[music playing]
- These little CubeSats
are revolutionizing satellite science.
But do you think something this small
is big enough to help NASA gather science data?
Let's find out.
- We currently have an Earth orbiting satellite
called RAVAN; it's been up there for about a year.
RAVAN stands for Radiometer Assessment
of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes.
So RAVAN measures the Earth's radiation imbalance.
So how much energy is getting absorbed by the Earth
and how much gets reflected back.
That's a big question that's an important parameter
for climate science.
RAVAN serves as a pathfinder
for Constellation.
The idea is to put a constellation
of these small satellites around the globe
so you can get simultaneous measurements
of the radiation reflecting back out into space.
The future of CubeSats is very bright.
The more that we demonstrate technologies,
the more we can incorporate into science
and the more CubeSats can go up
and take simultaneous data.
For example, you could have simultaneous global measurements
around the Earth, measuring things that you could never
have imagined before.
With the Swarm of CubeSats, we could have rapid refresh
over natural disasters,
such as cyclones or hurricanes.
The advantage of swarming, over typical satellite,
is that you don't have to send commands up and down
because they already know what to do next.
- CubeSats are changing the way
we are collecting information
and allowing more and more people access to space
because they are less expensive.
Kids like you and me have opportunities
to get involved by designing and building our own CubeSats
that could be launched by NASA.
Want to know more?
Check out this site and click on
the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative, or CSLI.
They might be small, but CubeSats are providing
answers to big questions.
That's all for now.
See you next time on NASA eClips.
[music playing]