NASA 's CubeSat Launch Initiative remains successful nine months after it first opened , announcing 16 new small satellite projects which will use the shuttle 's bigger missions to provide a ride into orbit between 2020 - 2022 . The cubesats set to be launched by NASA include Arizona State University 's Star - Planet Activity Research CubeSat , which will monitor solar flares from red dwarfs , and CatSat from the University of Mars , which will deploy a one - metre wide HD video - transmitting inflatable antenna . Other projects from various institutions will test deep - space solar sail technology , study lower solar wave propagation , and analyse the links between solar radiation and climate change .
NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative remains successful nine years after it first opened, announcing 16 new small satellite projects which will use the agency's bigger missions to hitch a ride into orbit between 2020-2022. The cubesats set to be launched by NASA include Arizona State University's Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat, which will monitor solar flares from red dwarfs, and CatSat from the University of Arizona, which will deploy a one-metre wide HD video-transmitting inflatable antenna. Other projects from various institutions will test deep-space solar sail technology, study lower thermosphere wave propagation, and analyse the links between solar irradiance and climate change.