HOUSE OVERSIGHT 028511 satellite passes opens up many new possibilities, says Skybox's Mr Berkenstock. His firm can offer a stream of analysis, such as the number of trees in a forest or the number of cars at various times of the day in parking lots across America. Transport patterns can be followed, infrastructure monitored, the planting of fields, plumes from smokestacks and ships in ports can all be observed. Overlaying more and more data will provide much richer visualisation, adds Mr Berkenstock. Nor will all the nanosats be looking downwards. Sensors facing sideways and upwards from low-Earth orbit will allow researchers to carry out a large number of experiments and to take measurements that have previously been too costly to consider. This includes detecting solar and cosmic radiation, interactions between magnetic fields and other forces which together make up what is called space weather. Measuring and predicting space weather could be used to protect billion-dollar satellites and prevent astronauts from receiving high doses of radiation. Many satellites measure aspects of space weather, but they tend to do so only in certain directions. Part of the failed KickSat experiment was to use the sprites to see if arrays of inexpensive devices could constantly monitor such forces. Nanosats may be inexpensive, but resisting gravity's inexorable pull comes with a price tag. Although there is no standard price list for a launch, a CubeSat costs roughly $100,000 to put each 1.3kg unit into low-Earth orbit. A three- unit CubeSat might cost as much as $400,000. Jeff Foust, an analyst at Futron, a consultancy, studies launch costs and says he has heard of charges as low as $30,000 for a single CubeSat launched on a Russian rocket. These prices put nanosats in the reach not just of small firms, but also of start-ups and researchers relying on academic grants. Some schools are also planning nanosat experiments. Bulk-buying launches for heavier combined pa