They're compact, inexpensive, and they can piggyback on larger launch payloads to get into orbit. The trouble is, this piggybacking is often like trying to hitchhike cross country on a ride that only goes to the edge of town. The European Space Agency (ESA) is widening the scope a little by opening a competition for CubeSats to ride into deep space on its Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM).

The ESA competition is open to scientists and companies of its member nations member and is intended to provide room for six CubeSat units. A particular CubeSat could be made up of two or three units, so the ESA mission might for example carry two CubeSats of three units each.

According to ESA, the competition isn't just for a launch spot, but also to seek new sensors and other technologies that can complement the AIM mission, which is part of the international Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA), which is tasked with investigating how to deflect asteroids that might pose a hazard to Earth.