Collaboration In Reaching Outer Space

Opening the Space Race to the Entire World

A new era of collaboration and affordable technology has scientists across the globe sending spacecraft into outer space

Sarah Zielinski | August 9, 2016

Since the launch of the Kepler Space Telescope in 2009, astronomers have discovered at least 2,327 planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. Despite failures of parts that have made it impossible for scientists to point the telescope accurately, the mission has been a great success for NASA. That’s a relief, because Kepler has a budget greater than the gross domestic product of some small nations.
NASA, the European Space Agency and other large space-faring organizations have decades of such missions and discoveries under their belts, from Sputnik to Juno.

Triple-Unite CubeSat. "A pair of triple-unit CubeSats. ESA's 2020 Asteroid Impact Mission spacecraft will have room to carry six CubeSat units – potentially single-unit miniature spacecraft but more probably a pair of larger CubeSats as seen here." Source: http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2015/02/Triple-unit_CubeSats

"CubeSats are being launched from around the world on various launch vehicles. The list of launch opportunities is changing daily and increasing. One of the goals of the CubeSat program is to provide easy access to space for all CubeSat developers." Source: http://www.cubesat.org/

<more at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/opening-space-race-entire-world-180960045/?no-ist; related articles and links: http://www.cubesat.org/ (CubeSat website. [About: The CubeSat standard was created by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and Stanford University's Space Systems Development Lab in 1999 to facilitate access to space for university students. Since then the standard has been adopted by hundreds of organizations worldwide. CubeSat developers include not only universities and educational institutions, but also private firms and government organizations. The CubeSat standard facilitates frequent and affordable access to space with launch opportunities available on most launch vehicles.]) and http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Asteroid_Impact_Mission/CubeSats (CubeSats. April 7, 2015)>