It’s true that most interplanetary spacecraft are large and expensive, requiring teams of thousands for their creation, launch, and monitoring. But just like computers, phones, and other electronic devices, satellites are becoming smaller and more efficient all the time. CubeSats are small, inexpensive, and an increasingly popular way for scientists to get the data they want without waiting decades for a big mission approval. In this episode, we talk to a LASP engineer involved in all aspects of CubeSat missions about how their compact size and increased accessibility is revolutionizing how we explore the solar system.

Dr. James Mason builds and flies small satellites for NASA. His first hands-on experience came as a PhD student in the aerospace engineering sciences department at CU Boulder, which he continued after graduating as a postdoc at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and now back at CU’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. He’s worked on 17 CubeSats to date, which have observed everything from solar explosions to exoplanet host stars. He’s contributed to the engineering, fabrication, communications, operations, science, and outreach in these missions and is now the principal investigator leading a CubeSat called SunCET.