Have just reinstalled Debian after 17 years away from Linux on my home machines. I have to say I'm impressed. It worked on a 2007 MacBook without any messing around. Graphics, sound, fan speed, touchpad, brightness and volume buttons, sleep etc. all worked out of the box. The default desktop looks good. The fact that it's a root distribution and not derived from something else makes it feel solid. I'm liking it. I'm liking it a lot :-)

OK I was one of the team at SSTL that built that satellite, and it's probably time to set some of the record straight :)

First junk busting is not entirely why we built SNAP. It's main application areas are:

1. Remote inspection: You throw it out of a space station to inspect damage etc.
2. Inferometry: You fly a bunch of them in formation to simulate a big dish/lens.
3. Space science: Fly a number of them to get multiple readings of something like the magnetosphere at each point in time. So you get both time and space measurements.
4. Satellite deorbiting: A SNAP spacecraft with large fuel tank could be used to track down and latch onto a dead satellite, then bring it down.

Now SNAP-1 is just a technology demonstrator. We're proving all the new miniaturised computer/transmitter/camera/propulsion systems actually work. That's why no-one has bought it, cuz it ain't for sale. We do obviously have people in contract negotiations with us to buy their own versions of the SNAP spacecraft.

So to sum up. SNAP-1 is a completely functional spacecraft in a 30cm diameter package. That's quite an impressive feat to pull off. We're flying SNAP-1 on the 28th June 2000. It's probably just got to the launch site as we speak. Once we've proved it works customers will then come to ask us to build new SNAP spacecraft for their particular missions.

It seems all our websites are slashdotted so I wont give any URLs ;)

Richard Lancaster