macs in space
Dennis Wingo, head of Huntsville, Alabama-based SkyCorp, wants to fling modified Macintosh G4 Cubes into space, where they’ll become part of a communications satellite constellation used for webhosting and email. The G4-turned-satellites will communicate with the ground with modified versions of the Apple Airport wireless-data device.
Sure, it’s a wacko idea, but I like the concept of using lots of dirt cheap, off-the-shelf components to supplant roles commonly held by extremely expensive singular ones. Extending this concept, I’d like to see a satellite constellation made up of hundreds of thousands of Palm-Pilot-sized devices that cost less than $20 to manufacture. If one burns up, who cares? This concept also bears curious resemblance to that of the “localizer” that I posted about here.