GREENBELT -- Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center unveiled new satellites yesterday that may represent the future of space science - and they're about the size of your microwave oven.
The agency's Space Technology 5 mission will test three micro-satellites designed to measure Earth's magnetic field, track the solar storms that batter it and serve as prototypes for probes that can predict solar hurricanes the way forecasters predict the weather on Earth.
It's an increasingly important job in a world that relies on global positioning technology for navigation and communication - systems that can be dangerously disrupted by solar storms.
The probes also represent the kind of practical NASA projects that get far less attention than the space shuttle program, the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and other more-glamorous missions.
In February, a single rocket will launch the micro-satellites into polar orbits up to 2,800 miles, where they will take measurements for 90 days before eventually burning up.
$130 million mission
The $130 million mission, planned since 1999, will test the miniaturized monitoring and communications technology that NASA hopes to use for years to come in instruments ranging from weather satellites to space telescopes.
"The first priority is validating the technology we've developed," said Candace Carlisle, the mission's deputy project manager. Carlisle said the satellites' diminutive size sets them apart from other probes: Smaller devices mean smaller, more-efficient payloads, she said.
The ultimate goal is to send dozens of such satellites into space, at a cost of $1.5 million each, to keep an eye out for solar storms. "We want to show that these small systems can do useful science," she said. "We think that's where the future is."
Everything on ST5 is as small as possible, with equipment squeezed down to as little as 25 percent of its normal size, Carlisle said.
The transponder, a communications system that relays data to Earth, is about the size of an egg. The magnetometer, which will measure the intensity of magnetic fields above the North and South poles, is a 2-inch-thick pancake with the circumference of a tennis ball. It extends outward from the main satellite on a small arm.
Weighing only 55 pounds, the octagonal cylinders are about 19 inches tall and 20 inches wide. By comparison, the average NASA spacecraft weighs 1,000 to 2,000 pounds (they come in a variety of shapes and sizes).
