Microspace News: PreSat and NanoSail-D

While most of the attention concerning the upcoming Falcon 1 mission has focused on the AFRL payload, the launch from Kwajalein includes a NASA payload from Ames Research Center called PreSat. PreSat’s objectives are to demonstrate Ames’ 2nd Generation Modular Triple CubeSat Nanosatellite Platform as well as evaluation the performance of a Generic BioFluidic Sample Management and Handling Subsystem. The spacecraft will be bundled with AFRL’s Operationally Responsive Space payload and the NanoSail-D solar sail experiment. NanoSail-D is intended to deploy the first working solar sail and further a collaborative relationship between the Ames and Marshall centers for future small satellite initiatives. The sail will cover 10 square meters. The payloads will go into a high LEO trajectory of 685 X 330 km at an inclination of 9 degrees. Both NASA spacecraft are “blogging” as “themselves” on www.twitter.com.
See:
http://www.presat.org/
http://www.crestnrp.org/nanosail/