INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Main image: Cubesats being released from the International Space Station
components for use in the latest phones
But it turns out that the mobile parts boom is useful for the satellite business too.Since they were first proposed in 1999, a community has
grown up around the idea of building satellites that are significantly smaller and cheaper to launch, built in part from newly commoditized
The idea is that these 'cubesats' can be sent up to space, potentially dozens at a time, piggybacking on other space missions as a secondary
payload.On June 12 2013 an Atlas rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California carrying several satellites
called AeroCube 5a and 5b.A 'camera-phone in space'Launched by the Aerospace Corporation, the AeroCubes' primary mission was to test a new
communications technology, but following their launch Dee W Pack from The Aerospace Corporation found another use
Having been inspired by the incredible night time photography of a colleague at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and
thinking of the impressive photography that astronaut Donald Pettit had managed from the International Space Station, he wanted to see how
cubesats measured up.The image on the left was taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station; the two on the right were taken
to photography from the vastly more expensive VIIRS, a full-sized infrared camera on board on a full-sized satellite
In fact, for certain applications the camera on the AeroCubes is even better: not only is it full color, but the satellites are in a lower
orbit they can capture images of the ground at a resolution of around 100m for every pixel, rather than the 740m of VIIRS
signals have been refracted it could enable scientists to make even more accurate weather forecasts.Perhaps the clearest benefit of using
cubesats, though, is something that normal satellites can't cheaply replicate: 'refresh rate'
aerial photography or other types of observations
Google Maps only refreshes its imagery every few years
But this is only a problem if you only have one massive, expensive camera.Their small size means dozens of cubesats can be launched on a
orbit you begin to get [] near real-time updates of what is going on at any given point on the planet, and this has very interesting Earth
autonomy, but say if the spacecraft can detect the initiation of that forest fire, it can warn assets on the ground, or potentially warn a
larger [satellite] in orbit [saying]: 'Hey there's something interesting over here, swivel your camera in this direction and take a
go wrong.A concept image of NASA's Orion capsule
A communications system that sits on a cubesat, for example, would most certainly sit on the Orion crew vehicles
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