Images of CubeSats on the Vega maiden flight

CubeSats are picosatellites of standardised dimensions (cubes of 10 cm per side, with a maximum mass of 1 kg) which can be operated from university or radio amateur ground stations.

As part of the ESA Education programme, seven CubeSats built by European universities will be flown during the debut of Europe's new Vega launch vehicle at the beginning of 2012.