SEOUL, July 26: Years of rummaging through back-alley electronics stores will pay off later this year for a South Korean artist when he fulfills his dream of launching a homemade, basement-built satellite into space.
“Making a satellite is no more difficult than making a cellphone,” said Song Hojun, 34, who said he built the500 dollar OpenSat to show people they could achieve their dreams.
“I believe that not just a satellite, but anything can be made with the help of the Internet and social platforms. I chose a satellite to show that symbolically.”
There’s a long history of do-it-yourself satellites being launched by universities and scientific groups around the world, as well as amateur radio clubs, but Song said his is the first truly personal satellite designed and financed by an individual.
An engineering student at university, Song regularly incorporated technology into his art pieces. In a work called Apple he used light bulbs that would “ripen”—change colour from green to red when people take photos of it with flashes.
After working as an intern at a private satellite company, he came up with the idea for his “Open Satellite Initiative,” which in turn led him to contact space professionals from Slovenia to Paris.
“I’m just an individual, not someone working for big universities, corporations or armies, so they open up to me and easily give out information,” said Song.
The bespectacled Song spent nearly six years combing through academic papers, shopping online at sites that specialise in components that can be used for space projects, and rummaging through electronic stores hidden in the back alleys of Seoul.
(AGENCIES)
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