NASA announced a new round of opportunities for CubeSat developers to build nanosatellites for upcoming launches through the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI). The program offers U.S. educational institutions, non-profits, and NASA centers a chance to participate, including minority-serving institutions.
“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 selects projects with educational components that benefit the agency’s goals in education, science, exploration, and technology.
Proposals are due by 5 p.m. EST, Nov. 15, with selections expected by March 14, 2025, for flights from 2026 to 2029. Selected CubeSats will be assigned launches either directly from rockets or from the International Space Station. NASA mission managers will guide the CubeSat teams to meet technical, safety, and regulatory requirements.
Recent CubeSat missions include CatSat from the University of Arizona and KUbeSat-1 from the University of Kansas, both launched on Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket. Other CubeSats were deployed from the ISS on SpaceX’s 30th commercial resupply mission, demonstrating technologies to improve solar power generation and measure environmental variables.
CubeSats are small spacecraft, typically 10 x 10 x 11 cm in size, and can be scaled by stacking units. Since CSLI’s inception, NASA has launched about 160 CubeSats from 45 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.–News Desk