Apparently NASA is sponsoring the development of nanosatellite launch capabilities by sponsoring a two million dollar prize purse for the first team to launch a standard 1U Cubesat into orbit (payloads must complete at least one orbit) twice in a week.
NASA – Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge.
I found out about this by reading the Team Phoenicia blog, which announced an upcoming seminar on the Nanosatellite Launcher Challenge in cooperation with the Menlo Park Techshop. I’d love to attend, but sadly I’ve got another cool event booked for that weekend.
Draft Agenda for the Team Phoenicia/Techshop Nanosatellite Launcher Seminar
Thanx for the shoutout, Mark. Should you be up for it, come down to the shop another time instead of the seminar and we can talk rockets then.