"Flock of Bird-Like CubeSats to Revolutionize Water Body Research in Spain's Space Mission"

Spain is set to launch three CubeSats, known as ANSER, that will mimic birds flying in formation to monitor Iberian waters. The shoebox-sized satellites will operate about 500 kilometers above Earth and maintain a distance of 10 km apart from each other. Instead of onboard propulsion systems, the CubeSats will use wing-like flaps to control their relative positions. The mission aims to demonstrate the feasibility of distributed systems and miniaturization for Earth observation missions. The launch will be facilitated by Vega-C rocket's Small Spacecraft Mission Service.