Unfurling Antennas Let Tiny Satellites Do Big Things

As NASA’s Artemis missions build out infrastructure on and around the Moon in the coming years, CubeSats and other small satellites will likely play an important role in a communications network that will enable not only conversation with mission control but also navigation, direct scientific observations, and more, all enabled by an internet-like “LunaNet.” These little satellites are cheap to launch and can form constellations for relaying signals reliably. But their small size makes it hard for them to carry antennas large enough to communicate across vast distances.