Compact satellites often need to hitch rides with larger government, civil, or commercial payloads to get into orbit. A standardized form factor could make it easier to launch these satellites that are too small to merit a dedicated launch vehicle, but too big for a CubeSat deployer. A working group comprised of industry, academia, and governmental participants have published a preliminary Launch Unit standard, now available for review by the SmallSat community. Feedback is both welcome and encouraged.

A satellite smaller than a loaf of bread beamed a laser to the ground, transmitting 100 megabits of data per second, a rate 50 times greater than typical communication systems for this size CubeSat. This same satellite also demonstrated much-needed maneuvering capabilities that brought it within 20 feet of its twin satellite.