There’s no shortage of movies, TV shows, and books that show a dystopian future with corporations run amok in outer space with little or no effective oversight. Dune, The Expanse, and The Dispossessed spring to mind as predicting different aspects of this idea, but there are plenty of other warnings throughout sci-fi depicting this potential future. One possible way of preventing this outcome is by ensuring that space is as open-sourced as possible and one group, the Libre Space Foundation (LSF), is working towards this end. Their latest is a project with Ondsel to develop and model a satellite deploying mechanism using almost entirely open source software.
The LSF had already designed the PICOBUS satellite launcher system that flew to space in 2022 and deployed a number of CubeSats, but the group needed more information about how the system would perform. They turned to Ondsel to help develop a multi-body dynamics (MBD) solver, managing simulations with mass-spring-damper models. The satellite launcher includes a large constant-force spring that pushes the CubeSats out of the device once the door is opened, and the model can now simulate their paths in space without gravity. The team will launch their next set of satellites sometime next year on an RFA-ONE rocket.
The LSF maintains a huge database of their open source space projects, including this one, on their GitLab page. Although it might seem like small potatoes now, the adoption of open source software and hardware by space-fairing entities can help further the democratization of low Earth orbit.
Thanks to [johnad] for the tip!
Why do hearing “libre” gives me those “it’s shady af” vibes?
maybe it’s a reaction to its use in rigged wrestling matches. wasn’t there a movie about such called nacho libre? the word itself is not to be afraid of.
About a month ago, I went down an Internet rabbit hole reading about Mexican Pro Wrestling. Probably a 2 hour journey.
Lucha Libre! Great stuff.
Weird, I get “reliable, open source, free speech” vibes
Libre Office!
” the model can now simulate their paths in space without gravity.”
So, a straight line. Not a very complex model needed then.
I suspect they ARE releasing it somewhere with gravity, given it’s going into orbit… :-)
Funny thing is that it’s just following the curvature of space-time which means… it’s still just going in a straight line. ;)
no, Its significantly more complex than that. Think rotating frame of reference with objects on different ellipses. Stuff comes back and smacks you a half an orbit later if you are not careful.
see Clohessy–Wiltshire equations
Sure, but if you got ellipses, you got gravity, gar, and you’re playing a different game. The postulate was “space without gravity”
I think this is more about modeling deployment – ejector action, latches, unfold sequence, and immediate collision risks from other rideshare ejections. With cubesats using ever more complicated deployables (larger panel arrays, antennae, extending nozzles, even solar sails), trying to shave grams off the mechanisms used to deploy them, and the massive cost of a failure, this looks like a valuable tool to me.
When you have your ending relative velocity (and I guess position offset, though that’s miniscule on the scale of an orbit), you can plug that, along with delivery orbit, into whatever other orbital model you happen to use.
Pretty fun looking through their GitLab page and seeing all that goes into their work.
Why litter space further?
Because we already littered everything down there so we´re “running out of space”
Because humanity is a tightrope between mere animal life and the Overman, an attempt to throw the spear of “man” beyond the life of a domesticated ape stuffing its face with corn meal. You probably wouldn’t get it
Because back in 1940s we didn’t have enough time to develop V2 into peaceful rockets.
Space is vast and already full of debris, hard radiation and toxic gases.
There’s nothing to damage. Everything humanity does up there can only make things better.
Microbes on space probes may bring life to other places, even.
A few dozen cubesats are negligible contributors to debris compared to a single starlink launch, anti-satellite test, or broken up second stage.
Let the cool stuff (university cubesats, democratization of space) happen.
“Although it might seem like small potatoes now, the adoption of open source software and hardware by space-fairing entities can help further the democratization of low Earth orbit.”
Getting up there is still a rich man’s game.
Observe, and note that the y-axis is in log scale:
https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/1*yRLr7OAjtk3M0AyTX1VDZA.png
Big changes are coming.
Not to dismiss the genuine great strides of SpaceX, but is that Starship cost projection Elon’s fantasy, or from someone reputable?
Note that at $100/kg Starship will need to launch more than 100 million kg into orbit just to pay back what’s already been spent on the development program. That’s not even including actual launch costs: what’s 1 million kg of rocket propellant cost again?
All that is required to scale in that manner is demand, which seems to be there. And yes, we can arbitrate over Elon’s effect, but that is a bit two-faced… I’m not a particular Elon fanboy, but neither do I have Musk Derangement. A lot of people do.
What I notice is that when results are proven about this company’s rockets–many of which are so concrete that they aren’t debatable anymore–people point out, “Oh he’s not designing the rockets, he hires engineers..” And yes obviously that’s the case. The rockets aren’t designed by Musk. But when a development is first uncovered, people act like you just did and attribute the accomplishment to the CEO–in the negative sense. Which is it? SpaceX seems to be a collection of extremely competent engineers who produce machines which produce results. I don’t actually care who the CEO is.
It’s the first capable heavy launch vehicle we’ve had in a very long time, and it seems to have an amazing jump in efficiency. Even if it comes out exaggerated by 2x, the log scale of that graph still represents an incredible jump in affordability to LEO. I could save up and put half a kilo of microsatellite in LEO in a month.
I suppose it’s all empty debate at the moment–time will tell. But I’m glad we at least have SOME birds flying. And they seem to perform impressively. I for one never thought I’d see that kind of rocket catch on something bigger than the Saturn V first stage. That’s absolutely amazing. Science fiction doesn’t often get as optimistic as that these days.
What’s really missing on that graph is the price of going up in a Soyuz, which used to be even cheaper than the Raptor, until they started price-gouging. (Which in turn made room for SpaceX to enter the market, and then raise their prices to nearly match…)
Man, even now, if that Falcon launch price is actually usable by the average person, it’s within reach for a hobbyist to send their own cubesats into space.
Hmmm…
a) This is awesome
b) I really hope they are preparing for the “wooden satellite” route because too much aluminum in the atmosphere (from deorbitted sats burning up) seems like downer.
“almost entirely open source software”
So not open source.