CubeSats

Two more pairs of NanoRacks CubeSats have been released from the deployer mechanism at the end of the Japanese Kibo module’s robotic arm, with one deployment taking place at 10:26 p.m. EDT Tuesday, followed by another at 5:50 a.m. Wednesday. A fourth pair of these Earth-imaging Dove nanosatellites from Planet Labs is scheduled to be ejected into orbit Wednesday evening.

By next Monday, 16 Dove satellites out of the 28 on tap for this “flock” are expected to be deployed from the station. These CubeSats were among the nearly 3,300 pounds of science and supplies delivered to the station in July by Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo vehicle.