SEOUL · as kids we have always looked into the sky, imagining what is out there and some even dreamt of flying into space. Hojun Song  #3955 is not an astronaut but he is quite close to realize one of his dreams.

the cutting-edge Korean tech artist designed and built a tiny satellite. on 31st august he plans to launch it into space. what he actually initiated is an open source project. anyone with a standard radio transmitter will be able to send messages and they will be flashed back to Earth in Morse code.

"so far, almost all space programs were led by government or military. and very little were initiated by amateur group like AMSAT. individual fantasies were used and fostered by institutions. it's time to have a private connection between you and universe. Open Source Satellite Initiative  (OSSI) shows a way to do it," explains Song.

the Korean artist has built everything by hand and not computers or machines. he wants to show, that anyone can construct a satellite. therefor he even wrote instructions on how to make a DIY satellite. until now the costs of constructing the satellite were almost 800 eur. but the launch is going to be far more expensive, almost 80.000 eur. in order to finance the launch he printed 10.000 t-shirts and is selling them.

"when space program is personally used, it might not be as useful as institutional ones. but that does not mean private space program is less important than institutional one. realizing fantasy and dreaming of another fantasy is as valuable as practical and scientific missions and probably even more to some people," concludes the 33-old visionary.