Developing countries don’t have the same ____1____ satellite information as do first-world nations. A given country might want to monitor dust storms, measure rice yields or track population migrations. But satellites were typically built____2____and were very pricey items.

Now countries like South Africa, Nigeria and Turkey are building their own satellite capabilities. Thanks to small companies and university research groups that____3____methods to build smaller, cheaper satellites from everyday electronics. This emerging trend was reviewed in a paper in the journal Acta Astronautica.

For example, England’s University of Surrey spun out a company that today sells remote-sensing satellites about the size of a refrigerator. The company also offers training to countries that can send engineers to learn how to build satellites back at home.

The MIT-based authors of the journal article note that the trend could____4____some problems, such as the growing____5____in earth orbit as well as the danger of spreading space debris.

But the knowledge can also spread. South Korea focused on developing a satellite-building program in the early 1990s, and they’re now teaching countries such as Dubai and Malaysia. So that everyone can get some help from above.
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