The Tweety Bird
By
Bob Brewin
Japan, which provided the world with its first <a href=http://news.cnet.com/Sony-puts-Aibo-to-sleep/2100-1041_3-6031649.html>robotic dog</a> in 1999, has now turned on the world's first tweeting satellite. The tweety bird is a four-inch square, 2.2 pound <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CubeSat>CubeSat</a> from Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory at the University of Tokyo.
Japan, which provided the world with its first robotic dog in 1999, has now turned on the world's first tweeting satellite. The tweety bird is a four-inch square, 2.2 pound CubeSat from Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory at the University of Tokyo.
The satellite, CubeSat XI-V, was launched in October 2005, and started sending out its tweets on April 30. These sat-tweets are in Kanji characters and provide operational details on the satellite.
CubeSats have been developed and operated primarily by universities, but now the Air Force has decided to develop its own minisatellites. The Air Force Space Command says it plans to issue a procurement for two CubeSats this June.
I hope they have built in Twitter capacity so they can send tweets to Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an unabashed Twitter fan.
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