CubeSats

This picture shows three CubeSats that are orbiting Earth which were recently released from the International Space Station. Each CubeSat is about 10 cm on each side, and is roughly the size of a coffee mug. These devices are often created by university students and have missions such as collecting wide angle imagery of the Earth, testing orbital radio communications, monitoring Earth’s magnetic field, and exploring surrounding radiations of Earth. Some CubeSats will return into Earth’s atmosphere. I chose this picture because I was very amazed at how such small devices can be launched into Space and help scientists and students with their research.