The Jewel Laser features a small form factor, swappable components, USB or optional Bluetooth interface, and a lower cost than its competitors.

The fifth and final mission of the European Space Agency Automated Transfer Vehicle, named for Belgian physicist Georges Lemaitre, the father of the big-bang theory, launched July 29 and is delivering new research to the International Space Station.

The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System is scheduled to launch to the space station in Sept. 2014 to help researchers determine what state-of-the-art, three-wavelength laser technology can do from space to measure aerosols in Earth's atmosphere.

The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) investigation aboard the International Space Station will measure aerosols in the air by using light in a manner similar to radar.