A tiny weather satellite’s life ended in a fiery blaze as it descended into a predestined plunge into the Earth’s atmosphere.
The two-and-a-half-year mission for RainCube was a success for a shoebox-size weather satellite that was designed to showcase how tiny satellites, called CubeSats, could be less expensive while still providing robust weather information.
Many weather satellites cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take up the size of a school bus, however, CubeSats are less expensive and deploy into space with minimal resources.
It was only expected to last two months but sent back its last weather radar images on Dec. 24, 2020.
These could prove vital in monitoring small-scale features in hurricanes that would otherwise be missed by higher altitude fixed position satellites.