Looks like USU is about send 3 more satellites into orbit. According to the Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule as provided by "Launch Alert": +++++ SEP 10? 09:00-11:00? Falcon 9 Vehicle will launch the Cassiope satellite for the Canadian Space Agency. The vehicle will carry the following satellites as secondary payloads: CUSat 1 and CUSat 2 (Cornell University); DANDE (University of Colorado at Boulder); and POPACS 1, POPACS 2, and POPACS 3 (Utah State University). +++++ Here's part of an abstract on the project: +++++ The main objective of Project POPACS (Polar Orbiting Passive Atmospheric Calibration Spheres) is to measure the changes in density of the auroral zone upper atmosphere, in response to various solar stimuli, such as flares and CMEs. The mission consists of deploying three 10 cm diameter Aluminum spheres into an elliptical polar orbit and tracking them as they make repeated perigee passes in the upper atmosphere, with special emphasis on perigee passes within both the northern and southern auroral zones. The spheres have identical external dimensions and surface compositions, and thus identical drag coefficients, but they have different masses (1, 1.5, 2 kg) to vary their ballistic coefficients, which will cause them to spread out in right ascension along the original orbit. The Aluminum spheres will be coated with space-rated flat white paint so they can be both radar tracked by the U.S. Space Command and optically tracked by a world-wide network of university students and amateur observers with “Go To” telescopes. +++++ As for the funny, wouldn't it be refreshing if "reality" TV was really this year? http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/2013/09/01 patrick