Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India – April 1, 2019 — NanoRacks, the world’s leading commercial space station company, completed its first CubeSat deployment mission on the India Space Research Organization’s (ISROs) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). This mission was brokered on behalf of Spire, which now has four more of their LEMUR 3U CubeSats in orbit.
Notably, this mission included the launch of Spire’s 100th Lemur satellite.
“Congratulations to Spire on this incredible achievement,” says NanoRacks Payloads Director, Conor Brown. “Spire has been with us from the beginning, not just as a customer but as a partner, working alongside us to pioneer new capabilities across platforms on the Space Station, Cygnus, and now finally on the PSLV. Spire’s diversified launch approach and willingness to embrace new technologies continues to foster the marketplace and we couldn’t be more excited to have deployed the 100th satellite!”
NanoRacks announced sun synchronous polar orbit launch opportunities after receiving significant customer demand and strong feedback for the customer support that the Company offers. Polar orbit offerings come in addition to NanoRacks’ proven success in small satellite deployments, having deployed over 230 satellites to date.
Spire’s CubeSats offer data and analytics for parts of the world where collecting data is notoriously difficult, tracking ships, planes, and weather in remote regions which often go unmonitored. To date, of the 100 satellites Spire has launched, 37 were on NanoRacks missions from the Space Station, the Cygnus Spacecraft, and now PSLV.
“Spire is excited to share this milestone with NanoRacks,” says Jenny Barna, Spire’s Director of Launch. “They launched our very first prototypes several years ago, so it’s fitting that they got our 100th LEMUR to space. That it happened on their inaugural PSLV launch makes it even sweeter. It was a big launch for both of us, together.”
This PSLV opportunity was completed in coordination with Berlin-based Astro-und Feinwerktechnik Adlershof GmbH (Astrofein) to manufacture and supply deployers, and the launch opportunity with Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
NanoRacks’ commercial small satellite deployment opportunities in low-Earth orbit have sparked accelerated growth for numerous startup companies, provided educational opportunities, and driven the market for commercial access to space.
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About NanoRacks
NanoRacks LLC, an XO Markets company, is the world’s leading commercial space station company. NanoRacks believes commercial space utilization will enable innovation through in-space manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, fiber optics – and more, allow for transformational Earth observation, and make space a key player in finding the solution to Earth’s problems.
Today, the company offers low-cost, high-quality solutions to the most pressing needs for satellite deployment, basic and educational research, and more –in over 30 nations worldwide. Since 2009, Texas-based NanoRacks has truly created new markets and ushered in a new era of in-space-services, dedicated to making space just another place to do business.
In 2017, the Company announced their long-term plans via the NanoRacks Space Outpost Program. This program is dedicated to the repurposing of the upper stages of launch vehicles in-space and converting these structures into commercial habitats, both humanly and robotically tended, throughout the solar system.