NASA will launch an army of tiny satellites in the next few months. The first one will be released this month. These cube-shaped satellites are estimated to be as small as a loaf of bread and the biggest one as big as a washing machine.
Mission scientists plan to launch these CubeSats which are designed to slash expensive production and launch costs to test new technologies in space.
The main function of these tiny satellites is to develop innovative ways to study Earth and other planetary bodies in the solar system. In the next several months, the CubeSats will orbit and observe our planet. Each of them weighs less than 400 pounds. The smallest is at 10 centimeters per side.
According to the director of NASA's Earth Science Division, Michael Freilich, using low cost, smaller satellites, NASA will be able to expand its satellite technology and systems including its miniature onboard instruments, to advance Earth sciences and develop new and useful applications.
In spring, two CubeSats will arrive at the International Space Station known as the IceCube to measure cloud ice formations and HARP (Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter) which will measure airborne particles and cloud droplet sizes including the distribution across our planet's atmosphere.
The last one set for launch in 2017 is known as the MiRATA (Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration) satellite. It will obtain climate data such as temperature, water vapor, and cloud ice content for better weather and storm forecasting.