Nanoracks is the leading provider of commercial access to space with a global customer base
Created: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2024-02-03
Company - Nanoracks (Voyager Space)
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.
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)
Gambit
- ReADI-SP: REducing Arthritis Dependent Inflammation First Phase (READI FP) evaluates how microgravity and space radiation affect the generation of bone tissue and the potential protective effects of bio-collagen and bioactive metabolites, such as antioxidants, during spaceflight. This study could improve understanding of physical changes causing bone loss and identify possible countermeasures, helping to protect crew members and mission success and could contribute to prevention and treatment of the bone loss that affects many post-menopausal women on Earth.
- Module 89 TLLM: In partnership with DreamUp, This Little Light of Mine (TLLM) is a technology demonstration that tests a series of electrical components under the pressurized radiation and microgravity environment within the ISS. A film created, produced, and directed byfilmmaker Colin, “Topper” Carewand made by Carew and Anthony Jarvis will be played within the space-flown hardware. Once returned to Earth, the media compiled in-flight will be used in an educational program focused on global connection and positivity through meetings, workshops, classes, and projects at various universities, international conferences, art exhibitions, and musical and visual performances. Anyone can follow along with the payload as it runs on the Space Station here.
Product/Service - Outpost, Starlab
- Classification
- Space Stations & Habitats
- Category
- Commercial Space Station
- Status
- Development, Cancelled
- First launch
- 2028
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.
Space Station (Starlab)
Nanoracks commercial low-Earth orbit destination, in collaboration with Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin, is called “Starlab.”
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.
Status Comment / Notes
Marking Starlab entry Cancelled to avoid multiple active Starlab entries.
Created: 2022-01-01
Updated: 2024-07-10
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.
- Our partner in this demonstration, Maxar Technologies, developed a new robotic arm with a friction milling end-effector. Friction milling uses a cutting tool operating at high rotations per minute to melt the metal in such a way that a cut is made, and no debris is generated. Maxar’s robotic cutter is equipped with thermal sensors and cameras, and once in space,
- Nanoracks and Maxar will have up to one hour to complete the cutting of three metal pieces, made of corrosion resistant steel (the same material that is used on the outer shell of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur) without creating any debris in the process. The demonstration itself will occur about 9 minutes into flight and will be finished approximately 10 minutes later. The rest of the time the team will downlink the photos and video to the ground stations until the vehicle and hosted payloads de-orbit over the Pacific.
- The experiment was performed back in May by Nanoracks and its parent company Voyager Space, after getting to orbit aboard the SpaceX Transporter 5 launch. The company only recently released additional details on Friday.
- The goal of Outpost Mars Demo-1 mission was to cut a piece of corrosion-resistant metal, similar to the outer shell of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur and common in space debris, using a technique called friction milling.
- It was conducted in partnership with Maxar Technologies, who developed the robotic arm that executed the cut. That arm used a commercially available friction milling end effector, and the entire structure was contained in the Outpost spacecraft to ensure that no debris escaped. Indeed, one of the main goals of the demonstration was to produce no debris — and it worked.
- Using a technique called friction milling, the robotic arm used a commercial cutting tool at a high speed to soften the metal while cutting it and reducing debris. The enclosure that held the robotic arm and metal samples was on a Nanoracks circuit.
Status Comment / Notes
Being consolidated under Voyager Space brand as of early 2024.
Created: 2022-09-24
Updated: 2024-03-02
Product/Service
- Classification
- In-Space Manufacturing
- Category
- In-Space Manufacturing
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- Not announced
ISRU and moon building: the role of sintering processes.
Nanoracks Europe (Nanoracks Space Outpost Europe) is directly involved in an ESA-funded project that aims to develop a technique for the sintering of regolith simulants using microwave technology with the aim of being able to produce two types of products: compact bricks, mechanically stable potentially suitable for structural purposes and others that have a certain density, a higher porosity, but equally mechanically stable, potentially usable as electrodes in electrolysis processes, such as for example oxygen extraction.
Status Comment / Notes
Being consolidated under Voyager Space brand as of early 2024.
Created: 2023-07-26
Updated: 2024-03-02
Sources
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News, Research, Projects and Patents
| Title | Type | Date | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Space Stations and the declining need for vertical integration | Article | 2022-07-21 | |
| Upcoming Mission Marks First-Ever Demo of Structural Metal Cutting in Space | News | 2022-05-19 | > 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. |
| 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, 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. |
| 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. |
| The first commercial airlock is heading to the International Space Station later this year | News | 2020-09-15 | |
| 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. |
| LEO Commercialization Study | Study | 2019-07-25 | > Outpost: An In-Orbit Commercial Space Station Habitat Development |
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