"...Smartphones and other consumer electronics provide a wealth...

"...Smartphones and other consumer electronics provide a wealth of ready-made technologies that can enable a CubeSat to perform many of the functions of a satellite a hundred times heavier and much larger, but at substantially less cost. Including the launch, a nanosat of CubeSat dimensions might cost $150,000-1m, rather than $200m-1 billion for a full-sized one.

Low cost and a tolerance of less-stringent standards allow multiple nanosats to be built faster. This allows for a higher risk of failure. Nanosats have a relatively short life, which might be no more than a year or two in low-Earth orbit before re-entering the atmosphere and burning up. Planet Labs, for one, expects to replace some of its nanosats with new versions every year..."