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Asked by Matacton to Katie on 16 Jun 2015.
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Katie Sparks answered on 16 Jun 2015:
Satellites have lots of components, so even a “very basic” satellite would take some time. Also, most satellites are tested lots, sometimes on a practice model, as they cost lots and it’d be terrible to launch something that doesn’t work.
Our telecoms satellites are al very similar, which means we know lots about them and they don’t need to be analysed and tested as much. They take around 3 years from a customer saying “I want one” to when they are launched.
In comparison, most of the science programmes are really specialised so they can take 10 years, if not more!
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Comments
Mike commented on :
The quickest I have seen a basic satellite built is in 5 weeks. This used what we call “off the shelf” components so was really a lego kit style assembly task. The satellite is what we called a cubesat because its built up from 10cm X 10cm X 10cm ‘cubes’ – so roughly the size of a loaf of bread when you put 3 together to form a useful spacecraft. If you Google “cubesat shop” you’ll the price of the parts. Not quite in the range of an individual but certainly affordable by a university. If you study space engineering you’ll probably end up building one if you’re lucky!