PongSat

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PongSats are high-altitude near space missions that hold a probe or other project that can fit inside a ping-pong (table tennis) ball. The launch program is run by a volunteer organization, JP Aerospace (which also provided balloon launch services for the Space Chair.)

JP Aerospace succeeded in its first launch of PongSat missions, with a balloon-launched rocket (AKA a rockoon), at the West Texas Spaceport near Fort Stockton, in October 2002. The launcher reached 100,000 ft (30 km) with 64 hosted PongSats. [1]

Many of the flights have been funded through a KickStarter crowdfunding campaign. [2] Although many PongSats contain things like food items, simply because schoolchildren are curious about the result, other missions include "multiple sensors and complex mini-computers". [3] It's been described by its founder as part of "America's Other Space Program," but also as one that relies "primarily on volunteers and helium." [4] SpaceHub Southeast has organized several PongSat flights from Atlanta. [5]

According to founder John Powell, the PongSat launch program is very global, with payloads delivered to JP Aerospace from "Poland, India, Japan, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Turkey, China, Australia, Indonesia." [6]

References

  1. ↑ "Space Balls", Popular Mechanics, April 2003
  2. ↑ Hurst, Nathan (2012-07-30). "Send Anything to the Edge of Space, for Free". Wired . Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  3. ↑ Kessler, Sarah (2018-08-01). "8 Space Experiments That Fit In A Ping-Pong Ball". Fast Company . Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  4. ↑ "Flight of the PongSats". Air & Space . Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  5. ↑ TopSpacer (2013-02-25). "Students of Space Hub Southeast fly PongSats". Space-for-All at HobbySpace. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
  6. ↑ David, Leonard (2012-09-14). "Ping-Pong Ball 'Satellites' Have Balloon Ride to Edge of Space". Scientific American . Retrieved 2021-08-22.


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