WorldWide
Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.
Ecuador to launch its first satellite "Pegasus". Students desks
will become spaceships.
Students from the Nuevo Mundo High School, Guayaquil-Ecuador, observe the replica.
The desks
will become spaceships. And from the classroom may experience what feels an
astronaut in space. It's not science fiction.
Pegasus,
the first satellite built 100% in Ecuador, will challenge the magic of
Hollywood and become a direct window to see Earth from the classroom. How will
he do?
A beep
makes the ears tingle. Followed by another scream, similar to a fax.
Disturbingly, almost unbearable. The first is a morse code hiding his name and
that of their creators. The other conveys the image of a winged horse,
surrounded by the tricolor (Ecuador
flag)
The NEE-01
Pegasus is a nanosatellite. It measures 10 by 10 inches, has a cube and weighs
just 1.2 kilograms. In April 2011, after 1000 hours of testing, the Ecuadorian
Civilian Space Agency (EXA) concluded assembly.
This
November 20 will be launched into space on board and take a video camera to
broadcast live from orbit. In space, Pegasus will star Asteria program, a space
platform dedicated to education. Send two signals: the first will contain
questions of science and technology.
The second
image. These signals are decoded by receptadas and Hermes-A earth station
installed by EXA in Guayaquil. And over the Internet will reach young children
and school and college. If a student answers the question successfully access
the camera Pegaso and see the planet from space live, as the astronauts from
NASA.
"We
want to create a generation of Titans in engineering, you see, hear, have
contact with the space and know that this is not Chinese or alien or
otherworldly," says Ronnie Nader, EXA COO. To execute this mission, EXA
outlined a pilot. New World Colleges (Guayaquil), Academia Cotopaxi (Quito) and
Rosa de Jesus Cordero (Cuenca) will be the first to see and apply information
from Pegasus to their curricula. Then join other campuses.
The system
will be similar to the 'A satellite classroom', applied since 2009. Through
this group of children had access, in real time, American satellites NOAA-15,
NOAA-17, NOAA-18 and NOAA-19. They orbit the Earth every 90 minutes. They fly
more than 800 miles high, reporting more than 30 climate variables. Margot
Solberg's second grade teacher at the Academia Cotopaxi. Her students are
between 7 and 8 years and meteorologists are small, able to download and
analyze weather images.
"It's
convenient. Between 2009 and 2010 we obtained data from a drought and the
children learned to anticipate this kind of phenomenon and take precautions.
" The graphics are captured by NOAA satellites. Then fetched by the Hermes
A-Minotaur station, capable of connecting to the Internet permanently outer
space. "We were the first to make that connection. Innocently thought that
earth stations already existed, like in the movies.
But there was no such thing, it was just
another Hollywood glamor, "says Nader. Deputy Minister of
Telecommunications of the Information Society, Ricardo Quiroga, says the
country is preparing to support the millions of downloads of the curious who
want to look out the window of Pegasus. "4 or 5 years ago the country had
just over 1000 miles of fiber optics.
Today we
have over 12,000. That puts us in fiber optic capacity to assume the
technological challenge that emit this signal mean video, live, to everyone
". At 22:00 on 20 November Pegaso take off from a Russian base.
Travel in a
former nuclear missile, along with other 24 satellites of 11 nationalities. The
freight cost USD 500,000 and will be funded by the Government. Two days after
the release of data sent. Astronaut Nader says the first sign will be the
national anthem echoing in the cosmos.
"It
will take about 100 minutes to circle the Earth ... 12:00 when will pass
through Ecuador. "
The Pegaso countdown flashes on the EXA site.
The Friday night missing 95 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, 5 seconds ... According
to projections EXA, 937 seconds after liftoff Pegaso be ejected into orbit. At
1500 seconds display their antennae, which measure about 45 centimeters. The
orbit of the NEE-01 Pegasus reach 900 km and an inclination of 98 °. Its design
is 50% aluminum and 50% titanium. EXA created a simulation chamber to test
space environment, with temperatures between -198 (frozen air) and 30 degrees.
