It costs a lot of money to put traditional spacecraft on rockets, explains Robbie Schingler, who worked as part of the Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA before cofounding an Earth-imaging company called Planet. “And if you’re going to put something like that on a rocket, you want to make sure that it works. It needs to be designed and built perfectly. There is no room for risk because there is only one shot. And then, before you know it, the satellite has a lot of redundancy,” he says. “You only use components that have flown in space before, so you know they’ll actually work, and then you end up with a satellite that’s actually quite large and therefore quite expensive—and complex.
The situation has evolved dramatically over the last 15 years, as small spacecraft and the science experiments they carry have become smaller, cheaper, and easier to get into space. First, academia standardized the specifications for satellites so small that several fit in a backpack. Meanwhile, consumer electronics were getting both tinier and increasingly powerful, making it possible to infuse fascinating technology into the shrinking spacecraft. At the same time, many of the launch vehicles themselves have become bigger and more capable of transporting multiple payloads—including small spacecraft—although NASA and industry are still working to make the process of finding a ride to space more efficient.
Still, by 2016, space had become within reach even for a group of elementary school students who, with NASA’s help, deployed a small satellite they built into low-Earth orbit. The children joined researchers, graduate students, enthusiasts, and government contractors of all sizes who are directly participating in space exploration through the space agency’s small spacecraft.🤗
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