Two Satellite Mission in 2013 will be first U.S. Commercial Satellite Deployment from the International Space Station
Houston, TX (November 20) — NanoRacks, LLC and ArduSat have announced an agreement for NanoRacks to coordinate the deployment of the first two small satellites under the ArduSat program via the NASA and Japanese space agency ( JAXA) satellite deployment program. The agreement follows the October 4th deployment of five CubeSats from the Japanese Kibo module.
“We are delighted to be moving forward with the planning for the second round of ISS CubeSat deployment,” explained Michael Johnson, chief technology officer of NanoRacks. “It’s great to show the entire world the robustness of the space station as a launch platform. Adds Johnson: “The implications are not just for today, but in the future as we prepare to build and launch spacecraft from orbiting platforms.”
“Securing a launch was a key milestone for the ArduSat project, and we’re very excited that NanoRacks will be coordinating the launch service that will put ArduSat in space” said Peter Platzer, NanoSatisfi’s CEO. “It’s hugely rewarding for us, as developers, to know that by this time next year, the nearly 700 citizen scientists, students, and hobbyists that made ArduSat possible through Kickstarter will have real access to space hardware, using it to do their own space exploration.”
The ArduSat project is a not-for-profit effort started in April 2012 with the aim of giving private citizens the opportunity to experience affordable and convenient access to true space exploration. Short for “Arduino Satellite”, ArduSat is a 1U CubeSat carrying roughly 20 sensors, including an optical spectrometer and a camera. Users of the satellite will be able to design their own experiments, applications, and even games for the satellite using the Arduino open-source prototyping platform, and then upload their programs to gather data in space. Depending on their level of sponsorship, contributors will have access to up to an entire week of time on the satellite to run their applications.
In July 2012, ArduSat was featured on the Kickstarter crowdfunding website, where it raised enough support from private citizens to fund the development of the ArduSat satellite, and was featured in a TED-talk by Massimo Banzi, co-founder of Arduino. The CubeSats will be launched to the ISS and then deployed using a small satellite orbital deployer developed by JAXA. NanoRacks is working with NASA’s U.S. National Lab under a Space Act Agreement.
About NanoSatisfi Inc.
NanoSatisfi Inc. has agreed to donate engineering time and other resources to ensure the success of the project. The satellite is currently under development at their headquarters in San Francisco.
About NanoRacks, LLC
NanoRacks LLC was formed in 2009 to provide quality hardware and services utilizing the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station and beyond. The Company developed and has multiple research platforms onboard the U.S. National Laboratory which can house plug and play payloads using the CubeSat form factor. The current signed customer pipeline of over 80 payloads including domestic and international educational institutions, research organizations and government organizations, has propelled NanoRacks into a leadership position in understanding the emerging commercial market for lowearth orbit utilization and services. Visit us at http://www.nanoracks.com and follow us at @nanoracks.
