The average size of communication satellites orbiting the Earth is about that of a car. But there are extremes, such as the NROL-32, a spy satellite launched by the United States in 2010, which has an antenna spanning 328 feet across, or nearly 100 meters.

But among the flying giants, a new breed is spreading its wings.

Planet Labs, a Californian startup which had its beginnings in a garage in 2012, is pushing satellite miniaturization to its limits. Last year, they launched Flock 1, an array of 28 satellites that now constitutes the world's largest constellation of Earth imaging satellites.

They are called Doves, their mission is to map every inch of the planet, and each of them is no larger than a shoe box.

A Sputnik with a camera

Chris Boshuizen is the co-founder and CTO of Planet Labs. His previous job title was "Space Mission Architect" for NASA. Not a bad starting point.

"As far as I remember, even as a kid I was always fascinated by the Moon and it seemed irrational to me that I couldn't go there," he told CNN's Nick Glass.

But for NASA, Chris was not planning multi-billion dollar missions to the Moon. Instead, he worked on the PhoneSat project, aimed at creating super-cheap satellites: "We literally built an Android smartphone, placed it in a box and put it in space. It was essentially like the Russian satellite Sputnik, but cheaper and able to take photos. It was Sputnik with a camera."