Routers in space: Kepler communications' CubeSats will create an Internet for other satellites

For decades, the astronomical cost of launching a satellite meant that only government agencies and large corporations ever undertook such a herculean task. But over the last two decades or so, newer, commercial rocket designs that accommodate multiple payloads have reduced launch costs dramatically-from about US $ \$ $54,000 per kilogram in 2000 to about $ \$ $2,720 in 2018. That trend in turn has fostered a boom in the private satellite industry. Since 2012, the number of small satellites-roughly speaking, those under 50 kilograms-being launched into low Earth orbit (LEO) has increased 30 percent every year.