By Kristi Coale
The US Department of Energy's Fast On-Orbit Recording of Transient Events satellite - the first of its kind - was launched into orbit this fall. The all-plastic FORTE was assembled in much the same way a kid might build a model airplane. Parts for the craft arrived from the manufacturer cut into sheets of graphite-epoxy, a composite carbon material used in such earthbound implements as tennis rackets; five technicians then separated the hundreds of pieces and snapped them together. With a production cycle of 10 weeks and a cost of up to US$300,000, FORTE is no faster or cheaper to build than an aluminum bird. But the weight savings of the 102-pound frame free the satellite to carry more scientific instruments or spend a few more days in orbit. And the possibilities for inexpensive mass production are, well, astronomical.
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