Page 92 - International Space Station Benefits for Humanity, 3rd edition.

ENRCDS mission, bringing the overall total of Cube- NanoRacks completed the first-ever SmallSat launch
Sats deployed through NanoRacks systems to 223. to reach an altitude higher than that of the ISS and
“Small satellites are helping democratize the use repeated this feat in 2017. In 2017, they also launched
of space,” said NanoRacks CEO Jeff Manber. the QB50 payload, a constellation of 28 CubeSats—
developed through a European Union Commission
CubeSats are cheaper and lighter, therefore getting collaboration with academic and research institutes
them into orbit is easier and less risky. As the size from 23 countries—designed to study the upper
and cost of increasingly capable electronics shrink, reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere.
SmallSats are becoming just as capable as their larger
predecessors for certain applications. They also do not “The ISS has become critical as a platform for research
require the cost of a dedicated launch vehicle, which in microgravity and in the LEO space environment, as a
is needed by larger satellites. proving ground for human space exploration, and now
as a launch platform for small satellites,” said Benjamin
Jenny Barna, director of launch at Spire Global, Malphrus, director of Morehead State’s Space Science
a satellite-powered data company, noted that the Center, which has also launched multiple NanoRacks-
certainty and timing of launches is a barrier in the supported ISS National Lab payloads in recent years.
SmallSat industry. Spire currently has 58 SmallSats
in orbit, more than a quarter of which were launched For example, the Cosmic X-Ray Background
from the ISS or visiting vehicles through NanoRacks. Nanosatellite launched in 2017 is a CubeSat designed
Spire plans to continue growing the size of their and built by Morehead State that has the potential to
constellation in 2018. Barna recalled how there give astrophysicists the most precise measurements
was a global shortage of rideshare opportunities in ever made of the cosmic background X-ray radiation
2015 and 2016, especially for commercial satellites. that occupies space between galaxies—putting
together an accurate picture of the evolution of the
“We had raised sufficient funding by the summer of early universe, which has implications for fundamental
2014 and were expected to have the initial constellation physics and beyond.
up by the end of 2015, but all launches were extremely
delayed, leaving new businesses like ours struggling Similarly, the Dependable Multiprocessor experiment
to move forward,” said Barna. “Access through (DM-7), launched in 2016 and developed by Morehead
NanoRacks and the space station helped us get State University and Honeywell International, Inc.,
part of the way there and showed our investors and validated the design of a new payload processor
potential customers that our technology worked.” for use in SmallSats and other spacecraft. DM-7
is a miniature parallel processor that harnesses
By making deployment accessible to so many people, the processing power of commercial off-the-shelf
the ISS has helped create a new space industry, technology to benefit science and may ultimately allow
sparked commercial innovation, and enabled new companies to do more processing on spacecraft and
research and scientific discoveries. Remote sensing reduce requirements for raw data transmission to the
data from SmallSats is used in the oil and gas, mining, ground. Moreover, with middleware from Honeywell, the
fishing and other industries, and for atmospheric DM-7 processor costs between $20,000 and $30,000,
science and humanitarian applications such as compared with current processors today
disaster response and search-and-rescue missions. that are in the $250,000 range.
For example, Spire’s satellites monitor weather and
marine and air traffic. Moreover, telecommunication Various related payloads addressing the need for
capabilities within satellites may enable technologies advanced technologies within spacecraft include ISS
and services such as global Wi-Fi and advanced GPS. National Lab projects from Hewlett Packard Enterprise,
Business Integra Technology Solutions, Yosemite
The ISS National Lab’s ability to accelerate R&D and Space, and others, including a project from NovaWurks
technology demonstrations in this sector by serving in 2017, which pioneered a concept to assemble
as a reliable launchpad is a powerful catalyst for larger satellites from small, independent components
innovation. “We’ve reached this wonderful moment separately delivered to the ISS and then assembled
where space is playing a role helping us here on in orbit by the astronaut crew.
Earth,” said Manber.
Manber notes that the number of ISS users interested
Dozens of ISS National Lab payloads over the last in SmallSat deployment continues to grow and includes
few years have signaled rapid growth in interest and new space firms such as Spire, research universities
innovation from the SmallSat community. In 2016, such as Morehead State, and government agencies

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