Gauss14

Gauss14
Gestartet:	25.7.2014
Involvierte:	Uberhaxlor
Status:	active
Beschreibung:	femtosatellite launching platform
Shutdownprozedur:
Zuletzt aktualisiert:	2014-08-06

Gauss14

The Gauss14 is a manportable femtosattelite launch platform.

Launcher

Based on the University of Austin Texas design for the SPEAR coilgun. Current goal is to launch projectiles with a mass of up to 10g. A SMES device (Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage) is the most viable option for storing the launchers energy.

Satellite

The femtosatellite will most likely be based on the CubeSat or ArduSat, electronics must be hardend due to high g-forces during launch (up to several hundred g). Current propulsion proposal is EMFF (Electromagnetic Formation Flight) since it does not use any reaction mass.

Projectile

The first Prototype will be a very cheap, reusable Projectile, launched not electromagnetically but by balloon or conventional chemical propulsion.

Major Challenges

Efficiency

Is currently the biggest challenge. Almost all Coilgun designs suffer from low efficiency of only 3 to 9 percent due to losses in the magnetic field and the projectile.

SMES funding

The SMES is still being actively researched and only a few prototypes are in existence. Aquiring (buying or borrowing one) will be expensive.

Links

SPEAR coilgun https://www.utexas.edu/research/cem/IEEE/PR%20198%20Bresie%20Publications.pdf

ArduSat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArduSat

CubeSat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CubeSat

EMFF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_Formation_Flight

             http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/793Miller.pdf

SMES http://www.superpower-inc.com/content/superconducting-magnetic-energy-storage-smes

             http://www.technologyreview.com/news/423227/superconducting-magnets-for-grid-scale-storage/