Surrey Develops Xbox Kinect Hardware for Satellites

Published:2012/5/28 4:57:00 Author:Li xiao na From:SeekIC

Xbox Kinect hardware will be developed by surrey-based researchers to put into twin satellites in an auto-docking experiment. University of Surrey and Surrey Satellite Technology develop the microsatellites which are celled STRaND-2; meanwhile, kinect provides its 3D laser scanner.

The spacecraft will be ‘3U’ CubeSats each measuring 10x10x30cm and weighing under 4kg in this case. CubeSat is a mechanical standard for miniature satellites. The docking systems are usually reserved for big-budget space mission to the international Space Station or historically, so it is never employed on small or low cost missions. They will dock many times, initially with ground intervention, then increasingly automatically.

With the extensive testing, SSTL’s speciality is choosing commercial electronic hardware. A tiny helicopter equipped with Kinect hardware at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which allows a 3D model of the environment to be built. The university of Surrey and SSTL team was looking for a further challenge, and has developed STRaND-1 which will famously carry a mobile phone into orbit and send data direct to school.

STRaND-1 has eight micro-thrusters to offer rotation in three axes as well as lateral movement in two dimensions. A separate gas jet provides thrust in the third linear dimension. Actually, the low cost nanosatellites can dock to build large and sophisticated modular structures such as space telescopes. It is believed that they can build the USS Enterprise with STRaND-4.

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