IOS TubeSat Kit

The IOS TubeSat Kit is described as the lowest-cost professional-quality satellite kit available, positioned as a super low-cost alternative to the CubeSat. Instead of a cubic form factor, the TubeSat uses an icosagon-shaped cross section and has a maximum mass of 0.75-kg for the standard 1U version. It is built from high-quality, custom-printed circuit boards and precision laser-cut aluminum components. Target builders include engineering and science professionals conducting on-orbit research, educational institutions training students in spacecraft design, and hobbyist experimenters. It can also serve as a Personal Satellite for artists, musicians, advertisers, or individuals wishing to send items into space or transmit messages from space. Interorbital Systems and partners can provide design, development, training, and manufacturing services for an extra fee to those lacking the technical skills to build the spacecraft themselves. The next-generation TubeSat 3.0 kit incorporates changes based on customer feedback from the 1.0 and 2.0 versions, making it easier to assemble and repair, requiring no drilling, tapping, or soldering, and buildable in under 15 minutes with just a screwdriver. TubeSat 3.0 retains an all-circuit-board chassis construction, with solar PCB boards simply bolted into position, reducing satellite weight and increasing the mass allowance available for the builder’s experiment/payload. TubeSat 3.0 is available with or without launch to a 310-km (192-mi) polar orbit aboard an Interorbital NEPTUNE launch vehicle. 2U and 3U TubeSat variants offer double and triple the mass allowance of the standard 1U TubeSat. Customers who build their own standard-dimension TubeSats can arrange stand-alone launch services. Interorbital’s launch manifest lists more than 180 pre-paid customers, many using TubeSats/CubeSats as teaching aids in university space-technology and STEM courses. Flight heritage: the Tancredo Sat-1, a TubeSat kit built by students at Tancredo Middle School in Ubatuba, Brazil (supported by INPE, AEB, and Interorbital engineers), was launched to the ISS aboard a Japanese H-II rocket and deployed from the Kibo module in January 2017 — the first IOS TubeSat placed in orbit, carrying an audio-recording payload and an INPE simplified Langmuir probe that studied plasma bubble formation in the ionosphere.