NanoRacks, SpaceX Form Rideshare Partnership; Gwynne Shotwell Quoted

NanoRacks is slated to field eight small satellites and a demonstration tool aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket as part of a planned rideshare mission in 2020.

The rocket will carry Spire Global-built LEMUR-2 CubeSats and the Outpost demonstration payload through an ESPA payload adapter ring, NanoRacks said Monday.

NanoRacks has partnered with Maxar to build and operate a self-contained payload system that will showcase a robotic arm cutting second stage representative tank material. The payload systems will also demonstrate the conversion of used upper stages into commercial habitats. NASA provided funding for the effort through a NextSTEP-2 contract.

“Structural metal cutting has never been done in space, and SpaceX is honored to help deliver a demonstration of this capability to orbit,” said Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer at SpaceX and a 2019 Wash100 awardee.