During an interview at a Boston- area café, Zac Manchester apologized for not bringing along a copy of his latest satellite — one of many duplicates due to enter orbit this fall during a mission to the International Space Station. “Don’t worry,” says Manchester, a Stanford University professor of aeronautics and astronautics. “I’ll put one in an envelope and mail it to you.”
Even a small envelope would suffice, given that Manchester has created the tiniest satellite yet. The Sprite, as it’s called, weighs just 4 grams and measures less than 2 square inches — roughly the size and weight of a standard sugar packet.
Such diminutive spacecraft, assembled from off-the-shelf components at a cost of about $25 apiece, could play a big role in future space exploration, Manchester says. They may even represent our best chance of getting a human-made device to a star other than the sun. An upcoming ISS mission should show him just how close we already are.
