- Professional-grade, commercial, off-the-shelf, handheld digital cameras with a suite of lenses (from wide angle to an 800-mm lens equivalent).
- Crew members take these photographs as time is available and during their leisure/task list time.
- Sensor: Various digital cameras and lenses
- Nadir Field of View: Lens dependent
- Nadir Spatial Resolution: 6-30 m to Oblique
- Spectral Bands: Visible – Near IR
- Pointing: Any USOS Window

Window Observational Research Facility (WORF)
Sensor
- Celestron CPC-925 telescope with shorter fork arms from a CPC-800. 9.25″ telescope uses the HyperStar lens to operate at a fast f/2.3 focal ratio
- Canon EOS 7D digital SLR is mounted on the HyperStar lens to capture images
- Nadir Spatial Resolution: resolution of 10 feet per pixel, but gives a field of view 19 km x 11 km area
- Spectral Bands: Visible to near IR
- Pointing: WORF facility in the Destiny Laboratory Window
Space Systems Research Corporation
The Space Systems Research Corporation has provided Systems Engineering and Project Management for shuttle and ISS payloads of various types. We currently provide a variety of services from proposal development through hardware development, payload integration and qualification, and on-orbit operations. Specifically, we provide the following capabilities:
Project Management:
- Life Cycle cost estimates
- Proposal Management
- Project Review Support
- Financial Tracking and Reporting
- Earned value Management
- Project Scheduling, tracking and maintenance
- Acquisition Management Support
- Risk Management
- Operations Management
Systems Engineering:
- Requirements definition and development
- ICD development
- Instrument design
- Performance modeling
- Acceptance Data Packages
- System Specification and Analysis
- Project Review Support
- Assembly, Integration, and Performance Test Support
- Environmental Test Support
- Safety Data Packages
- Verification and validation
- Risk Identification and Analysis
Scientific & Engineering Analysis:
- Scientific Analysis and Modeling
- Structural Thermal Optical (STOP) analysis
- Electronics boxes & circuit board analysis
- Detailed finite element analysis
- Safe-life analysis, leak before burst determination
- Bolted joint analysis
- Data storage and Archiving
- IDL (& GDL) Scientific Programming and support
- FEMAP for pre and post processing of finite element models
- MSC/NASTRAN – finite element solver
- NASGRO – Fracture Mechanics and fatigue crack growth analysis software
- Operations Center Setup and Support Software
NanoRacks LLC
NanoRacks, LLC was formed in 2009 to provide quality hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory onboard the International Space Station. The company operates the first commercial laboratory in low-earth orbit. Today, NanoRacks has three research platforms onboard, which can house plug and play NanoLabs using the CubeSat form factor for inside the Space Station. Additionally, the NanoRacks External Platform, manufactured by Airbus DS, has recently launched to the ISS with first customers expected to use the platform in early 2016. To date, NanoRacks has launched over 350 customer payloads to the International Space Station, including domestic and international educational institutions, research organizations and government organizations. This has propelled NanoRacks into a leadership position in customer utilization in low-earth orbit and beyond.
NanoRacks’ low-cost model puts microgravity research projects within the budgetary realm of hundreds of universities, smaller organizations, and first-time commercial space research users. Our U.S. National Lab facilities provide turnkey opportunities for your microgravity research. This currently includes:
- Three NanoLab Platforms
- NanoRacks Plate Reader
- NanoRacks Microscope-3
- BioRack-Centrifuge
- NanoRacks MixStix.
Full Spectrum of Capabilities for Small Payloads:
NanoRacks provides everything you need to conduct repeatable microgravity research on the Space Station and soon, beyond.
- 20 years of space program experience
- Partnerships with payload integration organizations
- Full service NASA safety system
Extensive Interaction/Experience with:
- NASA Payloads Office
- NASA Safety
- NASA MOD
- Interface Control
- Document Generation
- Full Service Verification Capabilities
- Experts at minimizing verification waste
Teledyne Brown Engineering
Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE) offers unsurpassed expertise in the entire payload operations and integration process. The company has proudly supported NASA’s efforts for over 30 years in areas ranging from payload concept development through hardware fabrication, physical and analytical integration and software development. TBE has also provided well over 100,000 continuous hours of real-time science operations support to the International Space Station community since NASA’s Payload Operations Integration Center became operational in February 2001.
Remote Sensing
Teledyne is developing the Multi-User System for Earth Sensing (MUSES), an earth-observing, precision pointing platform for deployment and full operations onto the ISS. Launching January 17, MUSES will host up to four instruments simultaneously and offer the ability to change, upgrade and robotically service those instruments. Teledyne’s TeleScience Support Center (TSC) will provide instructions for platform pointing, instrument operations, and data downlink, as well as data processing and archiving.
Primary Services:
- Analytical and Physical Payload integrator
- Hardware Designer, Developer and Manufacturer
- Real-time Science Operations Support
- Teledyne Owned TeleScience Support Center
ISS-certified Hardware:
- Multi-User System for Earth Sensing (MUSES)
Research Support Services:
- Requirements Definition
- Mission Planning and Integration
- Safety and Requirements Verification
- Command and Data Handling
- Payload Integration and Interface Testing
- Crew and Ground System Personnel Training
- Flight Operations Products and Certification of Flight Readiness (CoFR)
- Flight Operations Control and Execution
- Teledyne TeleScience Center
Labs, Shops & Test Facilities:
Our Huntsville fabrication and assembly facilities covers over 550,000 square feet to provide a wide array of capabilities for hardware manufacturing and testing. Our facilities include a fully equipped machine shop, electrical/electronic assembly area, sheet metal and welding shops, laser cutters, a paint booth, NDE inspection equipment, clean rooms and controlled storage.