CubeSats are tiny, bread-loaf-sized satellites that make space research affordable for students and small businesses.

The CubeSat standard was created in 1999 by professors Jordi Puig-Suari of Cal Poly and Bob Twiggs of Stanford University. They aimed to provide students with the opportunity to design, build, and test satellites within the timeframe of a standard degree program. The basic unit, known as 1U, is a cube measuring exactly 10 by 10 by 10 centimeters and weighing no more than 1.33 kilograms.These satellites utilize 'off-the-shelf' electronic components, such as those found in smartphones, which significantly lowers manufacturing costs compared to custom aerospace hardware. Because they are standardized, they can be launched using a Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD). This tubular system protects the main satellite cargo while ensuring the CubeSats are ejected safely into their own orbits once in space.Since the first CubeSats were launched in June 2003 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, the technology has evolved rapidly. NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) has since provided launch opportunities to over 100 educational and non-profit organizations. In 2018, the MarCO mission even sent two CubeSats to Mars, proving these small devices can operate successfully in deep space beyond Earth's orbit.