Sixteen years later, cubesats have pushed beyond the sphere of academia, becoming major tools for governments conducting a variety of missions and for companies earning revenues from space. And, somewhat to Puig-Suari's chagrin, cubesats have begun to outgrow their original 4x4x4-inch (10x10x10 centimeters) "1U" size.

"We're starting to talk a lot about bigger things," Puig-Suari said recently. "People are talking about 6U's and 12U's and 24U's and 27U's. And I'm waiting for the day when a Hughes 702 or a Boeing 702 [communications satellite] is called a 3,045U spacecraft. Hopefully we won't get there."

Puig-Suari made these remarks in April during the 12th Annual Cubesat Developers' Workshop in San Luis Obispo, California. The conference's subtitle was "Size Does Matter," which the California Polytechnic State University professor insisted means the opposite of its usual connotation.