This tiny box is revolutionizing how we understand the Earth

This is a CubeSat. 

It's a satellite that weighs only about 3 pounds, and it's revolutionizing the way we can collect data about the Earth. 

Partly because they're so small, CubeSats only cost about $100,000 — cheap in comparison to the minimum $50 million it usually costs to launch a satellite into space.

Source: Quora

NASA's CubeSats Initiative has encouraged students, from elementary school to college, to launch their own satellites. The agency's Space Grant Program has paid for most of the ones students have made.

Source: NASA

In many cases, students have designed and built the CubeSats themselves.