Cubesats Have Grown from Mere Curiosities into Important Scientific Tools

摘要

When the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) began laying the groundwork five years ago to use cubesats to investigate space weather, few people believed the miniature satellites would prove to be a useful scientific tool. "When I mentioned cubesats, everyone snickered," said Therese Moretto Jorgensen, NSF program director for space weather research and instrumentation. "No one is snickering anymore."