These tiny satellites could take on NASA’s riskiest missions—Speaking of Chemistry Road Trip

Speaking of Chemistry set a course for JPL to learn about NASA’s plans for cubesats, little satellites with interplanetary aspirations. Not a subscriber? Make it so: http://bit.ly/ACSReactions

Andy Klesh of the Jet Propulsion Lab welcomes us to the cleanroom to talk about how satellites smaller than a briefcase could one day explore the chemistry of alien moons and planets. But first, Andy and his team have to show that cubesats can make it to other planets like NASA’s more conventional, more expensive, and much larger satellites. That’s where Mars Cube One, or MarCO, comes in. Watch to learn more

Check out even more on NASA’s cubesat missions here.

For even more info, check out these references and sources:

A New Dawn For CubeSats | C&EN

Juno set to explore Jupiter | C&EN

CubeSat Propulsion Systems | VACCO

MarCO: First Interplanetary CubeSat Mission | JPL

Crazy Engineering: CubeSats | JPL

MarCO: First Interplanetary CubeSat Mission | JPL (source of MarCO deployment animation)

Crazy Engineering: CubeSats | JPL (source of other cubesat clips)

CubeSat Propulsion Systems | VACCO (source of thruster image)

Curiosity’s Seven Minutes of Terror | JPL (source of Curiosity landing animation)

Scientists to Io: Your Volcanoes Are in the Wrong Place | NASA (source of Io volcano clip)

NASA Targets May 2018 Launch of Mars InSight Mission | NASA

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