In 2018, Nasa will launch the Orion spacecraft using the largest, most powerful rocket booster ever built; the Space Launch System (SLS). Tucked inside the stage adapter - the ring connecting Orion to the top propulsion stage of the SLS -will be 11 self-contained small satellites, each about the size of a large shoebox. Now, the space agency has revealed three missions that will use these small satellites during the test flight to help develop technologies for astronauts travelling to deep space. A concept image of the Near-Earth Asteroid Scout mission, one of 11 missions that will be secondary payloads to the first test flight of Nasa's Space Launch SystemThey will be included in 2018 flight of Orion and Space Launch SystemNEA Scout will fly by a small asteroid, taking pictures and getting dataLunar Flashlight will illuminate moon's craters and measure surface iceBioSentinel will use yeast to measure the impact of deep space radiation
'The rocket will be the strongest ever built by _ and we want to take advantage of that design.