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back to article Japanese cubesat to flash Earth with Morse message

Scan the night sky next month and you may witness a rather unusual phenomenon – an tiny Japanese satellite using LEDs to beam a Morse code message earthwards. The message will come from FITSAT-1, or Niwaka, a 10cm cubed satellite weighing just 1.3kg and recently released from the from the International Space Station. Built by …

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  1. Chemist

    Thin end of wedge..

    Does this mean we are not going to able to look at the night sky soon without ads flashing everywhere ?

    Maybe some suggestions ?

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    1. Stephen 2
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      Re: Thin end of wedge..

      Yep! This is the start of it all :( You thought popups were annoying? Wait until you see what they've got planned for space! Apple have already submitted a patent for adverts with rounded corners.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Thin end of wedge..

      I doubt that it would be good enough for Ads. Might be a useful as a Twitter-like medium, though.

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      1. Chemist
        Reply Icon

        Re: Thin end of wedge..

        THIS one might not be.

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    3. MrXavia
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      Re: Thin end of wedge..

      I see formation flying Cube sats displaying POV advertising in the near future....

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      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Thin end of wedge..

        But could you disrupt them with a laser pointer?

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    4. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Thin end of wedge..

      Never mind the billboards, could they send data both ways?

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  2. bharq

    no more clouds!

    "although Tanaka warned that a successful sighting will, of course, depend on the weather"

    Damn Amazon and all it's fellow cloud providers... you can't even see a decent satellite from down here...

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  3. Dom 3

    Maths

    Somebody do the maths and tell me how many LEDs you need for them to be visible with the naked eye.

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  4. Christoph
    Alert

    Noooo!

    Don't look at the green flashes in the sky! You'll go blind!

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Noooo!

      The Triffids are coming!!!!

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    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Noooo!

      Don't tell them - this is what I've always dreamt of. I've started growing my beard already.

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  5. PsychoHippy
    Paris Hilton

    So is this thing going to be visible to the naked eye?

    Paris - because she's best viewed naked :)

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh that's just great.

    "Coke Adds Life" flashing eight hours a day across the night sky.

    Expect angry pitchfork and flaming torch wielding astronomers any day soon.

    AC and its not smegging fair "Red Dwarf" is on Dave :(

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