Virgin orbit will partner with NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI). Which means all these Virgin Orbit's NASA clients will be referred to SAS services.This is where SAS can market their services, hardware and software. Big opportunity in the UK and Abroad!
10 CubeSats are set to fly on LauncherOne around the end of the year — the 20th Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa XX) mission.
NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) has been selecting spacecraft from academia, nonprofits, and government entities for 11 years. What we’re looking for is spacecraft that meet NASA’s strategic objectives in science, technology development, and education.
The explosion in microelectronics is what has allowed this to happen. Initially, CubeSats started out as a tool for educational exercises… but then, people started to realize they could actually do some useful missions with them. Also — and you can’t really put a finger on when — at some point, businesses started realizing there was money to be made in this market. So, a whole new marketplace has been developed in an amazingly short period of time.
... That’s where the institution comes in. The effective teams are the ones that have a partnership with their school’s engineering department that can give them both the facilities and the equipment to make the magic happen.
