A year and a half is really good for a $50 sat. Some makeshift ones only last hours, like suitsat-1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuitSat https://en.m.wikip

A year and a half is really good for a $50 sat. Some makeshift ones only last hours, like suitsat-1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuitSat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuitSat A year and a half is amazing for off-the-shelf non-space-rated parts. Vacuum, radiation, temperature differences of hundreds of degrees all wreak havoc on electronics. A year and a half is really excellent. And like others mentioned these types of experiments are put in such low orbits that they decay quickly after their service life.