Satellites Of The Future Could Connect Via Kinect

Satellites Of The Future Could Connect Via Kinect


We’re pretty good these days at getting Satellites up into orbit, but working on them once they’re up there is much trickier; you’ve got to organise space flights, remember to bring a packed lunch and fiddle around with tethers and that oh-so-distracting view. A new breed of micro-satellites could do away with the need for human intervention at all.

The satellites are the product of UK-based Surrey Satellite Technology, and use off-the-shelf consumer technology — in this case, Microsoft’s Kinect sensors to allow them to hook up to other satellites already in space. The idea is that you launch a whole bunch of these satellites up there, at which point they self-assemble by detecting where they all are in a swarm. The ultimate aim is for these tiny satellites to become the building blocks for other, larger spacecraft, all at a considerably lower cost than conventional space vehicles. [The Register]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.