A Russian team comprising of aerospace engineers and enthusiasts are going to launch 'Mayak' satellite into space abroad the Soyuz-2 rocket. The satellite is expected to appear as the brightest star shining above earth.
The solar synchronized satellite will deploy a 16 -square-meter tetrahedron-shaped reflector. Sun rays will be bounced back by the reflector from the earth orbit and thus the satellite will be looked brighter than any start in the night sky. The scheduled launch will also carry the Canopus-B-IR satellite which is an earth observation satellite for monitoring forest fires, reports ARS Technica.
The team from Moscow University of Mechanical Engineering (MAMI) is performing finishing jobs to their 'Mayak' or 'Beacon' satellite. The project has raised enough money for the next phase of the spacecraft's testing, according to a report published in Space Daily.
The Mayak team has announced on Thursday raising ₱1.5 million ($19,650) on the Boomstarter crowd-funding platform. The fund will allow them to complete the next stage of the satellite's flight testing, according to a report furnished by FARS News Agency. The crowd-funding efforts have been conducted through a mobile app, unlike others. The app will provide users the location of the satellite at any time. Next goal for the app is to construct fund for a model of Mayak for Moscow's Museum of Cosmonautics. Fulfilling the goal, the team expects to construct an experimental atmospheric braking system that will help Mayak re-enter the atmosphere. This technology will allow recovering the satellite without using retro-rockets. The Mayak project is a team of enthusiasts representing the space in simpler and closer manner compared to peoples' thinking. The team intends to exhibit the space exploration as exciting and interesting through offering an accessible app for all interested, explains Alexander Shaenko, project leader and head of MAMI's 'Contemporary Cosmonautics' program. Russia has been previously reported to explore orbiting even with bigger reflectors. A Progress cargo ship, bound for the Mir space station, has carried aloft Znamya. Its 65-foot diameter reflective disk has been coated with Aluminum. Znamya, also intended to test the feasibility of solar sails, have been experimented in orbital lighting. The orbiting mirrors have been used to reflect sunlight from the brighter portion of the earth. The reflected light enlightens darker part of the earth and thus extends daylight time. However, this concept has been concocted by German space theorist Hermann Oberth during 1920s. A team from Moscow University of Mechanical Engineering has joined a project named Mayak. The project has appeared with a series of goals to be implemented with the cloud-fund. The team has announced on Thursday launching Mayak' satellite into space abroad the Soyuz-2 rocket, which has been described as the project's first goal.
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