Your TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit | International Space Fellowship

By Rob Goldsmith, Posted 08/04/09

Link: http://spacefellowship.com/2009/08/01/interorbital-syatems-tubesat-personal-s...

"[We have] entered the age of the Personal Satellite with the introduction of the InterOrbital Systems (IOS) TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit. The TubeSat Kit is the low-cost alternative to the CubeSat. It has three-quarters of the mass (0.75-kg) and volume of a CubeSat, but still offers plenty of room for most experiments or functions.
...The price of the TubeSat kit [$8K] ...includes the price of a launch into Low-Earth-Orbit on an IOS NEPTUNE 30 launch vehicle. Since the TubeSats are placed into self-decaying orbits 310 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, they do not contribute to any long-term build-up of orbital debris.  Launches are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010."