The Satellites Were Never Supposed to Launch
Two years after illegally launching tiny satellites into orbit, a start-up is trying to convince regulators it’s going to play by the rules.
Sara Spangelo keeps the satellite inside a small case, nestled in dark foam, like precious jewelry. The satellite, about the size of a stack of coasters, is black with gold accents. A delicate pattern of circles adorns all four sides. They look like wedding bands.
“It’s just a mock-up, so don’t worry if you drop it,” Spangelo told me recently as I turned the little satellite over in my hands.
Spangelo is the head of Swarm Technologies, the space start-up where this prototype was made. The real thing is heavier, packed with a lithium-ion battery and wrapped in an antenna designed to unfurl in space. Swarm wants to launch 150 of them to provide internet access to remote places
