Educational Launch of Nanosatellites


Educational Launch of Nanosatellites is an initiative created by NASA to attract and retain students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. The program is managed by the Launch Services Program 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 ELaNa 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. 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, 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. This agreement with NASA, enables the company to use NASA resources such as personnel, facilities and equipment for commercial launch efforts. 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.

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 Mission nameCubeSats deployedMain mission and
CubeSats included		Launch vehicleLaunch site
4 March 2011ELaNa 13 * Hermes, Explorer-1 Prime, KySat-1
  • launch failure
Taurus XLVAFB, LC-576
28 October 2011ELaNa 35 RAX-2, M-Cubed, Explorer-1 Prime, DICE, AubieSat-1Delta II 7920-10VAFB, SLC-2 West
13 September 2012ELaNa 64CXBN, CP5, CINEMA, CSSWEAtlas V 401VAFB, SLC-3 East
20 November 2013ELaNa 412 H-2, KySat-2, ChargerSat-1, SwampSat, Trailblazer, TJ3Sat, DragonSat-1, CAPE-2, PhoneSat 2.4, COPPER, DragonSat-1, Vermont LunarMinotaur IMARS, LP-0A
6 December 2013ELaNa 24
CUNYSAT-1, IPEX, M-Cubed-2, FIREBIRD-1A/1B		Atlas V 501VAFB, SLC-3 East
22 February 2014ELaNa 55
ALL-STAR, PhoneSat 2.5, KickSat, SporeSat, TSAT		Falcon 9 / DragonCCAFS, SLC-40
28 October 2014ELaNa 81 *Cygnus CRS Orb-3
CHARM
  • launch failure
Antares 130 / CygnusMARS, LP-0A
31 January 2015ELaNa 103GRIFEX, EXOCUBE, FIREBIRD-2 A/BDelta II 7320VAFB, SLC-2 West
20 May 2015ELaNa 111
LightSail-A		Atlas V 501CCAFS, SLC-41
8 October 2015ELaNa 124
Fox-1, BisonSat, ARC, LMRST-Sat		Atlas V 401VAFB, SLC-3 East
4 November 2015ELaNa 72 *
Argus, PrintSat
  • launch failure
Super StrypiPacific Missile Range Facility
6 December 2015ELaNa 93MinXSS, STMSat-1, CADREAtlas V 401 / CygnusCCAFS, SLC-41
18 April 2017ELaNa 173
CXBN-2, IceCube, CSUNSat-1		Atlas V 401 / CygnusCCAFS, SLC-41
14 August 2017ELaNa 223
ASTERIA, Dellingr, OSIRIS-3U		Falcon 9 / DragonCCAFS, SLC-40
12 November 2017ELaNa 132
ISARA, EcAMSat		Antares 230MARS, LP-0A
18 November 2017ELaNa 144
MiRaTA, MakerSat-0, RadFxSat, EagleSat-1		Delta II 7920VAFB, SLC-2 West
21 May 2018ELaNa 239
HaloSat, TEMPEST-D1, EQUiSat, MemSat, CANOP, RadSat, RainCube, SORTIE, CubeRTT		Antares 230 / CygnusMARS, LP-0A
15 September 2018ELaNa 185
DAVE, ELFIN*, ELFIN, SurfSat		Delta II 7420VAFB, SLC-2 West
17 November 2018ELaNa 161
KickSat-2		Antares 230 / CygnusMARS, LP-0A
3 December 2018ELaNa 242
IRVINE02, WeissSat-1		Falcon 9VAFB, SLC-4E
5 December 2018ELaNa 212
TechEdSat-8, UNITE		Falcon 9CCAFS, SLC-40
16 December 2018ELaNa 1910ElectronMahia, LC-1A
17 April 2019ELaNa 265
CAPSat, HARP, Virginia CubeSat Constellation		Antares 230MARS, LP-0A
25 June 2019ELaNa 153
ARMADILLO, LEO, StangSat		Falcon HeavyKSC, LC-39A
25 July 2019ELaNa 271
RFTSat		Falcon 9CCAFS, SLC-40
2 November 2019ELaNa 25A7
Argus-02, HARP, HuskySat I, Phoenix, RadSat-U, SOCRATES, SwampSat II		Antares 230+MARS, LP-0A
5 December 2019ELaNa 25B and ELaNa 285
ELaNa 25B: AzTechSat 1, SORTIE, CryoCube 1
ELaNa 28: CIRiS, EdgeCube, MakerSat-1		Falcon 9CCAFS, SLC-40
14 February 2020ELaNa 301
TechEdSat-10 		Antares 230+MARS, LP-0A
13 June 2020ELaNa 321ANDESITEElectronMahia, LC-1A
3 October 2020ELaNa 313
Bobcat-1, NEUTRON-1, SPOC		Antares 230+MARS, LP-0A
17 January 2021ELaNa 20CACTUS-1, CAPE-3, EXOCUBE-2, MiTEE, PICS 1, PICS 2, PolarCube, Q-PACE, RadFXSat-2, TechEdSat-7.LauncherOneCosmic Girl, Mojave
24 January 2021ELaNa 351
PTD-1		Falcon 9CCAFS
20 February 2021ELaNa 331
IT-SPINS		Antares 230+MARS, LP-0A
3 June 2021ELaNa 361
RamSat		Falcon 9KSC, LC-39A
29 August 2021ELaNa 373
CAPSat, PR-CuNaR2, SPACE HAUC		Falcon 9KSC, LC-39A
27 September 2021ELaNa 342
CUTE, CuPID		Atlas V 401CCSFS, SLC-41
21 December 2021ELaNa 384
DAILI, GASPACS, PATCOOL, TARGIT		Falcon 9KSC, LC-39A
13 January 2022ELaNa 292
PAN-A, B		LauncherOneCosmic Girl, Mojave
10 February 2022ELaNa 414 *
BAMA-1, INCA, QubeSat, R5-S1
* launch failure		Rocket 3CCSFS, SLC-46
19 February 2022ELaNa 441
NACHOS		Antares 230+MARS, LP-0A
2 July 2022ELaNa 392
GPX2, CTIM-FD		LauncherOneCosmic Girl, Mojave
15 July 2022ELaNa 454
BeaverCube, CapSat-1, D3, JAGSAT		Falcon 9KSC, LC-39A
22 November 2022ELaNa 494
MARIO, petitSat, SPORT, TJREVERB		Falcon 9KSC, LC-39A
15 March 2023ELaNa 502
ARKSat-1, LightSail		Falcon 9KSC, LC-39A
15 April 2023ELaNa 402
LLITED-A, LLITED-B		Falcon 9VSFB, SLC-4E
15 April 2023ELaNa 471
CIRBE		Falcon 9VSFB, SLC-4E
4 March 2024ELaNa 571
M3		Falcon 9VSFB, SLC-4E
21 March 2024ELaNa 514
Big Red Sat-1, BurstCube, HyTi, SNoOPI		Falcon 9CCSFS, SLC-40
4 July 2024ELaNa 438
CatSat, KUbe-Sat-1, MESAT-1, R5-S2-2.0, R4-S4, Serenity, SOCi, TechEdSat-11		Firefly AlphaVSFB, SLC-2W
9 July 2024ELaNa 482
CURIE A, CURIE B		Ariane 6Kourou
4 August 2024ELaNa 522
CySat-1, DORA		Falcon 9SLC-40
14 January 2025ELaNa 54a1
TechEdSat-22		Falcon 9VSFB, SLC-4E
23 June 2025ELaNa 561
ARCSTONE		Falcon 9VSFB, SLC-4E

Future missions

List of future missions:
Launch date Mission nameNo. of CubeSatsMain mission and
CubeSats included		Launch vehicleLaunch site
23 July 2025ELaNa 641
REAL		Falcon 9TBA
September 2025ELaNa 584
BLAST, EagleSat-2, QubeSat-2, RHOK-SAT		Falcon 9TBA
2025ELaNa 612
TRYAD-1, TRYAD-2		Falcon 9TBA
2025ELaNa 53a1
Dione		TBATBA
2025ELaNa 53b1
SPRITE		Falcon 9TBA
2025ELaNa 426
AEPEX, DARLA, OrCa2, R5-S3, R5-S5, TechEdSat-16		TBATBA
TBAELaNa 461
TechEdSat-12		TBATBA
2025ELaNa 552
CANVAS, INCA-2		TBATBA
2025ELaNa 54b1
VISORS		TBATBA
TBAELaNa 593
OpenOrbiter 1, R5-S6, SWARM-EX		TBATBA