Deploy your own satellite for $8000

Too bad it only stays up there for a few months. For a simple application that would end up costing $24,000 per year if it stays up for 4 months at a time. Also not knowing when it's going to fall means it will not be a great continuous service. For small experiments though this is perfect.

Counting down to seeing this as a nerd marriage proposal

Here were I live in South Africa we have probably the most expensive broadband internet in the world. This mainly because there are only two licensed telecommunications providers whom have access to the only two international internet links from here.<p>We already have a Wireless User Group, a free community based wireless network in some of the major cities. <a href="http://www.wug.za.net/" rel="nofollow">http://www.wug.za.net/</a> My first thought when I read this was if it would be possible to create a private satellite internet connection to the rest of the world. Without knowing the technical details, I would guess that this is probably not feasible though. Although it would be pretty cool!

Reminds me of an academic project I ran across once that has had a mixed record of success ...<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CubeSat" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CubeSat</a>

Now, we just need a super-villain-like plan.

<a href="http://interorbital.com/TubeSat_1.htm" rel="nofollow">http://interorbital.com/TubeSat_1.htm</a> - Looks fake.

so what can you do with one?

could you roll-your-own satellite broadband using this way?

Would adding some small booster rockets and control modules really increase the cost that much?