https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. More and more satellites are being added to low Earth orbit (LEO) every month. As that number continues to increase, so do the risks of that critical area surrounding Earth becoming impassable, trapping us on the planet for the foreseeable future. Ideas from different labs have presented potential solutions to this problem, but one of the most promising, electrodynamic tethers (EDTs), have only now begun to be tested in space. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-tether-deorbiting-mission.html Space Exploration Thu, 19 Jun 2025 10:19:13 EDT news669547146 CubeSats have a lot of advantages. They are small, inexpensive, and easily reproducible. But those advantages also come with significant disadvantages—they have trouble linking into broader constellations that allow them to be more effective at their observational or communication tasks. A team from the University of Albany thinks they might have solved that problem by using a customized calibration algorithm to ensure the right CubeSats link up together. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-calibrating-cubesat-constellations-easier.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:58:03 EDT news661103881 The two CubeSat passengers aboard ESA's Hera mission for planetary defense have exchanged their first signals with Earth, confirming their nominal status. The pair were switched on to check out all their systems, marking the first operation of ESA CubeSats in deep space. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-hera-asteroid-mission-cubesat-passengers.html Space Exploration Mon, 28 Oct 2024 15:51:10 EDT news649349465 Most CubeSats weigh less than a bowling ball, and some are small enough to hold in your hand. But the impact these instruments are having on space exploration is gigantic. CubeSats—miniature, agile and cheap satellites—are revolutionizing how scientists study the cosmos. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-cubesats-tiniest-satellites-explore-solar.html Space Exploration Mon, 30 Sep 2024 11:10:07 EDT news646911246 NASA's newest climate mission has started collecting data on the amount of heat in the form of far-infrared radiation that the Arctic and Antarctic environments emit to space. These measurements by the Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE) are key to better predicting how climate change will affect Earth's ice, seas, and weather—information that will help humanity better prepare for a changing world. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-mission-snapshot-polar-emissions.html Earth Sciences Tue, 03 Sep 2024 16:09:14 EDT news644598546 A pair of CubeSats from NASA's Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator, or PTD, series lifted off on SpaceX's Transporter-11 rideshare mission at 11:56 a.m. PDT Friday, August 16, from Vandenburg Space Force Base in California. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-nasa-cubesats-commercial-rideshares.html Space Exploration Tue, 20 Aug 2024 12:47:03 EDT news643376822 Characterizing near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) is critical if we hope to eventually stop one from hitting us. But so far, missions to do so have been expensive, which is never good for space exploration. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-pair-cubesats-ground-penetrating-radar.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 25 Jul 2024 14:12:03 EDT news641135522 CubeSats are becoming ever more popular, with about 2,400 total launched so far. However, the small size limits their options for fundamental space exploration technologies, including propulsion. They become even more critical when mission planners design missions that require them to travel to other planets or even asteroids. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-cubesat-propulsion-technologies.html Space Exploration Mon, 08 Jul 2024 14:08:03 EDT news639666481 As part of NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative, Firefly Aerospace launched eight small satellites on July 3 aboard the company's Alpha rocket. Named "Noise of Summer," the rocket successfully lifted off from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:04 p.m. PDT. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-cubesats-nasa-firefly-aerospace-rocket.html Space Exploration Fri, 05 Jul 2024 10:35:02 EDT news639394501 New Curtin University research could change how space missions are conducted and lead to improvements in industries as diverse as environmental management, agriculture, disaster management and infrastructure inspection. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-approach-space-missions-heights.html Space Exploration Thu, 13 Jun 2024 14:12:03 EDT news637506721 ESA's Hera asteroid mission and its two CubeSats interacted as if they were in space, within the foam pyramid-lined walls of the Agency's Maxwell test chamber in the Netherlands. The trio communicated together, sharing data and ranging information at the same time as their Hera mothership received commands from its mission controllers at the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-hera-cubesats-mission.html Space Exploration Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:17:20 EDT news637492636 Data from the pair of CubeSats will offer new insights into how much heat the Arctic and Antarctica radiate into space and how this influences global climate. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-nasa-small-climate-satellite-earth.html Earth Sciences Wed, 05 Jun 2024 12:59:05 EDT news636811140 CubeSats are satellites constructed of cubic units, or U, a bit smaller than a square tissue box, or about 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) on each side. (A 2U CubeSat, for instance, is about the size of a rectangular tissue box.) Initially developed two decades ago as an inexpensive platform for students to learn about satellite development, CubeSats weren't thought of as devices for collecting valuable data. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-tiny-satellites-significant-space.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 13 May 2024 11:55:03 EDT news634820101 NASA and Rocket Lab are targeting no earlier than Wednesday, May 22, 2024, for the first of two launches of the agency's PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission to study heat loss to space in Earth's polar regions. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-date-nasa-prefire-mission-polar.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 30 Apr 2024 14:55:34 EDT news633707732 In about one year from now, the European Space Agency will launch its Hera mission. Its destination is the asteroid Didymos, and it'll be the second human spacecraft to visit the 390-meter chunk of rock. NASA's DART mission crashed a kinetic impactor into Didymos' tiny moonlet Dimorphos as a test of planetary defense. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-esa-hera-mission-cubesats-theyll.html Space Exploration Fri, 03 Nov 2023 11:33:03 EDT news618229981 Spain's trio of ANSER CubeSats, due to fly on Europe's next Vega launcher, will fly like a flock of birds in orbit—in more ways than one. Keeping in formation by following their leader, the three shoebox-sized satellite will image Iberian waters as if they are a single standard-sized mission. And they will unfurl wing-like flaps to maintain their relative positions, surfing on the scanty airflow at the top of Earth's atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-vega-fuel-free-cubesats-wings-formation.html Space Exploration Wed, 27 Sep 2023 12:00:44 EDT news615034831 The smallest radar to fly in space has been delivered to ESA for integration aboard the miniature Juventas CubeSat, part of ESA's Hera mission for planetary defense. The radar will perform the first radar imaging of an asteroid, peering deep beneath the surface of Dimorphos—the Great Pyramid-sized body whose orbit was shifted last year by the impact of NASA's DART spacecraft. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-hera-mini-radar-probe-asteroid-heart.html Space Exploration Thu, 10 Aug 2023 10:31:29 EDT news610882284 The early blooms of some of Washington D.C.'s iconic cherry blossoms this year set off a flurry of questions: Were trees communicating sensitivity to climate change? https://phys.org/news/2023-06-shoebox-satellites-scientists-trees-global.html Environment Wed, 21 Jun 2023 17:07:04 EDT news606586021 NASA's Lunar Flashlight mission to the moon has ended, but the briefcase-size spacecraft will soon fly past Earth before heading into deep space. On Tuesday, May 16, at 9:44 p.m. PDT (Wednesday, May 17, at 12:44 a.m. EDT), the CubeSat will pass about 40,000 miles (65,000 kilometers) from our planet's surface. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-nasa-lunar-flashlight-fly-earth.html Space Exploration Tue, 16 May 2023 16:44:03 EDT news603474242 If NASA is to boldly go where no man has gone before, the federal agency might have Tampa to thank for it. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-team-amateurs-built-satellite-nasa.html Space Exploration Thu, 01 Sep 2022 13:10:04 EDT news581256155 NASA's water-scouting CubeSat is now poised to hitch a ride to lunar orbit. Not much bigger than a shoe box, Lunar IceCube's data will have an outsized impact on lunar science. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-nasa-moon-observing-cubesat-ready-artemis.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 08 Aug 2022 17:13:02 EDT news579197582 Two small NASA satellites that were meant to study hurricane development failed to enter orbit Sunday when their Astra rocket shut off before reaching the necessary altitude, the US space agency said. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-nasa-hurricane-satellites.html Space Exploration Mon, 13 Jun 2022 04:39:55 EDT news574313990 Researchers have developed a way to use satellite imaging data to create 3D images that could quickly detect changes on the Earth's surface, a new study says. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-satellite-response-natural-disasters.html Environment Wed, 27 Apr 2022 15:03:03 EDT news570290579 The Miniature X-Ray Solar Spectrometer 3, or MinXSS-3, successfully launched on the InspireSat-1 small satellite at 7:29 p.m. EST on Feb. 13, 2022. Also known as the Dual Aperture X-ray Solar Spectrometer, or DAXSS, it is the third of three NASA-funded MinXSS CubeSats. It will spend up to a year in low-Earth orbit studying X-rays coming from flares on the sun. https://phys.org/news/2022-02-nasa-minxss-instrument-cubesat-sun.html Astronomy Mon, 14 Feb 2022 17:18:26 EST news564081503 DAILI successfully launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:07 a.m. EST on Dec. 21, 2021 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-nasa-daili-cubesat-complex-atmospheric.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 22 Dec 2021 09:26:19 EST news559387577 Even after 30 months in space, The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 mission continues to successfully "sail on sunbeams," demonstrating solar sail technology in Earth orbit. The mission is providing hard data for future missions that hope to employ solar sails to explore the cosmos. https://phys.org/news/2021-11-lightsail-months-paving-future-solar.html Space Exploration Fri, 19 Nov 2021 10:20:01 EST news556536465 ESA's latest CubeSat—RadCube, for surveying space weather in low-Earth orbit—has completed its rigorous commissioning phase, culminating in the extension of a magnetometer boom longer than the miniature satellite itself. https://phys.org/news/2021-11-radcube-magnetometer-boom.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 12 Nov 2021 09:26:31 EST news555931589 A new miniature satellite designed and built at CU Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) is providing proof that "cute" things can take on big scientific challenges. https://phys.org/news/2021-09-cereal-box-sized-satellite-explore-alien.html Astronomy Thu, 23 Sep 2021 14:51:47 EDT news551627504 Our Earth has experienced rapid environmental changes tightly tied to anthropogenic activities. Satellite remote sensing offers a quantitative means to monitor such changes but is often limited to coarse spatial or temporal resolutions. Only very recently, with the arrival of Planet's Dove satellites, a constellation of CubeSats made of 190+ satellite sensors to produce daily and global coverage at a 3-meter resolution, have we had the opportunity for fine-scale Earth's surface monitoring. https://phys.org/news/2021-09-key-issues-tracking-fine-scale-planet.html Environment Mon, 06 Sep 2021 10:53:21 EDT news550144395 Around the same size as two big Harry Potter paperbacks, ESA's Sun-watching Sunstorm CubeSat has produced its first solar X-ray spectrum, coming just over a week after its launch to orbit aboard a Vega rocket. https://phys.org/news/2021-08-sunstorm-cubesat.html Space Exploration Fri, 27 Aug 2021 07:29:51 EDT news549268189