(Henry Spencer) wrote in message ...
Spin stabilization can last much more than 40 minutes, if the thing is
balanced properly and is spinning around the right axis. Trying to spin a
long skinny stack of hardware around its long axis, in particular, is a
disaster. This may be a problem with two solids underneath the payload
and an apogee motor on top.

In NOTSNIK [1] the payload was a 2.3 lb doughnut (8 inch diameter) with
a 1.25 lb apogee kick motor in the middle. So this is the type of
thing you would want to do to for your spin to last half an orbit.
This is an extra payload design requirement, that might bother
customers, but could be ok for some X-prize guys who just want to
get something into orbit.

-- Vince

[1] For info on NOTSNIK see:
http://ftp.seds.org/pub/info/newslet...views.9807.txt