Photo: Nasa releases nanosatellites from the ISS

Three cubesats are dropped into orbit from a robotic arm

NASA

At 12:10pm UTC on 19 November 2013, the International Space Station’s robotic arm released a trio of tiny nanosatellites into space.

The miniature craft, known as Cubesats, were deployed by Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, flight engineer on expedition 38. He operated the Japanese-built robotic arm from inside the Kibo laboratory, attached to the ISS.

There are a huge number of Cubesats in low Earth orbit — more than 120. They’re used primarily by universities for research missions, often by students, and are carried up to the ISS in its frequent resupply missions. Their standardised dimensions make them easy for the ISS to handle.

Twelve more will be launched on 5 December 2013, and more will follow in 2014. If you’d like to build one yourself, it’s very simple, as long as it fits into a 10x10cm cube. You can get a kit to begin your mission for just a few thousand dollars.