By Jason Davis | Digital Editor
In deep space, about 70 million kilometers from Earth as of late September, two tiny CubeSats called MarCO A and B are hurtling toward Mars. They launched in May on the same rocket as NASA's InSight lander, and now flank the spacecraft by a couple thousand kilometers each.
The MarCO project — formally, Mars Cube One — is a technology demonstration to see whether you can trust small satellites with big planetary exploration jobs. The two spacecraft cost $18.5 million, just a fraction of InSight's price tag, which is now $829 million after a two-year project delay.
CubeSats come in standardized sizes, the smallest of which is a 10-centimeter-per-side box weighing just a few kilograms. Thus far, they have been limited to Earth orbit; MarCO A and B are the first deep space CubeSats. It's an impressive accomplishment for a concept many people regarded with derision when it debuted 15 years ago.
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