Question: Why would a mini spacecraft be useful in space?

Charlie Ryan answered on 14 Mar 2011:

this is a really good question thanks! Basically a small spacraft IS a bit rubbish compared to a big bus-sized spacecraft. You can get so many more instruments and experiments in a bigger machine!
So… actually it comes down to cost! the big spacecrafts cost 100 of millions of pounds, the small 10*10*10cm spacecrafts are about £5 million. A bargain! And they can still do useful jobs, like earth observation, and many physics experiments. They are though stuck in orbit very close to the earth – that’s where our mini-thrusters come in!