NASA loses two hurricane monitoring satellites on launch

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.

A CubeSat will test out water as a propulsion system

Novel propulsion systems for CubeSats have been on an innovative tear of late. UT has reported on propulsion systems that use everything from solid iodine to the Earth's own magnetic field as a way of moving a small spacecraft. ...

The small satellite that's paying big dividends

Think of the International Space Station, and most likely you imagine an orbiting laboratory, where scientists observe how plants, materials, and humans react to microgravity conditions. But during the past decade, the station ...

Planet-hunter CubeSat images Los Angeles

A small satellite designed to hunt for new planets beyond the solar system recently looked down at Earth to capture an image of California's "City of Stars."

Mission accomplished for ESA's butane-propelled CubeSat

The cereal-box sized GomX-4B – ESA's biggest small CubeSat yet flown – has completed its mission for the Agency, testing out new miniaturised technologies including: intersatellite link communication with its GomX-4A ...

Small satellites tackle big scientific questions

CU Boulder will soon have new eyes on the sun. Two miniature satellites designed by researchers at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) are scheduled to launch later this month on Spaceflight's SSO-A: SmallSat ...

MarCO makes space for small explorers

Twenty years ago, CubeSats—a class of boxy satellites small enough to fit in a backpack—were used by universities as a teaching aid. Simpler, smaller and cheaper than traditional satellites, they've made space more accessible ...

Tiny ASTERIA satellite achieves a first for CubeSats

A miniature satellite called ASTERIA (Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics) has measured the transit of a previously-discovered super-Earth exoplanet, 55 Cancri e. This finding shows that miniature ...

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