GeneSat-1

GeneSat-1 is a fully automated, CubeSat spaceflight system that provides life support for bacteria. The system was launched into orbit on December 16, 2006, from Wallops Flight Facility.[1] GeneSat-1 began to transmit data on its first pass over the mission's California ground station.

GeneSat-1

The GeneSat-1 satellite.
Mission type	Bioscience
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	2006-058C
SATCAT no.	29655
Mission duration	21 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	CubeSat (3U)
Manufacturer	Ames Research Center Stanford University
Launch mass	6.8 kilograms (15 lb)
Power	4.5 W
Start of mission
Launch date	16 December 2006, 06:43:00 (2006-12-16UTC06:43Z) UTC
Rocket	Minotaur I
Launch site	MARS LP-0B
End of mission
Decay date	04 August 2010 (04 August 2010)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Eccentricity	0.00052
Perigee altitude	413 kilometres (257 mi)
Apogee altitude	420 kilometres (260 mi)
Inclination	40º
Period	92.9 minutes

The nanosatellite [2] contains onboard micro-laboratory systems such as sensors and optical systems that can detect proteins that are the products of specific genetic activity. Knowledge gained from GeneSat-1 is intended to aid scientific understanding of how spaceflight affects the human body.

Weighing 5 kilograms, the miniature laboratory was a secondary payload on an Air Force four-stage Minotaur 1 rocket that delivered the Air Force TacSat 2 satellite to orbit. In the development of the GeneSat satellite class (at a fraction of what it normally costs to conduct a mission in space), Ames Research Center (Small Spacecraft Office) collaborated with organisations in industry and also universities local to the center. It is NASA's first fully automated, self-contained biological spaceflight experiment on a satellite of its size.