Van Horn, Texas – December 12, 2017 – NanoRacks is pleased to have taken part in yet another successful Blue Origin New Shepard space vehicle mission. This morning marked New Shepard’s 7th flight, and the third flight in which NanoRacks has managed customer payload integration.
As a part of the NanoRacks teaming agreement with Blue Origin, the Company partakes in both business development and payload integration. Payload integration begins with customer service through the NanoRacks Mission Management team, and ends with final on-site integration with the customer at Blue Origin’s West Texas Launch Site (WTLS). Payloads range from small student Nanolabs flying in the NanoRacks Feather Frame to larger professional-grade payload lockers.
“It is exhilarating to be a part of the NanoRacks payload program, providing all types of researchers a unique microgravity opportunity,” says NanoRacks Payload Engineer Mariel Rico. Experiments that long for both a cost effective and quick turnaround for technology demonstration in a microgravity environment finally have a place to call their own. It is truly a privilege to work with both our friends at Blue Origin and our incredible team at NanoRacks, to make this opportunity possible.”
NanoRacks looks forward to growing the Company’s payload capacity on New Shepard, and is currently manufacturing a second Feather Frame for flight, doubling the total payload volume available for smaller educational customers.
“Educator interest in engaging their students with hands on space research has brought us to developing a second Feather Frame,” continues Rico. “This is just one more step in the growing in-space services that NanoRacks is able to offer, and of course, suborbital flights with Blue Origin offer the perfect testbed before committing to an International Space Station microgravity mission.”
To book a spot for your research on a Blue Origin flight, contact NanoRacks at info@nanoracks.com.
For additional updates, follow @NanoRacks on Twitter.
About NanoRacks
NanoRacks is enabling space research and in-space services to customers world-wide from multiple platforms and launch vehicles. The company offers low-cost, high-quality solutions to the most pressing needs for satellite deployment, basic and educational research and both at home and in 30 nations world-wide for those new to the industry and aerospace veterans. Since 2009, Texas-based NanoRacks has truly created new markets, and ushered in a new era of in space-services.
In July 2015, NanoRacks signed a teaming agreement with Blue Origin to offer integration services on their New Shepard space vehicle. NanoRacks, along with partners at ULA and Space Systems Loral was also selected by NASA to participate in the NextSTEPs Phase II program to develop commercial habitation systems in low-Earth orbit and beyond.
As of December 2017, over 600 payloads have been launched to the International Space Station via NanoRacks services, and our customer base includes the European Space Agency (ESA) the German Space Agency (DLR,) the American space agency (NASA,) US Government Agencies, Planet Labs, Millennium Space Systems, Space Florida, NCESSE, Virgin Galactic, pharmaceutical drug companies, and organizations in Vietnam, UK, Romania and Israel.