M
Mike Wehner
Guest
- NASA launched a tiny CubeSat in mid-2018 as a proof of concept to study weather on Earth.
- The aim was to see if compact satellites could return "science-quality data" with a much lower cost than weather satellites that are much larger.
- The satellite not only outlived its original three-month lifespan, but it returned a wealth of data that proved useful for researchers.
Weather satellites are usually big, bulky monstrosities packed with advanced instruments that stream data back to Earth where it is interpreted by researchers and experts. On July 13th, 2018, a much smaller satellite took to the skies. It was called RainCube, and it was a NASA CubeSat the size of a shoebox. Its mission was to study weather on Earth and show scientists what a tiny satellite could do.
It was built to last just three months, and in those three months, it would send weather data back to Earth so that NASA could decide whether to pursue the miniaturized satellite effort or wait for new technologies to emerge in the future. It completed its three-month mission... and then three more months... and then three more. Finally, in late December of 2020, it died, having outlived and outperformed its design many times over.
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NASA’s ‘RainCube’ satellite is now dead originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 10 Feb 2021 at 22:26:12 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Via BRG - Boy Genius Report