Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) is an initiative created by NASA to attract and retain students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.ELaNa: Educational Launch of Nanosatellites NASA, 2017 The program is managed by the Launch Services Program (LSP) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA and Firefly Aerospace are planning to launch eight CubeSats as part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) 43, targeting no earlier than Wednesday, June 26.

Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket, in a mission dubbed “Noise of Summer,” will lift off from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Overview

The ELaNa initiative has made partnerships with universities in the US to design and launch small research satellites called CubeSats (because of their cube shape). These low-cost CubeSat missions provide NASA with valuable opportunities to test emerging technologies that may be useful in future space missions, while university students get to be involved in all phases of the mission, from instrument and satellite design, to launch and monitoring.

A CubeSat has a cubic shape measuring 10 × 10 × 10 cm (1 unit or 1U), and can be fabricated of multiple cubic units such as 2U, 3U and 6U, and weighing 1.33 kg per unit. Because of the high cost incurred by launching them to orbit, ELaNa's satellites are launched as secondary payload on other missions that have mass and space to spare. Since the launch waiting list has grown considerably, another initiative was launched in 2015 in partnership with the private industry to develop launch vehicles dedicated to CubeSats exclusively. A new company is called Rocket Lab and their launch vehicle is the Electron rocket.Rocket Lab Signs NASA Partnership to Tap Launch Resources Caleb Henry 31 July 2015. This agreement with NASA, enables the company to use NASA resources such as personnel, facilities and equipment for commercial launch efforts.Rocket Lab poised to provide dedicated launcher for CubeSat science Adam Mann, Science Magazine 6 December 2017 In 2015, NASA contracted two other companies for this purpose: Firefly Space Systems and Virgin Galactic. Nevertheless, NASA CubeSats will continue to hitch rides as secondary payloads in larger rockets whenever possible.

As of August 2017, NASA's ELaNa initiative has selected 151 CubeSat missions, 49 of which have been launched into space.NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative Broadens Access to Space for Educators, Nonprofits , NASA, 3 August 2017

Missions

ELaNa mission numbers are based on the order they are manifested; due to the nature of launching, the actual launch order differs from the mission numbers.

Launched missions

Launch date (UTC) Mission name CubeSats deployed Main mission andCubeSats included Launch vehicle Launch site 4 March 2011 ELaNa 1 (Glory) Hermes, Explorer-1 Prime, KySat-1ELaNa-I NASA, * launch failure Taurus XL VAFB, LC-576 28 October 2011 ELaNa 3 (NPOESS Preparatory Project) RAX-2, M-Cubed, Explorer-1 Prime, DICE, AubieSat-1 Delta II 7920-10 VAFB, SLC-2 West 13 September 2012 ELaNa 6 (NROL-36)CXBN, CP5, CINEMA, CSSWECUBESAT ELaNa VI LAUNCH ON L-36 Mission, NASA Atlas V 401 VAFB, SLC-3 East 20 November 2013 ELaNa 4 (ORS-3) H-2, KySat-2, ChargerSat-1, SwampSat, Trailblazer, TJ3Sat, DragonSat-1, CAPE-2, PhoneSat 2.4, COPPER, DragonSat-1, Vermont LunarCubeSat ELaNa IV Launch on ORS-3, NASA Minotaur I MARS, LP-0A 6 December 2013 ELaNa 2 (NROL-39)CUNYSAT-1, IPEX, M-Cubed-2, FIREBIRD-1A/1B Atlas V 501 VAFB, SLC-3 East 22 February 2014 ELaNa 5 (SpaceX CRS-3)ALL-STAR, PhoneSat 2.5, KickSat, SporeSat, TSATELaNa V CubeSat Launch on SpaceX-3 Mission. March 2014. NASA. Falcon 9 / Dragon CCAFS, SLC-40 28 October 2014 ELaNa 8 Cygnus CRS Orb-3CHARM* launch failure Antares 130 / Cygnus MARS, LP-0A 31 January 2015 ELaNa 10 (Soil Moisture Active Passive)GRIFEX, EXOCUBE, FIREBIRD-2 A/BELaNa 10 CubeSat Launch on SMAP Mission, NASA January 2015 Delta II 7320 VAFB, SLC-2 West 20 May 2015 ELaNa 11 (Boeing X-37#OTV-4)LightSail-A Atlas V 501 CCAFS, SLC-41 8 October 2015 ELaNa 12 (NROL-55)Fox-1, BisonSat, ARC, LMRST-SatELaNa CubeSat Launches , NASA Atlas V 401 VAFB, SLC-3 East 4 November 2015 ELaNa 7 (ORS-4)Argus, PrintSatELaNa VII CubeSat Launch on ORS-4 Mission , NASA 4 November 2015 * launch failure Super Strypi Pacific Missile Range Facility 6 December 2015 ELaNa 9 (Cygnus CRS Orb-4)MinXSS, STMSat-1, CADRE Atlas V 401 / Cygnus CCAFS, SLC-41 18 April 2017 ELaNa 17 (Cygnus CRS OA-7)CXBN-2, IceCube, CSUNSat-1ELaNa XVII International Space Station CubeSat Deployment , NASA March 2017 Atlas V 401 / Cygnus CCAFS, SLC-41 14 August 2017 ELaNa 22 (SpaceX CRS-12)ASTERIA, Dellingr, OSIRIS-3USpaceX Falcon 9 launches CRS-12 Dragon mission to the ISS, William Graham, NASA Spaceflight, 14 August 2017Past ElaNa CubeSat Launches, NASA Falcon 9 / Dragon CCAFS, SLC-40 12 November 2017 ELaNa 13 (Cygnus CRS OA-8E)ISARA, EcAMSat Antares 230 MARS, LP-0A 18 November 2017 ELaNa 14 (JPSS-1)MiRaTA, MakerSat-0, RadFxSat, EagleSat-1 Delta II 7920 VAFB, SLC-2 West 21 May 2018 ELaNa 23 (Cygnus CRS OA-9E)HaloSat, TEMPEST-D1, EQUiSat, MemSat, CANOP, RadSat, RainCube, SORTIE, CubeRTT Antares 230 / Cygnus MARS, LP-0A 15 September 2018 ELaNa 18 (ICESat-2)DAVE, ELFIN*, ELFIN, SurfSat Delta II 7420 VAFB, SLC-2 West 17 November 2018 ELaNa 16 (Cygnus CRS OA-10E)KickSat-2 Antares 230 / Cygnus MARS, LP-0A 3 December 2018 ELaNa 24 (SSO-A mission managed by Spaceflight Industries)IRVINE02, WeissSat-1 Falcon 9 VAFB, SLC-4E 5 December 2018 ELaNa 21 (SpaceX CRS-16)TechEdSat-8, UNITE Falcon 9 CCAFS, SLC-40 16 December 2018 ELaNa 19 Electron Mahia, LC-1A 17 April 2019 ELaNa 26 (Cygnus NG-11)CAPSat, HARP, Virginia CubeSat Constellation Antares 230 MARS, LP-0A 25 June 2019 ELaNa 15 (Space Test Program-2)ARMADILLO, LEO (CP9), StangSat Falcon Heavy KSC, LC-39A 25 July 2019 ELaNa 27 (SpaceX CRS-18)RFTSat Falcon 9 CCAFS, SLC-40 2 November 2019 ELaNa 25A (Cygnus NG-12)Argus-02, HARP, HuskySat I, Phoenix, RadSat-U, SOCRATES, SwampSat II Antares 230+ MARS, LP-0A 5 December 2019 ELaNa 25B and ELaNa 28 (SpaceX CRS-19)ELaNa 25B: AzTechSat 1, SORTIE, CryoCube 1ELaNa 28: CIRiS, EdgeCube, MakerSat-1 Falcon 9 CCAFS, SLC-40 14 February 2020 ELaNa 30 (Cygnus NG-13)TechEdSat-10 (TES-10) Antares 230+ MARS, LP-0A 13 June 2020 ELaNa 32 ANDESITE ElectronMahia, LC-1A 3 October 2020 ELaNa 31 (Cygnus NG-14)Bobcat-1, NEUTRON-1, SPOC Antares 230+ MARS, LP-0A 17 January 2021 ELaNa 20 CACTUS-1, CAPE-3, EXOCUBE-2, MiTEE, PICS 1, PICS 2, PolarCube, Q-PACE, RadFXSat-2, TechEdSat-7. LauncherOne Cosmic Girl, Mojave 24 January 2021 ELaNa 35 (Nanosatellites)PTD-1 Falcon 9 CCAFS 20 February 2021 ELaNa 33 (Cygnus NG-15)IT-SPINS Antares 230+ MARS, LP-0A 3 June 2021 ELaNa 36 (SpaceX CRS-22)RamSat Falcon 9 KSC, LC-39A 29 August 2021 ELaNa 37 (SpaceX CRS-23)CAPSat, PR-CuNaR2, SPACE HAUC Falcon 9 KSC, LC-39A 27 September 2021 ELaNa 34 (Landsat 9)CUTE, CuPID Atlas V 401 CCSFS, SLC-41 21 December 2021 ELaNa 38 (SpaceX CRS-24)DAILI, GASPACS, PATCOOL, TARGIT Falcon 9 KSC, LC-39A 13 January 2022 ELaNa 29 (STP-27VP)PAN-A, B LauncherOne Cosmic Girl, Mojave 10 February 2022 ELaNa 41 (VCLS Demo-2A)BAMA-1, INCA, QubeSat, R5-S1 * launch failure Rocket 3 CCSFS, SLC-46 19 February 2022 ELaNa 44 (Cygnus NG-17)NACHOS Antares 230+ MARS, LP-0A 2 July 2022 ELaNa 39 (STP-S28A)GPX2, CTIM-FD LauncherOne Cosmic Girl, Mojave 15 July 2022 ELaNa 45 (SpaceX CRS-25)BeaverCube, CapSat-1, D3, JAGSAT Falcon 9 KSC, LC-39A 22 November 2022 ELaNa 49 (SpaceX CRS-26)MARIO, petitSat, SPORT, TJREVERB Falcon 9 KSC, LC-39A 15 March 2023 ELaNa 50 (SpaceX CRS-27)ARKSat-1, LightSail Falcon 9 KSC, LC-39A 15 April 2023 ELaNa 40 (Transporter-7)LLITED-A, LLITED-B Falcon 9 VSFB, SLC-4E 15 April 2023 ELaNa 47 (Transporter-7)CIRBE Falcon 9 VSFB, SLC-4E 4 March 2024 ELaNa 57 (Transporter-10)M3 Falcon 9 VSFB, SLC-4E 21 March 2024 ELaNa 51 (SpaceX CRS-30)Big Red Sat-1, BurstCube, HyTi, SNoOPI Falcon 9 CCSFS, SLC-40 4 July 2024 ELaNa 43 (VCLS Demo-2FB)CatSat, KUbe-Sat-1, MESAT-1, R5-S2-2.0, R4-S4, Serenity, SOCi, TechEdSat-11 Firefly Alpha VSFB, SLC-2W 9 July 2024 ELaNa 48 (VA262)CURIE A, CURIE B Ariane 6 Kourou4 August 2024ELaNa 52(Cygnus NG-21)CySat-1, DORAFalcon 9SLC-40 14 January 2025 ELaNa 54a (Transporter-12)TechEdSat-22 Falcon 9 VSFB, SLC-4E 23 June 2025 ELaNa 56 (Transporter-14)ARCSTONE Falcon 9 VSFB, SLC-4E 23 July 2025 ELaNa 64 (TRACERS)REAL Falcon 9 VSFB, SLC-4E

Future missions List of future missions:

Launch date (UTC) Mission name No. of CubeSats Main mission andCubeSats included Launch vehicle Launch site September 2025 ELaNa 58 (Cygnus NG-23)BLAST, EagleSat-2, QubeSat-2, RHOK-SAT Falcon 9 TBA 2025 ELaNa 61 (?)TRYAD-1, TRYAD-2 Falcon 9 TBA 2025 ELaNa 53a (?)Dione TBA TBA 2025 ELaNa 53b (Transporter-14)SPRITE Falcon 9 TBA 2025 ELaNa 42 (?)AEPEX, DARLA, OrCa2, R5-S3, R5-S5, TechEdSat-16 TBA TBA TBA ELaNa 46 (?)TechEdSat-12 TBA TBA 2025 ELaNa 55 (?)CANVAS, INCA-2 TBA TBA 2025 ELaNa 54b (?)VISORS TBA TBA TBA ELaNa 59 (?)OpenOrbiter 1, R5-S6, SWARM-EX TBA TBA

References

External links

ELaNa Home page at NASA Past ELaNa missions at NASA Upcoming ELaNa missions at NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative at NASA