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NASA to Launch 20 'CubeSats'

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Department: 
Space Missions
Teaser: 

"NASA recently selected 20 small satellites to fly as auxiliary cargo aboard rockets that are planned to launch in 2011 and 2012. The 'CubeSats' include the ExoPlanetSat, which will aid in the search for Earth-like planets by monitoring a single star."

Link: 

Setting Sight on a Single Star

Source: 

http://www.astrobio.net Download time: May 14 2011 9:52 AM ET

NASA recently selected 20 small satellites to fly as auxiliary cargo aboard rockets that are planned to launch in 2011 and 2012.

These small "CubeSats" are nanosatellites, measuring approximately four inches long, with a volume of about one quart, and weighing 2.2 pounds or less.

Among the missions selected is ExoPlanetSat, a telescope designed to search for planets orbiting distant stars. Sara Seager, a planetary scientist at MIT, is the principal investigator on the project.

The ExoPlanetSat will monitor a single star in the hopes of finding an Earth-like planet in orbit around it.…

See http://www.astrobio.net for links to further info.