"NanoRack" Newest Commercial Innovation for ISS Utilization

The next space shuttle mission will carry the first NanoRack to the International Space Station (ISS) for conducting small experiments relatively inexpensively. Developed by a self-financed partnership of the Kentucky space consortium, University of Kentucky, Morehead State University, and Belcan Corp., NanoRack builds on the Cubesat design and interfaces with the ISS power and data grid through a USB plug.

Jeff Manber, one of the earliest advocates of commercial space activities who may be best known in space circles for his work with MirCorp in the 1990s to find commercial opportunities for Russia’s Mir space station (which was deorbited in 2001), is one of the founders of NanoRacks. Manber now writes for Aviation Week & Space Technology’s blog and the magazine published a story about the upcoming flight. It explained that NanoRacks will fly on each of the remaining four shuttle missions, and is small enough to be taken to the ISS on Progress, ATV or HTV as well. Each NanoRack can accommodate up to 16 experiments with 5 volts of power and data delivery to Earth. According to the article, commercial customers will pay $50,000; educational customers (such as universities), $25,000.