1. Classroom operations
The baseline use of Kitsat is a satellite teaching session that takes about 2 hours and can be done in a classroom.
The students detach the parts of the satellite and assemble it again. They set up the ground station and test the satellite functions with the ground station program according to the given instructions.
After the satellite is functional and tested, the students plan a mission. A baseline is a typical satellite flyover,: during 10 minutes the students have to receive the housekeeping data from the satellite, verify it, send commands to the satellite for taking photos, receive photos, check those and possibly take some additional images and receive those.
Finally the students go through the photos, edit those and create panoramas from the images.
2. Out to wild
In classrooms Kitsat can be hoisted to the roof (or just operated from the other side of the room) for time of a simulated flyover, but some "real" action can be added. It can be positioned to high public places or lifted with a helium balloon to an altitude of hundreds of meters.
Kitsat can also fly higher, up to stratosphere, but these flights need authorization, require planning and the flight with a recovery of Kitsat takes up to one day.
A flyover can also be simulated very realistically using a drone. The drone – available in the near future as a separate purchase – can take Kitsat and fly at a low altitude over the ground station just like a real satellite would move in the sky.
The ground station can be augmented also with a directional Yagi antenna adding a new level of realism.
Kitsat can be used as well for "exploration missions": one group of students will take the satellite to a hidden place and/or move it along the unknown trajectory, while another group tries to track it and observe the surroundings with the camera via the radio link.
3. Hack it / code with it
Kitsat is basically a computer with a power system, sensors and a camera inside a box. It can be easily used for programming experiments and teaching. You can also design and build additional systems that can be added to the bus of Kitsat – there is an open port in the bottom.
New enclosures can be designed and drawn or printed.
4. Gamify our teaching
We have created some example missions for Kitsat, including games. These will be available for the educational package subscription customers.