Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

CubeSats Spurring Satellite Revolution

Posted by samzenpus on from the getting-it-started dept.

kkleiner writes "Thanks to the miniaturization of electronics, small CubeSat satellites have quickly become the standard for orbital Earth monitoring. Their modular design and lower cost makes them accessible to many, from university researchers to backers of crowdfunding campaigns. This year, the number of CubeSats launched will at least double the number in orbit to date."

2 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Next year's news... by ModernGeek · · Score: 4, Informative

    I believe that the orbit of these is so low that it degrades relatively quickly, and is out of the way of any real satellites.

    --
    Sig: I stole this sig.
  2. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Great, just what we need, even more ... Damnit. First post AC beat me to it! But I had time to skim TFA and didn't see a reference to de-orbiting them.

    They're in low-earth orbit. It's not an issue, because they deorbit naturally.