CubeSat

, a Norwegian CubeSat (10 cm (3.9 in) cube) A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of 10 cm (3.9 in) cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than 2 kg (4.4 lb) per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats are deployed into orbit from the International Space Station, or launched as secondary payloads on a launch vehicle. , the Nanosatellite & CubeSat Database records 2,973 CubeSats launched, out of more than 3,200 nanosatellites launched since 1998. Jonathan McDowell's Jonathan's Space Report independently catalogues more than 3,200 CubeSats launched in total. In 1999, Jordi Puig-Suari, a professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and Bob Twiggs, a professor at Stanford University Space Systems Development Laboratory, developed the CubeSat specifications to promote and develop the skills necessary for the design, manufacture, and testing of small satellites intended for low Earth orbit (LEO) that perform scientific research and explore new space technologies. Academia accounted for the majority of CubeSat launches until 2013, when more than half of launches were for non-academic purposes, and by 2014 most newly deployed CubeSats were for commercial or amateur projects.…

, a Norwegian CubeSat (10 cm (3.9 in) cube)]] A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of 10 cm (3.9 in) cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than 2 kg (4.4 lb) per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats are deployed into orbit from the International Space Station, or launched as secondary payloads on a launch vehicle. , the Nanosatellite & CubeSat Database records 2,973 CubeSats launched, out of more than 3,200 nanosatellites launched since 1998. Jonathan McDowell's Jonathan's Space Report independently catalogues more than 3,200 CubeSats launched in total. In 1999, Jordi Puig-Suari, a professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and Bob Twiggs, a professor at Stanford University Space Systems Development Laboratory, developed the CubeSat specifications to promote and develop the skills necessary for the design, manufacture, and testing of small satellites intended for low Earth orbit (LEO) that perform scientific research and explore new space technologies. Academia accounted for the majority of CubeSat launches until 2013, when more than half of launches were for non-academic purposes, and by 2014 most newly deployed CubeSats were for commercial or amateur projects. Functions typically involve experiments that can be miniaturized or serve purposes such as Earth observation or amateur radio. CubeSats are employed to demonstrate spacecraft technologies intended for small satellites or that present questionable feasibility and are unlikely to justify the cost of a larger satellite. Scientific experiments with unproven underlying theory may also find themselves aboard CubeSats, because their low cost can justify higher risks. Biological research payloads have been flown on several missions, with more planned. Several missions to the Moon and beyond are planning to use CubeSats. The first CubeSats in deep space were flown in the MarCO mission, where two CubeSats were launched towards Mars in May 2018 alongside the successful InSight mission. Some CubeSats have become countries' first-ever satellites, launched either by universities, state-owned, or private companies. The searchable Nanosatellite and CubeSat Database lists over 4,000 CubeSats that have been or are planned to be launched since 1998. == History== Professors Jordi Puig-Suari of California Polytechnic State University and Bob Twiggs of Stanford University proposed the CubeSat reference design in 1999 with the aim of enabling graduate students to design, build, test and operate in space a spacecraft with capabilities similar to that of the first spacecraft, Sputnik. The CubeSat, as initially proposed, did not set out to become a standard; rather, it became a standard over time by a process of emergence. The first CubeSats launched in June 2003 on a Russian Eurockot, and approximately 75 CubeSats had entered orbit by 2012. Among that first group was CUTE-I, a 1 kg, 10 cm satellite developed by the Tokyo Institute of Technology Laboratory for Space Systems. The need for such a small-factor satellite became apparent in 1998 as a result of work done at Stanford University's Space System Development Laboratory. At SSDL, students had been working on the OPAL (Orbiting Picosatellite Automatic Launcher) microsatellite since 1995. OPAL's mission to deploy daughter-ship "picosatellites" had resulted in the development of a launcher system that was "hopelessly complicated" and could only be made to work "most of the time". With the project's delays mounting, Twiggs sought DARPA funding that resulted in the redesign of the launching mechanism into a simple pusher-plate concept with the satellites held in place by a spring-loaded door. Desiring to shorten the development cycle experienced on OPAL and inspired by the picosatellites OPAL carried, Twiggs set out to find "how much could you reduce the size and still have a practical satellite". The picosatellites on OPAL were , a size that was not conducive to covering all sides of the spacecraft with solar cells. Inspired by a cubic plastic box used to display Beanie Babies in stores, Twiggs first settled on the larger ten-centimeter cube as a guideline for the new CubeSat concept. A model of a launcher was developed for the new satellite using the same pusher-plate concept that had been used in the modified OPAL launcher. Twiggs presented the idea to Puig-Suari in the summer of 1999 and then at the Japan–U.S. Science, Technology and Space Applications Program (JUSTSAP) conference in November 1999. The term "CubeSat" was coined to denote nanosatellites that adhere to the standards described in the CubeSat design specification. Cal Poly published the standard in an effort led by aerospace engineering professor Jordi Puig-Suari. Bob Twiggs, of the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at Stanford University, and currently a member of the space science faculty at Morehead State University in Kentucky, has contributed to the CubeSat community. His efforts have focused on CubeSats from educational institutions. The specification does not apply to other cube-like nanosatellites such as the NASA "MEPSI" nanosatellite, which is slightly larger than a CubeSat. GeneSat-1 was NASA's first fully automated, self-contained biological spaceflight experiment on a satellite of its size. It was also the first U.S.-launched CubeSat. This work, led by John Hines at NASA Ames Research, became the catalyst for the entire NASA CubeSat program. In 2017, this standardization effort led to the publication of ISO 17770:2017 by the International Organization for Standardization. This standard defines specifications for CubeSats including their physical, mechanical, electrical, and operational requirements. It also provides a specification for the interface between the CubeSat and its launch vehicle, which lists the capabilities required to survive the environmental conditions during and after launch and describes the standard deployment interface used to release the satellites. The development of standards shared by a large number of spacecraft contributes to a significant reduction in the development time and cost of CubeSat missions. ==Design== The CubeSat specification accomplishes several high-level goals. The main reason for miniaturizing satellites is to reduce the cost of deployment: they are often suitable for launch in multiples, using the excess capacity of larger launch vehicles. The CubeSat design specifically minimizes risk to the rest of the launch vehicle and payloads. Encapsulation of the launcher–payload interface takes away the amount of work that would previously be required for mating a piggyback satellite with its launcher. Unification among payloads and launchers enables quick exchanges of payloads and utilization of launch opportunities on short notice. Standard CubeSats are made up of units designed to provide or of useful volume, with each unit weighing no more than . The smallest standard size is 1U, consisting of a single unit, while the most common form factor was the 3U, which comprised over 40% of all nanosatellites launched to date. Larger form factors, such as the 6U and 12U, are composed of 3Us stacked side by side. In 2014, two 6U Perseus-M CubeSats were launched for maritime surveillance, the largest yet at the time. The Mars Cube One (MarCO) mission in 2018 launched two 6U cubesats towards Mars. Smaller, non-standard form factors also exist; The Aerospace Corporation has constructed and launched two smaller form CubeSats of 0.5U for radiation measurement and technological demonstration, while Swarm Technologies has built and deployed a constellation of over one hundred 0.25U CubeSats for IoT communication services. Since nearly all CubeSats are (regardless of length) they can all be launched and deployed using a common deployment system called a Poly-PicoSatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD), developed and built by Cal Poly. No electronics form factors or communications protocols are specified or required by the CubeSat Design Specification, but COTS hardware has consistently used certain features which many treat as standards in CubeSat electronics. Most COTS and custom designed electronics fit the form of PC/104, which was not designed for CubeSats but presents a profile that allows most of the spacecraft's volume to be occupied. Technically, the PCI-104 form is the variant of PC/104 used and the actual pinout used does not reflect the pinout specified in the PCI-104 standard. Stackthrough connectors on the boards allow for simple assembly and electrical interfacing and most manufacturers of CubeSat electronics hardware hold to the same signal arrangement, but some products do not, so care must be taken to ensure consistent signal and power arrangements to prevent damage. Care must be taken in electronics selection to ensure the devices can tolerate the radiation present. For very low Earth orbits (LEO) in which atmospheric reentry would occur in just days or weeks, radiation can largely be ignored and standard consumer grade electronics may be used. Consumer electronic devices can survive LEO radiation for that time as the chance of a single event upset (SEU) is very low. Spacecraft in a sustained low Earth orbit lasting months or years are at risk and only fly hardware designed for and tested in irradiated environments. Missions beyond low Earth orbit or which would remain in low Earth orbit for many years must use radiation-hardened devices. Further considerations are made for operation in high vacuum due to the effects of sublimation, outgassing, and metal whiskers, which may result in mission failure. ===Structure=== The number of joined units classifies the size of CubeSats and according to the CubeSat Design Specification are scalable along only one axis to fit the forms of 0.5U, 1U, 1.5U, 2U, or 3U. All the standard sizes of CubeSat have been built and launched, and represent the form factors for nearly all launched CubeSats as of 2015. Materials used in the structure must feature the same coefficient of thermal expansion as the deployer to prevent jamming. Specifically, allowed materials are four aluminum alloys: 7075, 6061, 5005, and 5052. Aluminum used on the structure which contacts the P-POD must be anodized to prevent cold welding, and other materials may be used for the structure if a waiver is obtained. Beyond cold welding, further consideration is put into material selection as not all materials can be used in vacuums. Structures often feature soft dampers at each end, typically made of rubber, to lessen the effects of impacting other CubeSats in the P-POD. Protrusions beyond the maximum dimensions are allowed by the standard specification, to a maximum of beyond each side. Any protrusions may not interfere with the deployment rails and are typically occupied by antennas and solar panels. In Revision 13 of the CubeSat Design Specification an extra available volume was defined for use on 3U projects. The additional volume is made possible by space typically wasted in the P-POD Mk III's spring mechanism. 3U CubeSats which utilize the space are designated 3U+ and may place components in a cylindrical volume centered on one end of the CubeSat. The cylindrical space has a maximum diameter of and a height no greater than while not allowing for any increase in mass beyond the 3U's maximum of . Propulsion systems and antennas are the most common components that might require the additional volume, though the payload sometimes extends into this volume. Deviations from the dimension and mass requirements can be waived following application and negotiation with the launch service provider. CubeSat structures do not have all the same strength concerns as larger satellites do, as they have the added benefit of the deployer supporting them structurally during launch. Still, some CubeSats will undergo vibration analysis or structural analysis to ensure that components unsupported by the P-POD remain structurally sound throughout the launch. Despite rarely undergoing the analysis that larger satellites do, CubeSats rarely fail due to mechanical issues. ===Computing=== Like larger satellites, CubeSats often feature multiple computers handling different tasks in parallel including the attitude control (orientation), power management, payload operation, and primary control tasks. COTS attitude-control systems typically include their own computer, as do the power management systems. Payloads must be able to interface with the primary computer to be useful, which sometimes requires the use of another small computer. This may be due to limitations in the primary computer's ability to control the payload with limited communication protocols, to prevent overloading the primary computer with raw data handling, or to ensure payload's operation continues uninterrupted by the spacecraft's other computing needs such as communication. Still, the primary computer may be used for payload related tasks, which might include image processing, data analysis, and data compression. Tasks which the primary computer typically handles include the delegation of tasks to the other computers, attitude control, calculations for orbital maneuvers, scheduling, and activation of active thermal control components. CubeSat computers are highly susceptible to radiation and builders will take special steps to ensure proper operation in the high radiation of space, such as the use of ECC RAM. Some satellites may incorporate redundancy by implementing multiple primary computers; this could be done on valuable missions to lessen the risk of mission failure. Consumer smartphones have been used for computing in some CubeSats, such as NASA's PhoneSats. ===Attitude control=== concept: a controllable solar sail CubeSat]] Attitude control (orientation) for CubeSats relies on miniaturizing technology without significant performance degradation. Tumbling typically occurs as soon as a CubeSat is deployed, due to asymmetric deployment forces and bumping with other CubeSats. Some CubeSats operate normally while tumbling, but those that require pointing in a certain direction or cannot operate safely while spinning, must be detumbled. Systems that perform attitude determination and control include reaction wheels, magnetorquers, thrusters, star trackers, Sun sensors, Earth sensors, angular rate sensors, and GPS receivers and antennas. Combinations of these systems are typically seen in order to take each method's advantages and mitigate their shortcomings. Reaction wheels are commonly utilized for their ability to impart relatively large moments for any given energy input, but reaction wheel's utility is limited due to saturation, the point at which a wheel cannot spin faster. Examples of CubeSat reaction wheels include the Maryland Aerospace MAI-101 and the Sinclair Interplanetary RW-0.03-4. Reaction wheels can be desaturated with the use of thrusters or magnetorquers. Thrusters can provide large moments by imparting a couple on the spacecraft but inefficiencies in small propulsion systems cause thrusters to run out of fuel rapidly. Commonly found on nearly all CubeSats are magnetorquers which run electricity through a coil to take advantage of Earth's magnetic field to produce a turning moment. Attitude-control modules and solar panels typically feature built-in magnetorquers. For CubeSats that only need to detumble, no attitude determination method beyond an angular rate sensor or electronic gyroscope is necessary. Pointing in a specific direction is necessary for Earth observation, orbital maneuvers, maximizing solar power, and some scientific instruments. Directional pointing accuracy can be achieved by sensing Earth and its horizon, the Sun, or specific stars. Sinclair Interplanetary's SS-411 Sun sensor and ST-16 star tracker both have applications for CubeSats and have flight heritage. Pumpkin's Colony I Bus uses an aerodynamic wing for passive attitude stabilization. Determination of a CubeSat's location can be done through the use of on-board GPS, which is relatively expensive for a CubeSat, or by relaying radar tracking data to the craft from Earth-based tracking systems. ===Power=== CubeSats use solar cells to convert solar light to electricity that is then stored in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that provide power during eclipse as well as during peak load times. These satellites have a limited surface area on their external walls for solar cells assembly, and has to be effectively shared with other parts, such as antennas, optical sensors, camera lens, propulsion systems, and access ports. Lithium-ion batteries feature high energy-to-mass ratios, making them well suited to use on mass-restricted spacecraft. Battery charging and discharging is typically handled by a dedicated electrical power system (EPS). Batteries sometimes feature heaters to prevent the battery from reaching dangerously low temperatures which might cause battery decay and mission failure. The rate at which the batteries decay depends on the number of cycles for which they are charged and discharged, as well as the depth of each discharge: the greater the average depth of discharge, the faster a battery degrades. For LEO missions, the number of cycles of discharge can be expected to be on the order of several hundred. Due to size and weight constraints, common CubeSats flying in LEO with body-mounted solar panels have generated less than 10 W. Missions with higher power requirements can make use of attitude control to ensure the solar panels remain in their most effective orientation toward the Sun, and further power needs can be met through the addition and orientation of deployable solar arrays, which can be unfolded to a substantially larger area on-orbit. Recent innovations include additional spring-loaded solar arrays that deploy as soon as the satellite is released, as well as arrays that feature thermal knife mechanisms that would deploy the panels when commanded. CubeSats may not be powered between launch and deployment, and must feature a remove-before-flight pin which cuts all power to prevent operation during loading into the P-POD. Additionally, a deployment switch is actuated while the craft is loaded into a P-POD, cutting power to the spacecraft and is deactivated after exiting the P-POD. ===Telecommunications=== )]] The low cost of CubeSats has enabled unprecedented access to space for smaller institutions and organizations but, for most CubeSat forms, the range and available power is limited to about 2 W for its communications antennae. Because of tumbling and low power range, radio-communications are a challenge. Many CubeSats use an omnidirectional monopole or dipole antenna built with commercial measuring tape. For more demanding needs, some companies offer high-gain antennae for CubeSats, but their deployment and pointing systems are significantly more complex. For example, MIT and JPL are developing an inflatable dish antenna based on a mylar skin inflated with a sublimating powder, claiming a 7× boost in range—potentially able to reach the Moon—but questions linger concerning survivability after micrometeor impacts. JPL has successfully developed X-band and Ka-band high-gain antennas for MarCO and Radar in a CubeSat (RaInCube) missions. ===Costs=== CubeSat forms a cost-effective independent means of getting a payload into orbit. After delays from low-cost launchers such as Interorbital Systems, launch prices have been about $100,000 per unit, but newer operators are offering lower pricing. A typical price to launch a 1U cubesat with a full service contract (including end-to-end integration, licensing, transportation etc.) was about $60,000 in 2021. Some CubeSats have complicated components or instruments, such as LightSail-1, that push their construction cost into the millions of dollars, but a basic 1U CubeSat can cost about $50,000 to construct. This makes CubeSats a viable option for some schools, universities, and small businesses. ==Missions== CubeSats being launched from the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer on the ISS on February 25, 2014]] The Nanosatellite & Cubesat Database lists over 2,000 CubeSats that have been launched since 1998. One of the earliest CubeSat launches was on 30 June 2003 from Plesetsk, Russia, with Eurockot Launch Services's Multiple Orbit Mission. The CubeSats were injected into a Sun-synchronous orbit and included the Danish AAU CubeSat and DTUSat, the Japanese XI-IV and CUTE-1, the Canadian Can X-1, and the US Quakesat. On February 13, 2012, three P-POD deployers containing seven CubeSats were placed into orbit along with the Lares satellite aboard a Vega rocket launched from French Guiana. The CubeSats launched were e-st@r Space (Politecnico di Torino, Italy), Goliat (University of Bucharest, Romania), MaSat-1 (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary), PW-Sat (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland), Robusta (University of Montpellier 2, France), UniCubeSat-GG (University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy), and XaTcobeo (University of Vigo and INTA, Spain). The CubeSats were launched in the framework of the "Vega Maiden Flight" opportunity of the European Space Agency. On September 13, 2012, eleven CubeSats were launched from eight P-PODs, as part of the "OutSat" secondary payload aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. This was the largest number of CubeSats (and largest volume of 24U) orbited on a single launch so far, made possible by the new NPS CubeSat Launcher system (NPSCuL) developed at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). The CubeSats were: SMDC-ONE 2.2 (Baker), SMDC-ONE 2.1 (Able), AeroCube 4.0(x3), Aeneas, CSSWE, CP5, CXBN, CINEMA, and Re (STARE). Five CubeSats (Raiko, Niwaka, We-Wish, TechEdSat, F-1) were placed into orbit from the International Space Station on October 4, 2012, as a technology demonstration of small satellite deployment from the ISS. They were launched and delivered to ISS as a cargo of Kounotori 3, and an ISS astronaut prepared the deployment mechanism attached to Japanese Experiment Module's robotic arm. Four CubeSats were deployed from the Cygnus Mass Simulator, which was launched April 21, 2013 on the maiden flight of Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket. Three of them are 1U PhoneSats built by NASA's Ames Research Center to demonstrate the use of smart phones as avionics in CubeSats. The fourth was a 3U satellite, called Dove-1, built by Planet Labs. On April 26, 2013 NEE-01 Pegaso was launched and was the first CubeSat able to transmit live video from orbit, also the first 1U CubeSat to achieve more than 100 watts of power as installed capacity. Later in November same year NEE-02 Krysaor also transmitted live video from orbit. Both CubeSats were built by the Ecuadorian Space Agency. A total of thirty-three CubeSats were deployed from the ISS on February 11, 2014. Of those thirty-three, twenty-eight were part of the Flock-1 constellation of Earth-imaging CubeSats. Of the other five, two are from other US-based companies, two from Lithuania, and one from Peru. The LightSail-1 is a 3U CubeSat prototype propelled by a solar sail. It was launched on 20 May 2015 from Florida. Its four sails are made of very thin Mylar and have a total area of . This test will allow a full checkout of the satellite's systems in advance of the main 2016 mission. On October 5, 2015, AAUSAT5 (Aalborg University, Denmark), was deployed from the ISS. launched in the framework of the "Fly Your Satellite!" programme of the European Space Agency. The Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer CubeSat is a 3U launched to the International Space Station on 6 December 2015 from where it was deployed on 16 May 2016. It is the first mission launched in the NASA Science Mission Directorate CubeSat Integration Panel, which is focused on doing science with CubeSats. As of 12 July 2016, the minimum mission success criterion (one month of science observations) has been met, but the spacecraft continues to perform nominally and observations continue. Three CubeSats were launched on April 25, 2016, together with Sentinel-1B on a Soyuz rocket VS14 launched from Kourou, French Guiana. The satellites were: AAUSAT4 (Aalborg University, Denmark), e-st@r-II (Politecnico di Torino, Italy) and OUFTI-1 (Université de Liège, Belgium). The CubeSats were launched in the framework of the "Fly Your Satellite!" programme of the European Space Agency. On February 15, 2017, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) set a record with the launch of 104 satellites on a single rocket. The launch of PSLV-C37 in a single payload, including the Cartosat-2 series and 103 co-passenger satellites, together weighed over . Of the 104 satellites, all but three were CubeSats. Of the 101 nano satellites, 96 were from the United States and one each from Israel, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. ===2018 InSight mission: MarCO CubeSats=== A and B during the descent of InSight]] The May 2018 launch of the InSight stationary Mars lander included two CubeSats to fly by Mars to provide additional relay communications from InSight to Earth during entry and landing. This is the first flight of CubeSats outside of the Earth's direct orbit. The mission CubeSat technology is called Mars Cube One (MarCO); each one is a six-unit CubeSat, . MarCO is an experiment, but not necessary for the InSight mission, to add relay communications to space missions in important time durations, in this case from the time of InSight atmospheric entry to its landing. MarCO launched in May 2018 with the InSight lander, separated after launch and then traveled in their own trajectories to Mars. After separation, both MarCO spacecraft deployed two radio antennas and two solar panels. The high-gain, X band antenna is a flat panel to direct radio waves. MarCO navigated to Mars independently from the InSight lander, making their own course adjustments on the flight. During InSight entry, descent and landing (EDL) in November 2018, the lander transmitted telemetry in the UHF radio band to NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) flying overhead. MRO forwarded EDL information to Earth using a radio frequency in the X band, but cannot simultaneously receive information in one band if transmitting on another. Confirmation of a successful landing could be received on Earth several hours after, so MarCO was a technology demonstration of real-time telemetry during the landing. ===CubeSat Launch Initiative=== NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative created in 2010, provides CubeSat launch opportunities to educational institutions, non-profit organizations and NASA Centers. the CubeSat Launch Initiative had launched 46 CubeSats flown on 12 ELaNa Missions from 28 unique organizations and has selected 119 CubeSat missions from 66 unique organizations. Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) missions have included: BisonSat the first CubeSat built by a tribal college, TJ3Sat the first CubeSat built by a high school and STMSat-1 the first CubeSat built by an elementary school. NASA releases an Announcement of Opportunity in August of each year with selections made the following February. ===QB50=== QB50 is a proposed international network of 50 CubeSats for multi-point, in-situ measurements in the lower thermosphere (90–350 km) and re-entry research. QB50 is an initiative of the Von Karman Institute and is funded by the European Commission as part of the 7th Framework Programme (FP7). Double-unit (2U) CubeSats (10×10×20 cm) are developed, with one unit (the 'functional' unit) providing the usual satellite functions and the other unit (the 'science' unit) accommodating a set of standardised sensors for lower thermosphere and re-entry research. 35 CubeSats are envisaged to be provided by universities from 22 countries around the world, among them 4 are from the US, 4 from China, 4 from France, 3 from Australia and 3 from South Korea. Ten 2U or 3U CubeSats are foreseen to serve for in-orbit technology demonstration of new space technologies. The Request for Proposals (RFP) for the QB50 CubeSat was released on February 15, 2012. Two "precursor" QB50 satellites were launched aboard a Dnepr rocket on June 19, 2014. All 50 CubeSats were supposed to be launched together on a single Cyclone-4 launch vehicle in February 2016, but due to the unavailability of the launch vehicle, 36 satellites were launched aboard Cygnus CRS OA-7 on 18 April 2017 and subsequently deployed from the ISS. A dozen other CubeSats were manifested on the PSLV-XL C38 mission in May 2017. ==Launch and deployment== rocket launching from ISC Kosmotras ]] Unlike full-sized spacecraft, CubeSats can be delivered as cargo to, and deployed by, the International Space Station. This presents an alternative method of achieving orbit apart from deployment by a launch vehicle. NanoRacks and Made in Space are developing means of constructing CubeSats on the International Space Station. ==External links== CubeSat Database and Nanosatellites – lists over 2,000 CubeSats that have been and are planned to be launched since 1998 CubeSat developer resources and regulatory data LibreCube an Open source-platform for developing CubeSats Open Source CubeSat Workshop (OSCW) NEN CubeSat Support (NASA)

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