The initiative is open to U.S. educational institutions, non-profits, informal educational institutions like museums and science centers, and NASA centers focused on workforce development, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. The program also encourages minority-serving institutions to apply.
"Working with CubeSats is a way to get students interested in launching a career in the space industry," said Jeanie Hall, CSLI program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "NASA reviews applications for CubeSat missions every year and selects projects with an educational component that also can benefit the agency in better understanding education, science, exploration, and technology."
Proposals must be submitted by 5 p.m. EST on November 15. NASA plans to announce selections by March 14, 2025, for flight opportunities in 2026-2029. However, selection does not guarantee a launch opportunity, and applicants must fund the development of their CubeSats.
Selected CubeSats will be assigned a launch and deployed either directly from a rocket or into low Earth orbit from the International Space Station. NASA mission managers will advise the CubeSat teams, ensuring all technical, safety, and regulatory requirements are met before launch. These missions will help participants enhance their skills in hardware design and development, as well as in CubeSat operations.
Recently, eight CubeSat missions shared a launch on Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket, which took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on July 3. Among these missions was CatSat from the University of Arizona, which is testing a deployable antenna attached to a Mylar balloon. The University of Kansas' KUbeSat-1 mission is testing a new method for measuring cosmic rays hitting Earth. This launch marked CSLI milestones for Kansas and Maine, with KUbeSat-1 and MESAT-1 being the first CSLI missions from these states.
Additionally, four CubeSats were transported to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule on March 21, as part of SpaceX's 30th commercial resupply mission. These CubeSats are conducting various technological demonstrations, such as improving solar power generation, detecting gamma ray bursts, measuring crop water usage, and assessing root-zone soil and snowpack moisture levels.
CubeSats are sized in multiples of a standard unit called a "U," with a 1-Unit (1U) CubeSat measuring approximately 10 x 10 x 11 cm (3.9 x 3.9 x 4.5 inches). They can be combined to form larger spacecraft, such as 3U or 6U CubeSats.
Since its inception, NASA has selected CubeSat missions from 45 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, and has launched around 160 CubeSats.
NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida manages the CubeSat Launch Initiative. For more information, visit here
Related Links
CubeSat Launch Initiative
Microsat News and Nanosat News at SpaceMart.com
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