Nanoracks

The Nanoracks Bishop Airlock is a commercially-funded airlock module launched to the International Space Station on SpaceX CRS-21 on 6 December 2020.[24][25] The module is being built by Nanoracks, Thales Alenia Space, and Boeing.[26] It will be used to deploy CubeSats, small satellites, and other external payloads for NASA, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), and other commercial and governmental customers.[27]

Nanoracks is currently developing tools to convert space junk into commercial space stations (Outposts), 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.

Nanoracks facilities on the International Space Station (ISS) include:

• Nanoracks Frame-3 accommodates a total of three 4U payloads (with the dimensions 10 x 20 x 20 cm) 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 50 watts of power to a payload through a USB or other forms of data connections.
• Nanoracks MixStix – Nanoracks Mixture Enclosure Tubes (Mixstix) 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 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.[28]
• Nanoracks Plate Reader-2 – a Molecular Devices SpectraMax M5e modified for space flight and the microgravity environment. This spectrophotometer analyzes samples by shining light (200-1000 nm) 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.[29][30] Laboratory space on the ISS is provided to Nanoracks by NASA under a contractual lease arrangement.[31]
• 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 Cygnus CRS OA-5 resupply mission.

Nanoracks deploys small CubeSats into orbit from the ISS through the Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer via the airlock in the Japanese Kibō module, after the satellites are transported to the ISS on a cargo spacecraft. When released, the small satellites are provided a push of about 1 m/s (3.3 ft/s) that begins a slow process of satellite separation from the ISS.[31]

The Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) 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.

JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi (background) and NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins (foreground) prepare the Nanoracks External Platform (NREP) for installation.

The Nanoracks External Platform (NREP) 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 on 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.

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 Cygnus CRS OA-6 mission was launched 23 March 2016 at 03:05:52 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 CRS 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 CRS 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 Cygnus CRS OA-5 mission was launched 17 October 2016 at 23:45 UTC. On 25 November 2016, during the CRS 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 Cygnus CRS 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 CRS 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 Cygnus CRS OA-8E mission was targeting a launch in November 2017, with the Cygnus CRS OA-9E mission slated for May 2018.

Recently, Nanoracks announced that the company is adding polar orbit launches to their resume. The company plans to work with Berlin-based Astrofein to create and supply the deployers. In addition, Nanoracks is seeking help from the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Antrix, for Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (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 (NRCSD) and Kaber Deployer on the ISS as well as the External Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer (E-NRCSD) mounted outside of the Cygnus spacecraft.

Mars Demo-1 (OMD-1) is a Nanoracks' first technology demonstration mission for the Outpost program,[32] flying mid-2021 on a SpaceX Rideshare mission. OMD-1 is a self-contained hosted payload platform that will demonstrate the robotic cutting of second stage representative tank material on-orbit. Nanoracks must prove being able to cut metal without producing any orbital debris.

Nanoracks, after finalizing its contract with NASA, and after winning NextSTEPs Phase II award, is now developing its concept Independence-1 (previously known as Ixion), which would turn spent rocket tanks into a habitable living area to be tested in space. In Spring 2018, Nanoracks announced that Ixion is now known as the Independence-1, the first 'outpost' in Nanoracks' Space Outpost Program.