Appendix A. Exercises

To provide some armchair satellite-building practice, here are two design exercises that ask you to invent a satellite. These can be done for fun, used at a Maker Faire or an Unconference, attempted in a classroom setting, or brought out to impress non-satellite-builders.

The point is not whether you can build, but whether you can conceive and outline an idea that is worth building in the first place.

JWST Build-a-Satellite

Within 20 minutes, can you use a web tool to build a viable satellite?

  1. Go to the JWST Build a Satellite page and launch the game.
  2. Choose “Level 3.”
  3. Create a mission to explore Galaxies that (at least) uses a high energy band.
  4. Try to successfully make a satellite. Write down your intermediate decisions ...

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