There's been crowdsourced launches using balloons and cameras before but ArduSat took that whole idea one step further. Because ArduSat is an actual satellite and not just any satellite, but one that you can upload apps and requests to through the production team in order to get the satellite to do exactly what you want it to do. It is a tiny satellite it measures just 10cm along each side and weighs only 1kg. But this did mean that it could tag along on an HTV-4 rocket launch to the International Space Station. From there the two ArduSats (known as ArduSat-1 and ArduSat-X) were launched on November 19, 2013 alongside fellow cubesat Pico Dragon from Vietnam - as seen in the above image. The production team are now getting ready to start processing the apps and requests from readers. They must be quite pleased with the crowdsourcing model as they originally asked for $35,000 but ultimately received $106,330 through Kickstarter from 676 backers. Quite an achievement, and hopefully one which will encourage other small space sector ventures to use this funding model in the future.
