Made In Space and NanoRacks Take First Steps Towards On-Orbit Satellite Manufacturing, Assembly and Deployment
Made In Space, the space manufacturing company, and NanoRacks, the premier provider of commercial low-Earth orbit services, are partnering to provide a transformative new service for CubeSat developers: the Stash & Deploy satellite deployment service. The Stash & Deploy service will leverage NanoRacks’ heritage in CubeSat deployment and Made In Space’s in-space additive manufacturing capabilities to deliver on-demand satellite manufacturing, assembly, and deployment to the space environment. A variety of standard and customer-specific satellite components will be cached aboard a satellite deployment platform, such as the International Space Station. These components are “stashed” for rapid manufacture of CubeSats. Made In Space’s Additive Manufacturing Facility will be used to create custom structure, optimized for both the space environment and customer need.
“This is a fundamental shift for satellite production,” says Andrew Rush, president of Made In Space. “In the near future, we envision that satellites will be manufactured quickly and to the customer’s exact needs, without being overbuilt to survive launch or have to wait for the next launch.”
As envisioned, customers will easily and quickly design their satellite or request a satellite be designed based on their requirements. Once designed, the optimized structure is created on orbit and the necessary components are integrated. The satellite will then be deployed into low Earth orbit. The entire assembly and deployment process will occur in a fraction of the time necessary to build, manifest, launch and deploy satellites from the ground, For the first time, incredibly valuable responsiveness will be available to satellite operators. “Stash and deploy opens a new chapter in space utilization,” believes Jeffrey Manber, CEO of NanoRacks. “Looking out a few years this option may be more desirable than launch and deploy.”
The Stash & Deploy service makes on-orbit assembly and deployment of small satellites a powerful option for operators looking to push the envelope of modern space development and deploy hardware faster than traditional CubeSat deployment. “Made In Space was founded with the belief that one day entire spacecraft will be manufactured in space. With Stash & Deloy, NanoRacks and Made In Space make the first step towards this goal,” says Made In Space’s CTO and Co-Founder, Jason Dunn.
The first steps of the Stash & Deploy service will be available Q1 2016. To explore further the Stash & Deploy service, contact rpournelle@nanoracks.com and business@madeinspace.us
About Made In Space
Made In Space, Inc. (MIS) was founded in 2010 as the world’s first space manufacturing company. MIS was contracted by NASA to design, build, and operate the 3D Printing In Zero-G Experiment (3D Print) on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014. 3D Print became the first machine to manufacture off-Earth. Controlled from a mission operations center at MIS HQ in the NASA Ames Research Park, the device allows for hardware to be digitally sent to space and printed out. By the end of 2015 the company will launch a new 3D printer, the Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF), to provide hardware manufacturing services to both NASA and the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the ISS. As the first commercially available manufacturing service in space, the AMF will put the capability of off-world manufacturing in the hands of space developers everywhere.
About NanoRacks
NanoRacks LLC was formed in 2009 to provide commercial hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station via a Space Act Agreement with NASA. NanoRacks’ main office is in Houston, Texas, right alongside the NASA Johnson Space Center. The Business Development office is in Washington, DC., and NanoRacks’ now has a new office in Silicon Valley, California. The Company has grown into the Operating System for Space Utilization by having the tools, the hardware and the services to allow other companies, organizations and governments to realize their own space plans.
To date over 200 payloads have been deployed by the Company on the International Space Station and our customer base includes the European Space Agency (ESA) the German Space Agency (DLR,) the American space agency (NASA,) US Government Agencies, Planet Labs, Urthecast, Space Florida, NCESSE, Virgin Galactic, pharmaceutical drug companies, and organizations in Vietnam, UK, Romania and Israel. Our customer base has propelled NanoRacks into a leadership position in understanding the emerging commercial market for low-earth orbit utilization.
