Increasing Opportunities for CubeSat Launch from the Space Station
The NanoRacks Airlock Module will be the first-ever commercial airlock on the International Space Station. The Airlock will offer 5-times the deployment volume compared to current Airlock capabilities available on the Space Station. NanoRacks has partnered with Boeing and Thales Alenia Space on manufacturing key elements of the airlock.
Media Credit: NanoRacks
The NanoRacks Space Station Airlock Module successfully completed its Critical Design Review and is now transitioning from engineering design into the fabrication phase, with a planned deployment on the International Space Station in 2019. The new airlock—a module used to transfer payloads between the interior and exterior of the space station—will be the first commercially operated airlock on the ISSInternational Space Station and will increase capabilities and opportunities for CubeSat launch from the space station.
To date, nearly 200 CubeSats (small cube-shaped satellites used for research, communications, and Earth observation missions) have been launched into low Earth orbit(Abbreviation: LEO) The orbit around the Earth that extends up to an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Earth’s surface. The International Space Station’s orbit is in LEO, at an altitude of approximately 250 miles. from the ISS.