Whenever someone says ‘satellite’ people often think of huge and heavy telecommunication satellites with massive solar panels. But with the cost and size of consumer electronics decreasing exponentially; the same is happening for certain satellite technologies. Today nano-technology allows us to develop and build compact satellites the size of a shoebox: so called ‘cubesats’. These satellites open a world of opportunities not only for space agencies such as ESA but also for universities, their researchers and students. The small size of these satellites reduces not only their production costs but also their launch costs. And so it seems the future favours the small…