Early this morning, NanoRacks successfully completed the Company’s 13th CubeSat deployment mission from the International Space Station. As these five CubeSats enter low-Earth orbit, this brings NanoRacks to 176 total CubeSats deployed into space via the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD). In total, the Company has deployed 193 satellites into space.
Additionally, NanoRacks is pleased to share that this mission marks the first deployment of the industry standard 6U CubeSats in the 2U x 3U form factor from the NanoRacks ‘Doublewide’ Deployers. The 6U satellites deployed were EcAMSat, Dellingr, and ASTERIA.
“It’s critical for us at NanoRacks to grow our CubeSat services with the changing small satellite landscape,” says NanoRacks External Payloads Manager Conor Brown. “CubeSats are following a similar path as cellphones – first they were as small as possible, and now they are starting to grow in both size and capability. Now, beyond just accommodating the industry standard 6U form factors, we can deploy CubeSats up to 12U in size from the Space Station, providing opportunities for more advanced payload concepts.”
The NRCSD-13 Mission included satellites launched on the most recent SpaceX and Orbital ATK commercial resupply services missions to station for NASA, which launched Aug. 14 and Nov. 11, 2017, respectively.
“To speak specifically, the timeline for the EcAMSat biological satellite is unprecedented. From contract signing to in-space deployment, the entire launch campaign took less than seven months, with deployment occurring within one week of arriving to Station,” continues Conor Brown.
Thank you to NASA for their continued support of NanoRacks satellite deployment program.
