NASA Technologist Advances CubeSat Concept for Planetary Exploration - SpaceRef

CubeSat Application for Planetary Entry Missions ©NASA

Although scientists are increasingly using pint-size satellites sometimes no larger than a loaf of bread to gather data from low-Eartho rbit, they have yet to apply the less-expensive small-satellite technology to observe physical phenomena far from terra firma. Jaime Esper, a technologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, however, is advancing a CubeSat concept that would give scientists that capability.