Suggested Searches

Small Satellite Missions

  • NASA’s Pandora Mission, CubeSats Ready for Flight

    Image shows a white payload fairing from SpaceX enclosing on NASA's Pandora small satellite ahead of launch at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

    Editor’s Note: This media advisory was updated Jan. 12, 2026 to correct the description of the SPARCS CubeSat. NASA’s Pandora small satellite is preparing to launch to low Earth orbit, where it will study exoplanet atmospheres and their stars. Pandora is part of the Twilight rideshare mission with SpaceX and is set to launch aboard […]

  • Welcome to Launch Day for NASA’s Pandora Mission, CubeSats

    Image shows NASA's Pandora spacecraft

    SpaceX is targeting a 57-minute launch window that opens at 8:19 a.m. EST (5:19 a.m. PST) Sunday, Jan. 11, from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for launch of its Twilight commercial rideshare mission that includes NASA’s Pandora small satellite. A live webcast of this mission will begin about […]

  • NASA Cost-Saving Technology Demo is Ready for Launch

    A NASA small satellite is set to launch on a commercial rideshare mission to test rapid, low-cost deployment of multiple technology prototypes in low Earth orbit, along with three other NASA funded small-scale satellites.   The R5-S7 (Realizing Rapid, Reduced-cost high-Risk Research project Spacecraft 7) CubeSat, developed by NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, is […]

  • NASA’s TROPICS Completes Storm-Studying Mission

    NASA's TROPICs pathfinder satellite is shown in flight configuration. Rocket Lab is preparing to launch four TROPICS CubeSats from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand for the agency.

    A NASA mission that studied the interior of hurricanes collected its final data on Nov. 12, as the last two CubeSats in its fleet were powered down prior to re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.  The TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) mission originally consisted of four identical, milk carton-sized satellites that […]

  • NASA Satellite Swarm’s Expanded Mission Powers Smarter Operations

    Illustrated image of four satellites orbiting Earth as the sun rises over the planet's horizon.

    NASA continues to study how autonomy will assist future exploration to the Moon, Mars, and other worlds. As exploration continues to evolve, future spacecraft swarms will one day “see” and communicate with each other autonomously, navigating new destinations more efficiently. The success of NASA’s Starling mission extension, called Starling 1.5+, shows greater autonomy in space […]

  • NASA’s PExT, Wideband Space Communications Demo Begins Commissioning

    A 3D rendering of the Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT) satellite viewed at a three-quarter angle in low Earth orbit. The spacecraft’s white parabolic antenna dish is pointed to the upper-right, and its four deep teal solar arrays extend outward to form an X-shape. Earth is partially visible across the lower edge of the frame, the curve of its horizon illuminated by a flare of bright sunlight.

    Payload commissioning is underway for NASA’s PExT (Polylingual Experimental Terminal), a first-of-its-kind space communications demonstration designed to allow spacecraft to communicate with government and commercial networks. After launching on July 23, York Space Systems established first contact with their Bard satellite, the host spacecraft for PExT, and began bus commissioning on schedule. Over the next […]

  • NASA’s Arcstone Satellite and Instrument Fully Commissioned 

    An artist's rendering of NASA's Arcstone instrument on-orbit gathering measurements of lunar reflectance.

    Commissioning has been completed for NASA’s Arcstone instrument and the bus. Themain structure of the satellite, or bus, and instrument testing began shortly after launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California July 23 on a SpaceX Transporter-14 rideshare mission.   On Aug. 13, the Arcstone spectrometer, the first instrument dedicated to improving the accuracy of […]

  • NASA’s PREFIRE CubeSat Mission Extended

    This artist's concept depicts one of two PREFIRE CubeSats in orbit around Earth. The NASA mission will measure the amount of far-infrared radiation the planet's polar regions shed to space.

    The twin cube satellites will operate through at least September 2026, expanding focus from the poles to the whole planet to improve modelling and weather forecasts. NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission has been extended through September 2026 and is broadening its focus from Earth’s poles to the entire globe. The […]

  • NASA Works to Contact Scalable Small Satellite

    Artist rendering of NASA's Athena EPIC satellite in orbit.

    Following a successful launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, NASA’s Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost) satellite was deployed on July 23. However, the small satellite has yet to send an expected beacon signal to help track its orbit. Mission partners are collaborating at the NovaWurks data operations […]

  • NASA’s TRACERS Mission in Orbit

    Image shows a satellite move away from a silver, metallic payload with the Earth in the background.

    NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) twin satellites are in orbit after the spacecraft launched at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Station in California as part of a commercial rideshare mission with several other payloads.  […]