Cubesat

Available for over a year

Satelites used to weigh several tonnes and be as long as a bus. Now they’re closer to the size of a Beanie Baby. In fact, as Tim Harford explains, the new microsatellites were originally a student engineering challenge: design a satellite that can fit into a Beanie Baby box. So how are these CubeSats changing the way we use space? And how are they changing the way economics itself is done? Producer: Ben Crighton Editor: Richard Vadon