NASA CubeSats Launch as Commercial Rideshares – NASA

Aug 21, 2024

NASA CubeSats Launch as Commercial Rideshares – NASA

A pair of CubeSats from NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator, or PTD, series lifted off on SpaceX’s Transporter-11 rideshare mission at 11:56 a.m. PDT Friday, August 16, from Vandenburg Space Force Base in California. The two small satellites, PTD-4 and PTD-R, will help advance NASA’s efforts to validate novel technologies and increase small spacecraft capabilities in order to shape the future of space exploration and technology.

PTD-4 will demonstrate a high-power, low-volume deployable solar array with an integrated antenna, while PTD-R will focus on testing simultaneous ultraviolet and short-wave infrared optical sensing from space for the first time via two 85-mm aperture monolithic telescopes mounted side-by-side. The two CubeSats use a six-unit (6U) spacecraft, named Triumph, common to all PTD satellites.

L2 Solutions DBA SEOPS LLC secured the launch of the two CubeSats for NASA as part of an award on the agency’s VADR (Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) contract. This is part of an effort to embrace more commercial practices to achieve lower launch costs, which provide new opportunities for these small but highly capable small satellites to find a ride to space. These highly flexible contracts help broaden access to space through lower launch costs and serve as an ideal platform for contributing to NASA’s science research and technology development.

Learn more about the PTD missions at: https://www.nasa.gov/smallspacecraft/pathfinder-technology-demonstrator/

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Jul 10, 2025

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Team Installs Observatory’s Solar Panels – NASA

On June 14 and 16, technicians installed solar panels onto NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, one of the final steps in assembling the observatory. Collectively called the Solar Array Sun Shield, these panels will power and shade the observatory, enabling all the mission’s observations and helping keep the instruments cool. “At this point, the […]

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