CubeSats launched from the space station
Monday, October 8, 2012 - 06:31
in Astronomy & Space
Five tiny CubeSats were deployed from the International Space Station on Thursday and astronaut Chris Hadfield called the image above "surreal" on Twitter. And rightly so, as they look like a cross between Star Wars training droids and mini Borg Cubes from Star Trek. The Cubesats measure about 10 centimeters (4 inches) on a side and each will conduct a range of scientific missions, ranging from Earth observation and photography to technology demonstrations to sending LED pulses in Morse Code (which should be visible from Earth) to test out a potential type of optical communication system.