Launch set for DIY satellite
Baku, August 2 (AZERTAC). Years of rummaging through back-alley electronics stores will pay off later this year for a South Korean artist when he fulfills his dream of launching a homemade, basement-built satellite into space.
There`s a long history of do-it-yourself satellites being launched by universities and scientific groups around the world, as well as amateur radio clubs, but Song said his is the first truly personal satellite designed and financed by an individual.
An engineering student at university, Song regularly incorporated technology into his art pieces. In a work called Apple he used light bulbs that would "ripen" -- change color from green to red when people take photos of it with flashes.
After working as an intern at a private satellite company, he came up with the idea for his Open Satellite Initiative, which in turn led him to contact space professionals from Slovenia to Paris.
The bespectacled Song spent nearly six years combing through academic papers, shopping online at sites that specialise in components that can be used for space projects, and rummaging through electronic stores hidden in the back alleys of Seoul.
He ran a small electronics business to support himself, but the bulk of his funds came from his parents.
The cubical OpenSat weighs 1kg and measures 10 cubic centimetres.
The satellite will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in December with another satellite.
Song has been invited to talk at international universities and organisations including MIT Media Lab and CalArts, both in the United States, and the Royal College of Art in London.
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