ESA's M-Argo mission will be the first CubeSat to traverse interplanetary space under its own power. Due to launch in 2024-5, the suitcase-sized spacecraft will travel to a near-Earth asteroid, up to 150 million km away.

CubeSats are small, cheap satellites assembled from standardised parts in 10 cm boxes - M-Argo is a 12-unit CubeSat. Originally intended for educational purposes and technology testing, CubeSats have matured rapidly, and are becoming increasingly attractive to intuitional and commercial users for applications including Earth observation, telecommunications and even exploration.

Today hundreds of CubeSats are launched each year, while ESA employs them for early in-orbit demonstration of advanced technologies.

While CubeSats offer increasingly capable payload performance, their natural limits of size, mass and power typically preclude the inclusion of conventional spacecraft propulsion systems.

At the same time, such propulsion capabilities are crucial to enable mobility and to enhance the potential of CubeSats, which have started to utilise miniaturised chemical and electric propulsion.

This is the subject of a dedicated ESA workshop on Propulsion4CubeSats on 28-29 April. ESA's annual CubeSat Industry Days will follow in June.

Related Links
M-Argo at ESA
Microsat News and Nanosat News at SpaceMart.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

ESAIL captures two million messages from ships at sea
Paris (ESA) Mar 31, 2021
The ESAIL microsatellite for making the seas safer has picked up more than two million messages from 70 000 ships in a single day. The reliable high-performance satellite was developed as an ESA Partnership Project to help European and Canadian space companies succeed in the competitive global telecommunications market. It enables industry, maritime authorities and governments to monitor fisheries, manage fleets, protect the environment and enhance security, making the seas safer. ESAI ... read more