NanoRacks
Nanoracks LLC is a private in-space services company that is dedicated to using its unique expertise to solve key problems both in space and on the Earth while also lowering the barriers to entry of space exploration.
Nanoracks focuses on three pillars:
- Customer service
- Owning and operating the next generation of low-cost, agile space stations.
- Solving key challenges afflicting humans on Earth and for long-term space exploration by undertaking innovations in space research and manufacturing.
Nanoracks is currently working to develop multiple in-space destinations. Nanoracks is building the tools to allow for the re-purposing of in-space hardware and turn it into agile space stations, which the company call Outposts.
Nanoracks sees these Outposts as being factories, laboratories, greenhouses and hotels that change the Earth and how humans explore space. Nanoracks believes Outposts will enable major outcomes in developing quality fiber optics, printing innovative tissues and organs, advancing new crops, and allowing more and more people to live and work in space.
Nanoracks’s main office is in Houston, Texas, alongside the NASA Johnson Space Center. The business development office is in Washington, D.C., and additional offices are located in Abu Dhabi, UAE and Torino, Italy. Nanoracks provides tools, hardware and services that allow other companies, organizations and governments to conduct research and other projects in space.
Since 2009, over 1080 payloads have been sent to the International Space Station via Nanoracks.
Nanoracks partners with the, along with the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education.
Some of Nanoracks customers include: Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, the European Space Agency, the German Space Agency, NASA, US Government Agencies, Planet Labs, Space Florida, Virgin Galactic, Adidas, Aerospace Corporation, NRO, UAE Space Agency, Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, Beijing Institute of Technology, pharmaceutical drug companies, and so many more.
Nanoracks management created XO Markets, the first space holding company, to address differing local and international growth areas in the industry.
History
Nanoracks was founded in 2009 by Jeffrey Manber and Charles Miller to provide commercial hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory on board the International Space Station via a Space Act Agreement with NASA. Nanoracks signed their first contract with NASA in September 2009 and had their first laboratory on the Space Station in April 2010.MirCorp CEO Jeff Manber oversaw the first and only commercially funded mission of the Russian space station, which lasted over 70 days. Manber was, and still is, the only American to ever work officially for the Russian space program.
As of January 2020, over 800 payloads have been deployed by Nanoracks to the International Space Station.
As of June 2015, Nanoracks has deployed 64 satellites into Lower Earth Orbit, and had 16 satellites on the ISS awaiting deployment, with an order backlog of 99.
As of August 2017, 580 payloads have been launched to the International Space Station, including the deployment of nearly 200 CubeSats from the Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer.
In 2012, Nanoracks "generated more than $3 million in revenue, of which only one-quarter comes from NASA."
In August 2012, Nanoracks partnered with Space Florida to host the Space Florida International Space Station Research Competition. As part of this program, Nanoracks and DreamUp provide research NanoLab box units to fly payloads to the ISS, with scientific research to be conducted on board the U.S. National Lab.
In October 2013, Nanoracks became the first company to coordinate the deployment of small satellites from the ISS via the airlock in the Japanese KIBO module. This deployment was done by Nanoracks using the Japanese Experiment Module Small Satellite Orbital Deployer.
The Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer was launched on January 9, 2014, on the Orbital Sciences Cygnus Orb-1 Mission. It became the first commercial platform to deploy satellites from the ISS.
In December 2014, DreamUp.org, the website for the educational arm of Nanoracks, was launched. DreamUp offers access to commercial research platforms in suborbital and low-Earth orbit. The DreamUp Advisory Board, made up of industry experts Ken Shields and Jeffrey Manber assigns ‘DreamUp Approved’ status to projects declared realistic, doable, and in accordance with standard safety criteria. Through partnerships with organizations such as SSEP and Valley Christian High School, Nanoracks and DreamUp have helped launch dozens of student experiments to space and immerse hundreds of students in the space research experience.
In August 2015, Nanoracks announced a historic agreement to fly a Chinese DNA experiment from the Beijing Institute of Technology on the International Space Station. The agreement includes Nanoracks delivering the experiment to the American side of the ISS in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and berthing the experiment to Nanoracks’ orbiting laboratory facilities. Nanoracks will then send data back to the Chinese researchers.
In August 2015, the Nanoracks External Payload Platform was successfully launched to the ISS on the fifth flight of the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. The external platform will be able to accommodate up to 9 4U CubeSat-size payloads outside of the space station with a standard mission duration of 15 weeks. The platform is operational as of August 2016.
In August 2015, Space Angels Network joined with Nanoracks and DreamUp to support and invest in STEM education and early stage-space companies by using the DreamUp Approved system.
In December 2015, Nanoracks announced the formal creation of DreamUp, PBC. The goal behind DreamUp, PBC. was to make space research available to university students and researchers in the U.S. as well as a dozen other countries. Via crowdfunding, DreamUp hopes to take space-based education to a “whole new level.”
Nanoracks Flight History
03/07/2020 – SpaceX-20 - Dragon02/15/2020 – NG-13 - Cygnus
11/02/2019 – NG-12 - Cygnus
07/25/2019 – SpaceX CRS-19 - Dragon
05/04/2019 – SpaceX CRS-17 - Dragon
04/17/2019 – NG-11 - Cygnus
04/01/2019 – PSLV - C45
12/05/2018 – SpaceX CRS-16 - Dragon
11/17/2018 – NG-10 - Cygnus
08/29/2018 – SpaceX CRS-15 - Dragon
05/21/2018 – OA-9 - Cygnus
04/12/2018 – SpaceX CRS-14 - Dragon
12/15/2017 – SpaceX-13 - Dragon
11/12/2017 – OA-8 - Antares
09/14/2017 – SpaceX-12 - Dragon
06/03/2017 – SpaceX-11 - Dragon
04/18/2017 – OA-7 – Cygnus
02/19/2017 – SpaceX-10 – Dragon
09/12/2016 – HTV-6
17/10/2016 – OA-5 – Cygnus
07/18/2016 – SpaceX-9 – Dragon
04/08/2016 – SpaceX-8 – Dragon
03/23/2016 – OA-6 – Cygnus
06/28/2015 – SpaceX-7 – Dragon
04/14/2015 – SpaceX-6 – Dragon
01/10/2015 – SpaceX-5 – Dragon
10/28/2014 – Orb-3 – Cygnus
09/23/2014 – SpaceX-4 – Dragon
07/13/2014 – Orb-2 – Cygnus
04/18/2014 – SpaceX-3 – Dragon
01/09/2014 – Orb-1 – Cygnus
09/18/2013 – Orb-D1 – Cygnus
08/03/2013 – HTV-4
06/05/2013 – ATV-4
07/21/2012 – HTV-3
03/23/2012 – ATV-3
03/01/2013 – SpaceX-2
10/08/2012 – SpaceX-1
05/28/2013 – Soyuz 35S
03/28/2013 – Soyuz 34S
07/15/2012 – Soyuz 31S
07/08/2011 – STS-135
05/16/2011 – STS-134
04/28/2010 – Progress M-05M
Facilities and labs
Nanoracks Space Outpost Program
Nanoracks is currently developing tools to convert space junk into commercial space stations, to meet growing in-space customer demand. Outposts based on the Earthly concepts of re-use and recycle.The Outpost fleet will be made from spent upper stages in-orbit and other structures after they have completed their primary mission in space. Nanoracks will convert them into orbiting hubs for use by users all over the world.
Nanoracks’ Outposts are intended to be research labs, factories, fuel depots, hotels, and support systems to service missions throughout the Solar System.
Bishop Airlock Module
The Nanoracks Bishop Airlock Module is a commercially-funded airlock module intended to be launched to the International Space Station on SpaceX CRS-21 in August 2020. The module is being built by NanoRacks, Thales Alenia Space, and Boeing. It will be used to deploy CubeSats, small satellites, and other external payloads for NASA, CASIS, and other commercial and governmental customers.Internal ISS Services
Nanoracks facilities on the International Space Station include:- Nanoracks Frame-3 accommodates a total of 3 4U payloads and has advanced features such as an internal computer with its own crew interface facility for easier payload software development. The Frame-3 can also provide up to 50W of power to a payload through a USB or other forms of data connections.
- Nanoracks MixStix – Nanoracks’ Mixture Enclosure Tubes hold up to twenty-four mixing sticks. This enclosure allows for microgravity reactions and materials to be captured for analysis on the ISS, or returned to Earth via either the Soyuz or SpaceX's Dragon. The MixStix are activated, and analysis begins, after the mixing stick is cracked open by an ISS crewmember, similar to activating a glow stick.
- Nanoracks Microscope-3 – The third generation Nanoracks microscope system is a hand-held USB digital microscope with 20-240X magnification that creates 5MP pictures or video. Seven white LEDs provide lighting and the scope has a polarizing filter to reduce glare. Microscope-3 can also be mounted to its XY translation stage for extra stability. Two microplate holders can accommodate low profile microplates. The microplate holders are black or white for the specific research background required.
- Nanoracks Plate Reader-2 – a Molecular Devices SpectraMax M5e modified for space flight and the microgravity environment. This spectrophotometer analyzes samples by shining light either on or through the top or bottom of each sample in the well of a microplate. The Nanoracks Plate Reader-2 can accommodate cuvettes in special microplate holders as well as 6-, 12-, 24-, 48-, 96-, and 384-well microplates. It can operate in absorbance, fluorescence intensity, or fluorescence polarization modes. Lab space on the ISS is provided to Nanoracks by NASA under a contractual lease arrangement.
- Nanoracks-Black Box is an essential part of Nanoracks's next-gen International Space Station platforms. This platform was designed to increase the payload turnover of autonomous payloads while simultaneously providing advanced scientific capabilities to customers, including the use of robotics, new automated MixStix, and NanoLab-style research. The platform itself is the size of a locker and can accommodate payloads up to 18U. Black Box was first utilized on the OA-5 resupply mission.
External ISS Services
The Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer is a self-contained deployment system that mechanically and electrically isolates CubeSats from the ISS, the ISS crew, and cargo resupply vehicles. The design of the NRCSD is compliant with the ISS flight safety requirements and is space qualified.
The deployer is composed of anodized aluminum plates, access panels, deployer doors, and a base plate assembly. The inside of the NRCSD is designed to minimize and/or preclude the jamming of CubeSat appendages during deployment.
Each CubeSat deployer is capable of holding 48U of CubeSats.
External Platform (NREP)
The Nanoracks External Platform was successfully installed in August 2016. The self-funded NREP is the first-ever commercial gateway-and-return to the extreme environment of space. Following the CubeSat form factor, payloads can now experience the microgravity, radiation and other harsh elements native to the space environment, observe earth, test sensors, materials, and electronics, all while having the opportunity to return the payload back to Earth.The Nanoracks Kaber Microsat Deployer is a reusable system that allows the International Space Station to control and command satellite deployments. The Kaber was developed based off Nanoracks’s experience deploying CubeSats from the ISS. This service enables Nanoracks to deploy microsatellites up to 82 kg into space. Microsatellites that are compatible with the Kaber Deployer have additional power, volume, and communication resources, which allows for deployments of higher scope and sophistication.
External Cygnus Deployer (E-NRCSD)
The satellite deployment service enabled satellites to be deployed at an altitude higher than the ISS via a Commercial Resupply Vehicle. These satellites are deployed after the completion of the primary cargo delivery mission and, soaring 500 kilometers above the Earth and ca. 100 kilometers above the ISS, this service opens the door for the development of new technology, in addition to extending the life of CubeSats already deployed in low-Earth orbit. The Cygnus Deployer holds a total volume of 36U and adds approximately two years to the lifespan of these satellites.E-NRCSD Missions:
- The OA-6 mission was launched 23 March 2016 at 3:05:52 UTC. Inside the Cygnus was the Saffire scientific payload. Mounted outside of the Cygnus was a CubeSat deployer by Nanoracks. Both of these systems remained inactive during the Cygnus’ docking at the ISS. After the OA-6 resupply mission was completed, and the Cygnus was unberthed from the station, these two services got the chance to perform unprecedented, weeklong scientific experiments. The Saffire's purpose was to study combustion in microgravity, which was done once Cygnus left the ISS. Likewise, in between the OA-6's initiation and its reentry into Earth's atmosphere, numerous Cubesats were deployed into orbit for the commercial entities that built and operate them.
- The OA-5 mission was launched 17 October 2016 at 23:45 UTC. On November 25, 2016, during the OA-5 resupply mission, Nanoracks successfully deployed four Spire LEMUR-2 CubeSats from the Cygnus Cargo Vehicle from a 500-kilometer orbit. “The External Cygnus Deployment program was developed with the customer in-mind,” says Nanoracks CTO Mike Lewis. Reusing and repurposing in-space vehicles is a quintessential part of Nanoracks’s vision.
- The OA-7 mission was launched 18 April 2017 at 15:11:26 UTC. On Cygnus’ eighth resupply mission, Nanoracks successfully deployed four Spire LEMUR-2 CubeSats at a nearly 500-kilometer orbit. Since then, Nanoracks has continued to grow its External Deployment program, which is focused on extending the mission of cargo vehicles after Cygnus's deployment from the ISS. This program is a stepping-stone in Nanoracks’ larger goal: the repurposing of in-space vehicles. The OA-7 launch accompanied the Company's largest CubeSat mission to date. During this mission, a total of 38 satellites were released into orbit.
- The OA-8 mission was targeting a launch in September, with the OA-9E mission slated for 2018.
PSLV Services
Due to recent customer demands for polar orbits, Nanoracks plans on seeing it through. These polar orbit opportunities come in addition to Nanoracks’ numerous deployments of satellites via the Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer and Kaber Deployer on the ISS as well as the External Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer mounted outside of the Cygnus spacecraft.
Nanoracks chose to partner with Astrofein due to their 20 years of experience in aviation and spaceflight and 100 percent success rate.