KickSat -- Your personal spacecraft in space
kickstarter.com
kickstarter.com
They'll only be able to buy commercial launch if they get more money than the kickstarter requires.
So what happens to the money if there's no free ride and they don't have enough for a commercial launch?
There are also a bunch of similar projects around and the "getting the stuff to space" aspect seems to be the central issue. For example:
http://www.cubesatkit.com/ http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=1414
Q: Aren’t you going to create a lot of space debris doing this?
A: Debris is a huge concern to everyone in the space community. We certainly want to be responsible space citizens in making sure that we don’t create more of it and will comply with the international rules and guidelines for debris mitigation...
That said, where are technical specifications? What microcontroller are they using? What is the range of the wireless radio?
Will we be able to program the Sprite ourselves? Can we add more physical sensors at our own expense? If so, is there a weight-limit?
Edit: KickStarter has some of the answers after all:
With a donation of $300 or more, you will be sponsoring the launch of a single Sprite which you can call your own. You'll be able to name it and specify the short message (for example, your initials) that it will transmit. You'll also be able to see its position updated on KickSat.org as it flies over a network of amateur ground stations.
For a donation of $1000 or more, you can request a Sprite development kit, including a fully functioning Sprite with all schematics, source code, and programming tools so that you can write your own flight code. You'll also receive a step-by-step guide explaining how to receive and deconvolve the radio signals from the spacecraft if you want to set up your own ground station in addition to using the KickSat.org mission control website.