August 2017
Big science from small spacecraft
... century, we will probably only visit a handful with larger spacecraft like NEAR Shoemaker, or Japan’s Hayabusa. But nanosats could be sent in large numbers to examine hundreds of asteroids close up within a generation, at a much lower price tag than...
21 December 2020
Innovative design could see CubeSats "steam-powered"
... to Mars. As of 4 October 2020, more than 2700 CubeSats have been launched into space, 1400 of which are NanoSats, and this number is set to double in the next six years. But despite their uses there is one...
February 2018
CubeSats changing the landscape for ‘app’ developers
... done in the smartphone arena with Android and iOS. ESA recently developed a framework dedicated to CubeSats, the NanoSat MO Framework (NMF), which allows onboard software to be developed as apps. The framework’s main objective is to facilitate the...
June 2015
European lab in the sky: OP-SAT and new potential for ESA spacecraft
... (See box). To reduce cost, OPS-SAT will fly as a hightech nanosat, measuring just 10 X 10 X 30 cm in size. The radiation environment...easy task for the ground. More information: Innovative nanosat will test space software: http://www.esa.int/innonano...
April 2017
Mega-challenges for mega-constellations
.... This is in addition to the general increase in space traffic in LEO mainly fuelled by small satellites and cubesats as well as nanosats, which grant cheaper access to space. Even before these recent trends, space debris had already emerged...
October 2020
Open Source Space
... of emerging technological advances and processes from diverse industries is enabling a design that is scalable from nanosat to microsatellite missions. The Open Source Satellite Programme is developing an accessible, flexible, highly capable, robust...
