  When the first CubeSats were launched nearly two decades ago, few people
believed that the miniature satellites would likely prove to be a useful
scientific tool. Skeptics abounded. However, the last decade has seen the
highly successful implementation of space missions that make creative and
innovative use of fast-advancing CubeSat and small satellite technology to
carry out important science experiments and missions. Several projects now have
used CubeSats to obtain first-of-their-kind observations and findings that have
formed the basis for high-profile engineering and science publications, thereby
establishing without doubt the scientific value and broad utility of CubeSats.
In this paper, we describe recent achievements and lessons learned from a
representative selection of successful CubeSat missions with a space weather
focus. We conclude that these missions were successful in part because their
limited resources promoted not only mission focus but also appropriate
risk-taking for comparatively high science return. Quantitative analysis of
refereed publications from these CubeSat missions and several larger missions
reveals that mission outcome metrics compare favorably when publication number
is normalized by mission cost or if expressed as a weighted net scientific
impact of all mission publications.
