Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




MICROSAT BLITZ
NASA-Built Nanosatellite Launch Adapter System Ready For Flight
by Staff Writers
Moffett Field CA (SPX) May 20, 2013


The Nanosatellite Launch Adapter System (NLAS) was developed to increase access to space while simplifying the integration process of miniature satellites, called nanosats or cubesats, onto launch vehicles. It consists of an adapter, four dispensers and a sequencer. The adapter is mounted to the lower surface of the launch vehicle and the upper deck of the primary mission spacecraft. Image credit: NASA Ames.

Nanosatellites now have their own mass transit to catch rides to space and perform experiments in microgravity. A new NASA-designed and developed satellite deployer, dubbed the Nano Launch Adapter System (NLAS), is scheduled to demonstrate the capability to launch a flock of satellites into space later this year.

Capable of carrying up to 24 nanosatellite units, or more than 100 pounds of secondary payloads into orbit, the deployer is complete and ready for flight. NLAS is designed to sit beneath a primary spacecraft and connect it to the upper stage of a rocket.

Standing a mere ten inches tall, NLAS is short enough to squeeze various configurations of cubesats, such as 3-unit satellites that measure approximately 14 inches long, 4 inches wide and 4 inches high, or 6-unit satellites that measure approximately 14 inches long, 9 inches wide and 4 inches high.

Engineers expect that several NLAS could be stacked in a launch vehicle, allowing a single launch to bring dozens of small satellites to orbit. Once the primary spacecraft is safely delivered to orbit, NLAS deploys its payloads successively to their destinations, sometimes in a constellation.

"The launch adapter greatly enhances NASA's ability to rapidly deploy small low-cost satellites to space," said David Korsmeyer, director of engineering at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. "We expect this will improve NASA's opportunities to fly small satellite missions as secondary payloads and lead to greater opportunities for more complex and efficient spacecraft launches in the future."

This NLAS flight demonstration is expected to show the potential value of multiple, small satellites as tools for a wide array of scientific, commercial, and academic space research. Other goals of the project include reducing the cost and time required to integrate nanosatellites to rockets.

Each time a rocket launches, it must be painstakingly balanced using ballast - which can be sand, water or metal used as a balancing mechanism - to ensure its trajectory is accurate. Nanosatellites and their deployment systems also can act as ballasts during launches.

"Small spacecraft have the advantage of being able to share launches with other spacecraft, reducing the launch cost to the spacecraft developer team. This allows us to launch a number of these smallsats in support of NASA's space technology goals," said Bruce Yost, the program manager for the Small Spacecraft Technology Program at NASA Ames.

NLAS was designed and constructed by a team of experts from the Mission Design Division at Ames, commercial entities, and other government agencies. NASA Ames employees built the NLAS deployer using off-the-shelf components and specially crafted parts designed to standard dimensions for 1-, 3- and 6-unit nanosatellites launched from a variety of rockets, including Falcon 1 and Minotaur 1.

NLAS is jointly funded by the Small Spacecraft Technology Program of the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington and NASA Ames.

.


Related Links
Small Spacecraft Technology Program
Mission Design Division at NASA
Microsat News and Nanosat News at SpaceMart.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MICROSAT BLITZ
Plug-and-Play technology for microsatellites has been experimentally confirmed
Skolkovo, Russia (SPX) May 31, 2013
SPUTNIX specialists within the work on creation of a microsatellite platform TabletSat have assembled and tested the onboard control system equipment based on Space Plug- and-Play Architecture (SPA) specifications. This set of open standards has been developed by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, AIAA, jointly with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, AFRL. The onb ... read more


MICROSAT BLITZ
Bright Explosion on the Moon

NASA says meteor impact on the moon glowed like a star

Where on Earth did the moon's water come from

Water on moon, Earth have a common source

MICROSAT BLITZ
Mars Icebreaker Life Mission

Nine-Year-Old Mars Rover Passes 40-Year-Old Record

NASA Probe Counts Space Rock Impacts on Mars

Living and Dying on Mars

MICROSAT BLITZ
British astronaut 'Major Tim' to fly to ISS

Danish Space Venture ready for lift off

Researchers use graphene quantum dots to detect humidity and pressure

Outside View: Patents laws and suffering innovators

MICROSAT BLITZ
China launches communications satellite

On Course for Shenzhou 10

Yuanwang III, VI depart for space-tracking missions

Shenzhou's Shadow Crew

MICROSAT BLITZ
Mice, gerbils perish in Russia space flight

Star Canadian spaceman back on Earth, relishing fresh air

ISS Statistics Tell the Story of Science in Orbit

Spaceman says goodbye to ISS with David Bowie classic

MICROSAT BLITZ
O3b Networks' initial satellite is fueled for Arianespace's upcoming Soyuz launch from the Spaceport

Ariane Flight VA214's launch vehicle marks a preparation milestone

ILS Proton Successfully Launches EUTELSAT 3D for Eutelsat

Russia's Proton-M Spacecraft Set to Orbit French Satellite

MICROSAT BLITZ
Critical Kepler Reaction Wheel Fails: Mission End In Sight

Sifting Through the Atmosphere's of Far-Off Worlds

New Method of Finding Planets Scores its First Discovery

Team Takes Part in Discovering New Planet

MICROSAT BLITZ
NASA Seeks High-Performance Spaceflight Computing Capabilities

SPUTNIX is granted a license for space activity

Stanford Engineers' New Metamaterial Doubles Up on Invisibility

Observation of second sound in a quantum gas




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement