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<p><font face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3" color="#1b4872"><strong>Small Satellite Designed to Spot Big Bad Asteroids </strong></font></p><p><font><font><font face="arial" size="2"><font face="arial"><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Arial','sans-serif'">A tiny Canadian satellite is gearing up for a mission to hunt wayward space rocks that may pose a threat to Earth.</span></em></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Arial','sans-serif'">Only the size of a suitcase, the Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) has a 5.9-inch (15-cm) telescope and weighs about 143 pounds (65 kg). But it’s designed to hunt for threatening space rocks from Earth orbit, where the telescope can avoid interference from the planet’s atmosphere.</span></em></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Arial','sans-serif'">“That’s why a small telescope in space can be a lot more comparable to a large telescope on the ground,” said Alan Hildebrand, planetary scientist at the University of Calgary and head of the asteroid search project for NEOSSat.</span></em></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Arial','sans-serif'">The Canadian microsatellite would also keep an eye on Earth’s satellite traffic for both U.S. and Canadian space commands, swiveling around to target space rocks and satellites hundreds of times a day. That requires a revolutionary turning system for the $12 million-satellite to do its job upon launch in early 2010.</span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em>...</em><font><font><font face="arial" size="2"><font face="arial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Arial','sans-serif'"><em>But the newer microsatellite also boasts <u>an attitude control system based on spinning reaction wheels</u> that allow it to turn quickly without consuming rocket fuel....</em> (Emphasis added) </span></font></font></font></font></p><p class="MsoNormal">Does anyone have any detailed information on NEOSSat's attitude control system? I would really like to see something more in depth than what I could find after an, admittedly, hasty search. I couldn't find anything on it on the NEOSSat website (brand new site, apparently) and had trouble finding information on Dynacon. </p></font></font></font></font> </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>