In Vladivostok, simultaneously with other Russian cities, as part of the Moscow “Gutenberg’s Smoking Room” projectm we can attend the presentation of the unique Mayak satellite developed by Russian engineers and enthusiasts. Mayak in the first Russian satellite developed on a crowdfunding basis. The main goal of the project is to popularize the space exploration.
The presentation will take place in a live webcast format with the support of the Vladivostok Centralized Library System. During the presentation, there will be a teleconference between the site and the amateur astronomers from Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, and Astrakhan.
Viewers will be told about the main feature of the satellite: after reaching the orbit, Mayak will open its solar reflector and become the brightest object in the night sky after the natural satellite of the Earth. The authors of the project expect that, due to its brightness, it will spur interest in space research in society.
The scientific goals of the launch include:
– testing an aerodynamic braking device;
– investigation of the upper atmospheric density;
– verification of the mathematical model for calculation of the spacecraft’s apparent stellar magnitude
The Mayak development team includes six engineers, four of whom have no experience in the spacecraft designing, four students and one post-graduate student. The team has been working on the project for a year on a completely voluntary basis.