Australian '$1m lunch box' satellites to search thermosphere for answers

Fifty CubeSat miniature satellites - three of them Australian - will be launched from the International Space Station in January

Researchers hope to discover more about a little-understood understood layer of the Earth's atmosphere, known as the thermosphere, when they launch 50 miniature satellites known as CubeSats from the International Space Station in January.

Three Australian-built miniature satellites are being contributed to the international project known as QB50, along with 47 other satellites from around the world. The CubeSats are about the size of a lunch box, weighing about 2kg, but cost $1m each.