GeneSat-1

GeneSat-1 is a NASA fully automated, CubeSat spaceflight system that provides life support for bacteria E. Coli K-12. The system was launched into orbit on 16 December 2006, from Wallops Flight Facility.^[1] GeneSat-1 began to transmit data on its first pass over the mission's California ground station.

GeneSat-1

The GeneSat-1 satellite.
Mission type	Technology demonstration Bioscience
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	2006-058C
SATCAT no.	29655
Mission duration	21 days (planned)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	CubeSat
Bus	3U CubeSat
Manufacturer	Ames Research Center Stanford University
Launch mass	4.6 kg (10 lb)
Dimensions	10 cm × 10 cm × 34 cm (3.9 in × 3.9 in × 13.4 in)
Power	4.5 watts
Start of mission
Launch date	16 December 2006, 12:00:00 UTC
Rocket	Minotaur 1
Launch site	MARS, LP-0B
Contractor	Orbital Sciences Corporation
Entered service	16 December 2010
End of mission
Decay date	4 August 2010
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	413 km (257 mi)
Apogee altitude	420 km (260 mi)
Inclination	40.0°
Period	92.9 minutes

The nanosatellite^[2] contains onboard micro-laboratory systems such as sensors and optical systems that can detect proteins that are the products of specific genetic activity. Knowledge gained from GeneSat-1 is intended to aid scientific understanding of how spaceflight affects the human body.^[3]

Weighing 4.6 kilograms, the miniature laboratory was a secondary payload on an Air Force four-stage Minotaur 1 launch vehicle that delivered the Air Force TacSat-2 satellite to orbit. In the development of the GeneSat satellite class (at a fraction of what it normally costs to conduct a mission in space), Ames Research Center (Small Spacecraft Office) collaborated with organisations in industry and also universities local to the center. It is NASA's first fully automated, self-contained biological spaceflight experiment on a satellite of its size.