Educational Launch of Nanosatellites

Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) is an initiative created by NASA to attract and retain students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.[1] The program is managed by the Launch Services Program (LSP) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Overview

The ELaNa initiative has made partnerships with universities in the US to design and launch small research satellites called CubeSats (because of their cube shape). These low-cost CubeSat missions provide NASA with valuable opportunities to test emerging technologies that may be useful in future space missions, while university students get to be involved in all phases of the mission, from instrument and satellite design, to launch and monitoring.

Engineers processing a CubeSat at a facility of Rocket Lab.

A CubeSat has a cubic shape measuring 10×10×10 cm (1 unit or 1U), and can be fabricated of multiple cubic units such as 2U, 3U and 6U, and weighing 1.33 kg per Unit. Because of the high cost incurred by launching them to orbit, ELaNa's satellites are launched as secondary payload on other missions that have mass and space to spare. Since the launch waiting list has grown considerably, another initiative was launched in 2015 in partnership with the private industry to develop launch vehicles dedicated to CubeSats exclusively. A new company is called Rocket Lab and their launch vehicle is the Electron rocket.[2] This agreement with NASA, enables the company to use NASA resources such as personnel, facilities and equipment for commercial launch efforts.[2][3] In 2015, NASA contracted two other companies for this purpose: Firefly Space Systems and Virgin Galactic.[4] Nevertheless, NASA CubeSats will continue to hitch rides as secondary payloads in larger rockets whenever possible.

As of August 2017, NASA's ELaNa initiative has selected 151 CubeSat missions, 49 of which have been launched into space.[5]

Missions

ELaNa mission numbers are based on the order they are manifested; due to the nature of launching, the actual launch order differs from the mission numbers.

Launched missions
Launch date (UTC) Mission name CubeSats deployed Main mission and
CubeSats included		 Launch vehicle Launch site
4 March 2011 ELaNa 1 [6]
3 *
 (Glory) Hermes, Explorer-1 Prime, KySat-1 [7]
* launch failure		 Taurus XL VAFB, LC-576
28 October 2011 ELaNa 3 [8]
5
 (NPOESS Preparatory Project) RAX-2, M-Cubed, Explorer-1 Prime, DICE, AubieSat-1 Delta II 7920-10 VAFB, SLC-2 West
13 September 2012 ELaNa 6 [9]
4
 (NROL-36)
CXBN, CP5, CINEMA, CSSWE [10]		 Atlas V 401 VAFB, SLC-3 East
20 November 2013 ELaNa 4 [11][12][13]
12
 (ORS-3 [14]) H-2, KySat-2, ChargerSat-1, SwampSat, Trailblazer, TJ3Sat, DragonSat-1, CAPE-2, PhoneSat 2.4, COPPER, DragonSat-1, Vermont Lunar [15] Minotaur I MARS, pad 0B, WFF
6 December 2013 ELaNa 2 [16][17]
4
 (NROL-39)
CUNYSAT-1, IPEX, M-Cubed-2, FIREBIRD-1A/1B		 Atlas V 501 VAFB, SLC-3 East
22 February 2014 ELaNa 5 [18][19]
5
 (SpaceX CRS-3)
ALL-STAR, PhoneSat 2.5, KickSat, SporeSat, TSAT [20]		 Falcon 9 / Dragon CCAFS, SLC-40
28 October 2014 ELaNa 8
1 *
 Cygnus CRS Orb-3
CHARM
* launch failure		 Antares 130 / Cygnus MARS, pad 0A, WFF
31 January 2015 ELaNa 10 [21][22]
3
 (Soil Moisture Active Passive)
GRIFEX, EXOCUBE, FIREBIRD-2 A/B [23]		 Delta II 7320 VAFB, SLC-2 West
20 May 2015 ELaNa 11 [24]
1
 (Boeing X-37#OTV-4)
LightSail-A		 Atlas V 501 CCAFS, SLC-41
8 October 2015 ELaNa 12 [25][26]
4
 (NROL-55)
Fox-1, BisonSat, ARC, LMRST-Sat [27]		 Atlas V 401 VAFB, SLC-3 East
4 November 2015 ELaNa 7 [28][29]
2 *
 (ORS-4 [30])
Argus, PrintSat [31]
* launch failure [32]		 Super Strypi Pacific Missile Range Facility
6 December 2015 ELaNa 9 [33][34]
3
 (Cygnus CRS Orb-4)
MinXSS, STMSat-1, CADRE		 Atlas V 401 / Cygnus CCAFS, SLC-41
18 April 2017 ELaNa 17 [35]
3
 (Cygnus CRS OA-7)
CXBN-2, IceCube, CSUNSat-1 [36]		 Atlas V 401 / Cygnus CCAFS, SLC-41
14 August 2017 ELaNa 22
3
 (SpaceX CRS-12)
ASTERIA, Dellingr, OSIRIS-3U [37][38]		 Falcon 9 / Dragon CCAFS, SLC-40
12 November 2017 ELaNa 13
2
 (Cygnus CRS OA-8E)
ISARA, EcAMSat [38]		 Antares 230 MARS, pad 0A, WFF
18 November 2017 ELaNa 14
4
 (JPSS-1)
MiRaTA, MakerSat-0, RadFxSat, EagleSat-1		 Delta II 7920 VAFB, SLC-2 West
21 May 2018 ELaNa 23
9
 (Cygnus CRS OA-9E)
HaloSat, TEMPEST-D1, EQUiSat, MemSat, CANOP, RadSat, RainCube, SORTIE, CubeRTT		 Antares 230 / Cygnus MARS, pad 0A, WFF
15 September 2018 [39] ELaNa 18
5
 (ICESat-2)
DAVE, ELFIN*, ELFIN, SurfSat		 Delta II 7420 VAFB, SLC-2 West
19 November 2018 [40] ELaNa 24
2
 (SSO-A mission managed by Spaceflight Industries)
IRVINE02, WeissSat-1		 Falcon 9 CCAFS, SLC-40
17 November 2018 [39] ELaNa 21
8
 (Cygnus CRS OA-10E)
CAPSat, CySat-1, HARP, KickSat-2, SPACE HAUC, TechEdSat-8, TJREVERB, UNITE		 Antares 230 / Cygnus MARS, pad 0A, WFF
16 December 2018 ELaNa 19
10
  • ALBUS
  • CeREs
  • CHOMPTT
  • CubeSail
  • DaVinci
  • ISX
  • NMTSat
  • RSat-P
  • Shields-1
  • STF-1
 Electron Mahia, Rocket Lab LC-1
17 April 2019 ELaNa 26
5
 (Cygnus NG-11)
CAPSat, HARP, Virginia CubeSat Constellation		 Antares 230 MARS, pad 0A, WFF
25 June 2019 ELaNa 15
3
 (Space Test Program-2)
ARMADILLO, LEO (CP9), StangSat [41]		 Falcon Heavy KSC, LC-39A
25 July 2019 ELaNa 27
1
 (SpaceX CRS-18)
RFTSat		 Falcon 9 CCAFS, SLC-40
2 November 2019 ELaNa 25A
7
 (Cygnus NG-12)
Argus-02, HARP, HuskySat I, Phoenix, RadSat-U, SOCRATES, SwampSat II [38]		 Antares 230+ MARS, pad 0A, WFF
5 December 2019 ELaNa 25B and ELaNa 28
5
 (SpaceX CRS-19)
ELaNa 25B: AzTechSat 1, SORTIE, CryoCube 1
ELaNa 28: CIRiS, EdgeCube		 Falcon 9 CCAFS, SLC-40
14 February 2020 ELaNa 30
1
 (Cygnus NG-13)
TES 10		 Antares 230+ MARS, pad 0A, WFF

Future missions

List of future missions:[42]

Launch date (UTC) Mission name No. of CubeSats Main mission and
CubeSats included		 Launch vehicle Launch site
NET 11 June 2020 ELaNa 32
1
 ANDESITE Electron Mahia, LC-1
NET 1 July 2020 [42][43] ELaNa 20
10
 (LauncherOne Flight 2)
CACTUS-1, CAPE-3, ExoCube-2, INCA, MiTEE, PICS, PolarCube, Q-PACE, RadFXSat-2, TechEdSat-7		 LauncherOne Air launch to orbit from Virgin Galactic's Cosmic Girl above Mojave desert, California
Q3 2020 [42] ELaNa 29
1
 PAN LauncherOne Andersen Air Force Base in Guam [42]
7 September 2020 [42] ELaNa 31
5
 (Cygnus NG-14)
Alpha, BobCat, NEUTRON 1, SPOC, IT-SPINS		 Antares 230+ MARS, pad 0A, WFF
30 October 2020 [42] ELaNa 33
3
 (SpaceX CRS-21)
BeaverCube, RamSat, PTD 2		 Falcon 9 CCAFS
1 December 2020 [42] ELaNa 35
1
 (Space X-SXRS-3)
PTD 1		 Falcon 9 CCAFS
8 April 2021 [42] ELaNa 34
2
 (Landsat 9)
CUTE, CuPID		 Atlas V 401 CCAFS, SLC-41
12 March 2021 [42] ELaNa 36
9
 (SpaceX CRS-22)
ARKSat 1, SpaceICE, CaNOP, CatSat, EagleSat 2, PR_Cunar2, LinkSat, CLICK A, Stratus		 Falcon 9 CCAFS

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