The Space Ball Project

The total cost of this project is estimated to be of the order of $10,000,000 US, producing and launching a passive satellite. There should be no need for pooled funding; countries and organizations can make commitments to contribute.  The leadership can be shared or managed through an international committee, each member paying for its participant’s costs. 

At present, five (5) tracks of participation are envisioned:

• Adminsitration
• Education
• Services
• Technical
• Satellite

Contributions can be large:

• Putting the Space Ball into orbit
• Making the SpaceBall
• Making the spin rockets
• Developing the Retroflector
• Developing the special foam
• Testing the ability to inflate such a large sphere

Contributions can be modest:

• The creation and distribution of  Space Ball skin reference samples on postal cards
• Sighting and tracking apparati.  These could be made of cardboard, plastic or metal.  They may or may not have some optics. 
• What sort of log books would be useful?
• Digital clocks: daily and sidereal
• Beach ball type models
• Retroflectors
• A flashlight
• Internet sites and activities to be hosted and monitored for the exchange of information. 
• Hosting meetings: real and virtual, local and international.
• Web cameras
• Global Positioning Modules (GPS)
• Models of ancient structures: Stonehenge, Egyptian, Central American
• Scientific support

Several countries may elect to create some of the smaller items, distributing them to other countries. If the countries that produce these items agree to distribute them around the world in exchange for receiving other tools from elsewhere, then students can learn about language translations, calibrations and comparison of tools and results.  Students will also learn geography as they discover where the various items come from, and communicate with other students in those countries.