The same advances in electronics that bring us ever more powerful smartphones are helping NASA become more nimble in exploring the universe.

Engineers are taking advantage of the low-cost, highly integrated components developed for phones and using them to build satellites that are small enough to hold in your hand. They’re easier to build and cheaper to launch than conventional satellites, and provide a testing ground for other technologies used in space.

The technology allows for “fast, affordable, transformative missions. We can try new things more quickly, take risks that we might not take with a much larger spacecraft, and we’re using it as platform to develop and test new technologies that might be useful for spacecraft of any size,” said Andrew Petro, who heads the small satellites program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

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