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The Open Space Agency

FEATURE

ASTEROID HUNTERS

While the technology to support the work of

professionals is already available, the cost of

conventional kits is far beyond the reach of most.

However, by using 3D printing, along with low-cost

microcontrollers and smartphones, the costs

associated with scaling up the number of

observations can be radically reduced.

The first proof of concept was to see whether an

Ultrascope could be built in South Africa and used to

live-stream a series of images of the Southern Sky to

the USA. The Ultrascope team had the opportunity to

work with the experts at the Office for Astronomical

Development

and South African

Astronomical

Observatory in Cape

Town. The ‘Africa team’ flew

out to Cape Town and spent six weeks

working on developing and testing the Ultrascope,

while conducting community outreach activities on

the ground. The result was a series of incredible

photographs of the night sky, Jupiter, and the

Galilean moons.

Over the course of these six weeks, the team

conducted live-streaming tests to various events in

the US, testing remote access, the web app, global

broadcasting and streaming, and most of all the

capabilities of the scope to identify objects in the

Southern Sky. The team successfully sent images

directly from South Africa over 4G via the cloud to

major public events, including two events held at the

WIRED conference in NYC and one at Re/code in LA.

“If you’re a maker, DIY engineer, citizen scientist or

just a long-time aspiring astronaut with stars in your

eyes, then we’d love to hear from you,” says James.

MARTIAN MAKER MOVEMENT

However, James’s interests aren’t just limited to

planet Earth; he aims to redesign all of the things we

take for granted here on Earth so that they can be

replicated in space. “We want to be able to create

things off-planet; in space jargon, this is called in situ

manufacturing,” he explains. The benefits of enabling

astronauts to manufacture on-site are painfully

obvious; it currently costs around £15 000 to put a

single kilogram of payload into space. “When we get

to Mars, many of the things that we build and

manufacture, from the very large to the very small,

will be done by 3D printing, using Martian resources.

So we were very interested in the challenge of being

able to use 3D printing to create something that could

ultimately be manufactured in situ – either in orbit, or

one day on Mars, without having to be transported

millions of miles,” he says.

GETTING THE PICTURE

A CCD, or charge-coupled device, is a light-sensitive

integrated circuit that captures light and converts

it to digital data. CCDs can produce an image

in extremely low light, which has made them a

transformational technology for astronomers by

providing a far more sensitive light sensor than had

ever previously existed.

“If you’re a maker, DIY engineer, citizen scientist, or just a

long-time aspiring astronaut with stars in your eyes, then

we’d love to hear from you”

Below

A full maker lab fits

into just two cases

Credit

Trillium Technologies

CC BY-SA

Below

The dust-, water-, and

shock-proof protective case

Credit

Trillium Technologies CC

BY-SA