Nanoracks

Nanoracks is the leading provider of commercial access to space with a global customer base

Created: 2018-11-01

Updated: 2023-02-26

Company - Nanoracks

Founded
Country
2009
USA
Funding
$165.5M+
Website
Nanoracks
Social
Nanoracks

Product/Service - NanoLab, Bishop

Classification
Miscellaneous
Category
ISS Utilization Service
Microgravity Flight Service (LEO)
Commercial ISS Airlock
Microgravity Research Payloads
Fields
Commercial ISS Module
Status
Active
First launch
2012

NanoLab

Core payload hardware is the NanoLab, a powerful box in the CubeSat form factor, measuring 10 cm by 10 cm by 10 cm. Every NanoLab has a circuit board that activates the experiment, turns it off and can be functioned for other activities. Customers have also deployed video cameras and a wide range of sensors inside NanoLabs.

Nanolabs are at the core of our philosophy: low-cost, open-sourced, standardized, miniaturized hardware that allows you, the customer, to focus more on the research rather than re-inventing the hardware ‘wheel” each time.

After being launched to the International Space Station (ISS), Nanolabs can be used for everything from building plant-growth chambers, studying DNA and radiation exposure, biology and biotechnology testing, materials and physical sciences, and more.

BLACKBOX

Remotely Commanded In-space Research Platform
We love working with the crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS) – but sometimes researchers want to use materials, chemicals, or biological agents that NASA deems just a bit too risky for the astronauts for manoeuvre themselves. So that’s why we built BlackBox!
BlackBox is a remotely commanded platform that has research fully integrated on the ground and completely contained from the astronaut crew. All the astronauts have to do is plug the entire locker-sized platform in on-orbit for power and data. BlackBox allows for multiple experiments to occur simultaneously.

PLATE READER & REACTOR MICROPLATES

In-space Chemistry and Life Science Research Hardware
Nanoracks’ Plate-Reader-2 (2nd generation) is a reconfigured Molecular Devices SpectraMax M5e – one of the most reliable, durable, feature-rich microplate readers on the market.
Plate Reader-2 features a wide range of high-performance multi-mode reader capabilities ideal for life science research on the International Space Station (ISS) including absorbance, fluorescence, time-resolved fluorescence, and fluorescence polarization modes with full spectral range detection.

ZERO G OVEN

What Will You Cook Up in Space?
The Zero G Kitchen Oven is the first-ever oven in space! Before the Zero G Oven, no food item had ever been cooked from the raw in space. The oven is a cylindrical-shaped insulated container designed to hold and bake sealed food samples in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS).
The oven allows food samples to be placed in a tray where they will be held steady inside the oven while baking occurs. A cooling rack is also integrated into the outside of the oven. The insulation and venting mechanisms allow the oven to operate safely in the controlled environment of the ISS.

MIXSTIX

Mixture Enclosure Tubes for Chemical and Biological Research
Nanoracks’ Mixstix are mixture enclosure tubes for fluids, materials, chemicals and biological substances – all kept separate until they are ready to be mixed in space. Single, double, or triple experiment sample segments are available.
The International Space Station (ISS) crew release the block on the chambers and shakes the tube to mix the materials. All Mixstix are 10 ml parylene coated silicon tubes. Mixstix can be stowed cold (+4°C), or ambient on launch, berth, pre/post operations, and on payload return to Earth.

ISS External Payload Platform

Standard / Economy Option
The Nanoracks External Platform (NREP) provides turnkey communication, power, and operations to hosted payloads mounted on the outside of the ISS.

ISS Bishop Payload Platform

Advanced / Large Option
The Nanoracks Bishop Airlock expands capabilities for larger, more advanced hardware, including an array of pointing options such as Ram, Wake, Zenith and Nadir.

Airlock Module (Bishop)

Nanoracks Bishop Airlock is the first permanent, commercial addition to the International Space Station (ISS) infrastructure. The Bishop Airlock offers 5x the current volume that can be moved in and out of the Space Station today.

Built and operated by Nanoracks, Bishop enables commercial utilization of the ISS to its fullest extent. Bishop’s unique bell-jar design allows this airlock to function in a multitude of ways, expanding the services we provide our customers every day in space. Bishop was designed to function today on the ISS, and tomorrow, detached and moved onto a Nanoracks Outpost.

Product/Service - Starlab, Outpost

Classification
Space Stations & Habitats
Category
Commercial Space Station
Status
Development
First launch
2028

Space Station (Starlab)

Nanoracks commercial low-Earth orbit destination, in collaboration with Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin, is called “Starlab.”

Starlab is planned to be the first continuously crewed, free-flying commercial space station. Leveraging innovative – yet known – technologies, Starlab will be a new-era global space platform dedicated to conducting advanced research, fostering industrial activity, and innovating in ways once only imagined.

Nanoracks’ commercial low-Earth orbit destination, in collaboration with Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin, is called “Starlab.” Starlab is targeted for launch in 2027 on a single flight as a continuously crewed, commercial space station dedicated to conducting advanced research, fostering commercial industrial activity, and ensuring continued U.S. presence and leadership in low-Earth orbit. Starlab is designed for four astronauts and will have power, volume, and a payload capability equivalent to the International Space Station.

Starlab will host the George Washington Carver Science Park featuring four main operational departments – a biology lab, plant habitation lab, physical science and materials research lab, and an open workbench area – to meet the needs of researchers and commercial customers for commercial space activities. The station will be built with flexible growth in mind, featuring interfaces both internal and external to the spacecraft to allow Nanoracks to expand the architecture as new demand sources are identified, and new markets emerge.

NASA awarded $130 million to develop designs of space stations and other commercial destinations in space.

OUTPOST

Commercial Platforms in Orbit
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.

Created: 2022-01-01

Updated: 2023-02-26

Product/Service - Outpost Mars Demo-1

Classification
In-Space Manufacturing
Category
In-Space Manufacturing
In-Space Assembly
Fields
Large Space Structures
Status
Demonstrated
First launch
2022

In-Space Manufacturing

Nanoracks just made space construction and manufacturing history with the first demonstration of cutting metal in orbit. 

Outpost Mars Demo-1
Voyager and Nanoracks are excited to announce that our first Outpost demonstration mission (Outpost Mars Demo-1) is expected to launch this month aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 5 rideshare flight. This mission is part of our Outpost Program, which is focused on transforming used launch vehicle upper stages into uncrewed, controllable platforms. Nanoracks designed a self-contained hosted payload platform to demonstrate on-orbit, debris-free, robotic metal cutting.

Maritime Launch Services and Houston-based Nanoracks have signed an agreement to work on repurposing the upper stages of MLS's rockets — the parts of the vehicle that contained fuel and are released as it climbs into orbit. The company plans to use Cyclone 4M rockets, designed by Ukrainian company Yuzhnoye and manufactured by Yuzhmash.

Nanoracks made space construction and manufacturing history with the first demonstration of cutting metal in orbit. The technique could be critical for the next generation of large-scale space stations and even lunar habitats.

Created: 2022-09-24

Updated: 2023-02-26

Sources


Most sources should be linked in the texts and headings as revealed by mouse-over, but here are they listed for visibility.

News, Research, Projects and Patents

Title Type Date Summary
LEO Commercialization Study Study 2019-07-25 Outpost: An In-Orbit Commercial Space Station Habitat Development Enabling Cost-Effective and Sustainable U.S. Presence in Low-Earth Orbit
Upcoming Mission Marks First-Ever Demo of Structural Metal Cutting in Space News 2022-05-19 Voyager and [Nanoracks](http://www.nanoracks.com/) are excited to announce that our first Outpost demonstration mission (Outpost Mars Demo-1) is expected to launch this month aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 5 rideshare flight. This mission is part of our [Outpost Program](https://nanoracks.com/outpost/), which is focused on transforming used launch vehicle upper stages into uncrewed, controllable platforms.
Space-Grown Crops for Earth’s Farms Article 2020-11-12 A new commercial space market is poised to take off. And surprisingly, this market could not be more down-to-Earth: that of “farming” in space. This AgTech market will be an important part of helping decrease the debilitating impact of climate migration, which is already tearing up families and economies in Latin America, and one of the root causes of migration on our Southern border.
The Plan to Turn Scrapped Rockets Into Space Stations News 2020-11-11 The Nanoracks program, known as [Outpost](https://nanoracks.com/outpost/), will modify rockets after they’re done with their mission to give them a second life. The first Outposts will be uncrewed stations made from the upper stages of new rockets, but Manber says it’s possible that future stations could host people or be built from rocket stages already in orbit. In the beginning, Nanoracks won’t use the interior of the rocket and will mount experiment payloads, power supply modules, and small propulsion units to the outside of the fuselage. Once company engineers have that figured out, they can focus on developing the inside of the rocket as a pressurized laboratory.
The first commercial airlock is heading to the International Space Station later this year News 2020-09-15
Abu Dhabi’s AgTech Ecosystem Expands Across Land, Sea and Space Project, News 2020-11-10 Three innovative agriculture companies will develop cutting-edge projects in Abu Dhabi to boost the emirate’s agriculture technology (AgTech) capabilities across land, sea and space. The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) announced today individual partnerships with Pure Harvest Smart Farms (Pure Harvest), FreshToHome and Nanoracks that will see the companies receive financial and non-financial incentives totalling AED 152 million (USD 41 million). The research and technologies developed by these companies will expand existing capabilities in Abu Dhabi’s AgTech ecosystem and promote innovation in the sector to address global food security challenges.
Q & A: Nanoracks StarLab Space Farming Center Article 2020-11-10 Below, please enjoy our Q&A with Nanoracks’ Marketing Director, Abby Dickes, and Nanoracks’ CEO, Jeffrey Manber, to learn more about Nanoracks goals in our AgTech ventures.
Commercial Space Stations and the declining need for vertical integration Article 2022-07-21
Nanoracks Announces In-Space Outpost Demonstration News 2019-10-22 Nanoracks will be building a self-contained hosted payload platform that will demonstrate the robotic cutting of second stage representative tank material on-orbit. Never before has structural metal cutting been done in-space.

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