• NASA is offering $5 million in the “Cube Quest” challenge to institutions that develop and test subsystems necessary to perform deep space exploration using small spacecraft
  • The competition will be divided into several parts, including a ground tournament to see if the CubeSats can fly on the SLS, a lunar derby to ensure they can communicate at a distance of 10 times the Earth-moon distance, and a deep-space derby to put the CubeSat in a “stable lunar orbit” and work well there
  • CubeSats are tiny satellites that are so small that they are often within the reach of universities and similar institutions that want to perform science in space without the associated cost of operating a huge mission

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