NanoRacks is pleased to announce that starting early 2017, customers will be able to utilize the International Space Station a new CubeSat deployer that accommodates additional industry standards. This announcement comes after a successful deployment cycle of eight Planet Labs Doves (2e’) CubeSats two weeks ago from the Space Station.
NanoRacks will utilize a 12U CubeSat standard offering maximum utilization of the Company’s commercial ISS deployment opportunities. The deployer will house two 6U CubeSats in the 2x3U Planetary Systems Corporation (PSC) form factor, or one 12U CubeSat in the never before offered 2x6U form factor.
Both the 6U and 12U are open for business. The 12U configuration is first planned for launch in early 2017.
By expanding the capabilities of the NRCSD and the sizes of CubeSats it can accommodate, customers will be able to build more powerful satellites that better advance their goals in space. This can include more powerful earth observation cameras, larger sensors, and more powerful. larger, and advanced components.
“We have heard the demand from our customers for more space in their CubeSats, and we listened. CubeSats are a movement of miniaturization, but there is still a lot of hardware that needs to be pushed into a CubeSat,” says Richard Pournelle, Senior Vice President of Business Development. “Now customers can go big, go small, or anywhere in between to best suit their needs for satellite deployment in low-Earth orbit.”
These CubeSats will be launched inside pressurized cargo modules of ISS visiting vehicles in the soft-stow configuration. The NRCSD will utilize the Planetary Systems Corporation standard on both the 6U and 12U deployers. This standard offers a “tab system” that locks the CubeSat in place within the deployer, minimizing vibration effects and movement of the CubeSat on the ride up to Station.
For those attending the International Astronautic Conference, you may stop by the NanoRacks Booth – A37 to learn more about this new satellite deployment capability, as well as additional NanoRacks services including internal ISS research, the NanoRacks External Platform (NREP), and on Blue Origin’s New Shepard space vehicle.
To take advantage of this new standard for your small satellite, please email info@nanoracks.com.
For media inquiries, please contact Abby Dickes at adickes@nanoracks.com.
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About NanoRacks
NanoRacks LLC was formed in 2009 to provide commercial hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station via a Space Act Agreement with NASA. NanoRacks’ main office is in Houston, Texas, right alongside the NASA Johnson Space Center. The Business Development office is in Washington, DC. Additional offices are located in Silicon Valley, California and Leiden, Netherlands.
In July 2015, NanoRacks signed a teaming agreement with Blue Origin to offer integration services on their New Shepard space vehicle. NanoRacks, along with partners at ULA and Space Systems Loral was also recently selected by NASA to participate in the NextSTEPs Phase II program to develop commercial habitation systems in low-Earth orbit and beyond.
As of July 2016, over 375 payloads have been launched to the International Space Station via NanoRacks services, and our customer base includes the European Space Agency (ESA) the German Space Agency (DLR,) the American space agency (NASA,) US Government Agencies, Planet Labs, Urthecast, Space Florida, NCESSE, Virgin Galactic, pharmaceutical drug companies, and organizations in Vietnam, UK, Romania and Israel.
