program. 

The AMSAT News Service reports the space agency will pay the satellite's integration and launch costs, allowing AMSAT to put all of the money it raises for the project into designing and building the satellite itself. Actually, it need to build two satellites -- one to fly and one spare -- and notes that major donations are still needed, especially for the high-efficiency solar panels needed to provide the spacecraft with as much power as possible.