K
krrr
Guest
I think Leo brought up the topic shortly before the long forgetting.<br /><br />What would a minimal launcher for a minimal nanosat look like?<br /><br />I'm thinking about an Explorer-like setup. A small (e.g. sounding) rocket climbs almost vertically and brings a 3- or 4-stage stack to an altitude of say 250 km. That stack is spin-stabilized. It separates and fires at the apex of the trajectory.<br /><br />Explorer used 11, 3 and 1 Sergeant rockets for the three kick stages. They had an ISP of 235 s, mass of 42 kg and empty mass of 21 kg. The satellite's mass (it remained attached to the upper stage) was 5 kg. <br /><br />Would it be possible to scale that down, e.g. to 4.2 kg/ 2.1 kg with a similar ISP?<br /><br />Also, what would the mass of a minimal, marginally useful nanosat be? With a small scientific payload and the ability to phone home (maybe literally)? <br /><br />