1300+ PAYLOADS LAUNCHED TO-DATE
The future of in-space infrastructure has arrived. Leveraging 10+ years of providing commercial in-space services, the Outpost program will transform used launch vehicle upper stages into controllable platforms across multiple orbits.
Imagine a future where Nanoracks-built hardware allows the empty fuel tank of any rocket to come back to life after its primary mission, but this time as a facility for robotic manufacturing, satellite servicing, a greenhouse, and more. Outposts are pillars of infrastructure-as-a-service in space, democratizing access while prioritizing orbital sustainability – what would otherwise become a discarded hunk of metal will live on as a versatile platform.
Each Outpost is brought to life by Nanoracks’ Mission Extension Kit (MEK), a hardware solution that provides power, pointing, data-handling, and communications for the Outpost. The MEK becomes the brains and heartbeat of the now-repurposed upper stage.
Nanoracks is now accepting payloads for our initial Outposts, first scheduled to fly in 2024. These Outposts will serve as persistent infrastructure for doing business in orbit.
Diverse pointing opportunities
Take advantage of low-cost integration and rapid mission timelines as a secondary payload. Outpost configurations allow for multiple payload hosting locations along the upper stage.
Access to orbit
Leverage Nanoracks’ CubeSat deployment expertise to deploy your payload rapidly, at low cost, on your schedule.
Platform for tech development
Low-risk, seamless operational logistics with Nanoracks’ mission management services allows for rapid, flexible, and unique access to the orbital environment for pathfinder missions or prototype testing.
Outpost’s first in-space technology demonstration mission flew in May 2022. Nanoracks launched a self-contained hosted payload platform to demonstrate on-orbit debris-free robotic metal cutting. This demonstration opened the door to further Outpost development, including physical modification of upper stages.
