This tiny box is revolutionizing how we understand the Earth

Partly because they're so small, CubeSats only cost about $100,000 — cheap in comparison to the minimum $50 million it usually costs to launch a satellite into space.

NASA Johnson/Flickr

Source: Quora

NASA's CubeSats Initiative has encouraged students, from elementary school to college, to launch their own satellites. The agency's Space Grant Program has paid for most of the ones students have made.

Source: NASA

In many cases, students have designed and built the CubeSats themselves.

Over 100 CubeSats have already been deployed to image areas where disasters have struck, monitor deforestation, and track the retreat of the polar ice caps.

Source: NASA

CubeSats give us the ability to put many more science experiments into space with many more eyes watching them, exponentially expanding our study of Earth.

NASA

The coolest part about them may be how they're launched into orbit. First, they board a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

Once they're there, astronauts onboard the ISS load them into the launcher. Since they're so small, six CubeSats can fit on the launcher at a time.

NASA Johnson/Flickr

Then, the Japanese HTV-5 cargo vehicle gets ready to boot them into space.

NASA Johnson/Flickr

The astronaut controlling the robot arm points the CubeSats away from the ISS, and pushes the button that activates the spring that launches them into orbit.

NASA Johnson/Flickr

And away they go, falling into orbit around our planet just like the ISS, but a little lower.

NASA Johnson/Flickr

The tiny satellites pack a big punch. The IPEX CubeSat, for example, can download 5 terabytes of data per day. It's investigating new ways to send massive amounts of data from space back down to Earth.

Source: JPL

But we're just starting to unlock CubeSats' potential. The company Made In Space, Inc. wants to 3D-print the tiny satellites on the ISS itself, making them even more accessible.

And this idea is making satellites even cheaper. You can get now what's called a Tubesat satellite from the company Interorbital Systems for only $7,000, including the price of the launch. Each one only weighs about 1 pound.

Source: Interorbital Systems

CubeSats and TubeSats can also be launched just from a rocket, as seen in this NASA footage of an Atlas V rocket launch. But the ISS launch is way cooler.

There goes another Cubesat, perhaps to predict space weather, or image the environment in unprecedented detail. Each tiny satellite is getting us one step closer to understanding our planet.

NASA Johnson/Flickr