# Educational Launch of Nanosatellites

Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) is an initiative created by NASA to attract and retain students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. The program is managed by the Launch Services Program (LSP) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA and Firefly Aerospace are planning to launch eight CubeSats as part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) 43, targeting no earlier than Wednesday, June 26.
Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket, in a mission dubbed “Noise of Summer,” will lift off from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

## Overview

The ELaNa initiative has made partnerships with universities in the US to design and launch small research satellites called CubeSats (because of their cube shape). These low-cost CubeSat missions provide NASA with valuable opportunities to test emerging technologies that may be useful in future space missions, while university students get to be involved in all phases of the mission, from instrument and satellite design, to launch and monitoring.
A CubeSat has a cubic shape measuring 10 × 10 × 10 cm (1 unit or 1U), and can be fabricated of multiple cubic units such as 2U, 3U and 6U, and weighing 1.33 kg per unit. Because of the high cost incurred by launching them to orbit, ELaNa's satellites are launched as secondary payload on other missions that have mass and space to spare. Since the launch waiting list has grown considerably, another initiative was launched in 2015 in partnership with the private industry to develop launch vehicles dedicated to CubeSats exclusively. A new company is called Rocket Lab and their launch vehicle is the Electron rocket. This agreement with NASA, enables the company to use NASA resources such as personnel, facilities and equipment for commercial launch efforts. In 2015, NASA contracted two other companies for this purpose: Firefly Space Systems and Virgin Galactic. Nevertheless, NASA CubeSats will continue to hitch rides as secondary payloads in larger rockets whenever possible.
As of August 2017, NASA's ELaNa initiative has selected 151 CubeSat missions, 49 of which have been launched into space.

## Missions

ELaNa mission numbers are based on the order they are manifested; due to the nature of launching, the actual launch order differs from the mission numbers.

### Launched missions

| Launch date (UTC) | Mission name | CubeSats deployed | Main mission and CubeSats included | Launch vehicle | Launch site |
| 4 March 2011 | ELaNa 1 | 3 * | (Glory) Hermes, Explorer-1 Prime, KySat-1 * launch failure | Taurus XL | VAFB, LC-576 |
| 28 October 2011 | ELaNa 3 | 5 | (NPOESS Preparatory Project) RAX-2, M-Cubed, Explorer-1 Prime, DICE, AubieSat-1 | Delta II 7920-10 | VAFB, SLC-2 West |
| 13 September 2012 | ELaNa 6 | 4 | (NROL-36) CXBN, CP5, CINEMA, CSSWE | Atlas V 401 | VAFB, SLC-3 East |
| 20 November 2013 | ELaNa 4 | 12 | (ORS-3) H-2, KySat-2, ChargerSat-1, SwampSat, Trailblazer, TJ3Sat, DragonSat-1, CAPE-2, PhoneSat 2.4, COPPER, DragonSat-1, Vermont Lunar | Minotaur I | MARS, LP-0A |
| 6 December 2013 | ELaNa 2 | 4 | (NROL-39) CUNYSAT-1, IPEX, M-Cubed-2, FIREBIRD-1A/1B | Atlas V 501 | VAFB, SLC-3 East |
| 22 February 2014 | ELaNa 5 | 5 | (SpaceX CRS-3) ALL-STAR, PhoneSat 2.5, KickSat, SporeSat, TSAT | Falcon 9 / Dragon | CCAFS, SLC-40 |
| 28 October 2014 | ELaNa 8 | 1 * | Cygnus CRS Orb-3 CHARM * launch failure | Antares 130 / Cygnus | MARS, LP-0A |
| 31 January 2015 | ELaNa 10 | 3 | (Soil Moisture Active Passive) GRIFEX, EXOCUBE, FIREBIRD-2 A/B | Delta II 7320 | VAFB, SLC-2 West |
| 20 May 2015 | ELaNa 11 | 1 | (Boeing X-37#OTV-4) LightSail-A | Atlas V 501 | CCAFS, SLC-41 |
| 8 October 2015 | ELaNa 12 | 4 | (NROL-55) Fox-1, BisonSat, ARC, LMRST-Sat | Atlas V 401 | VAFB, SLC-3 East |
| 4 November 2015 | ELaNa 7 | 2 * | (ORS-4) Argus, PrintSat * launch failure | Super Strypi | Pacific Missile Range Facility |
| 6 December 2015 | ELaNa 9 | 3 | (Cygnus CRS Orb-4) MinXSS, STMSat-1, CADRE | Atlas V 401 / Cygnus | CCAFS, SLC-41 |
| 18 April 2017 | ELaNa 17 | 3 | (Cygnus CRS OA-7) CXBN-2, IceCube, CSUNSat-1 | Atlas V 401 / Cygnus | CCAFS, SLC-41 |
| 14 August 2017 | ELaNa 22 | 3 | (SpaceX CRS-12) ASTERIA, Dellingr, OSIRIS-3U | Falcon 9 / Dragon | CCAFS, SLC-40 |
| 12 November 2017 | ELaNa 13 | 2 | (Cygnus CRS OA-8E) ISARA, EcAMSat | Antares 230 | MARS, LP-0A |
| 18 November 2017 | ELaNa 14 | 4 | (JPSS-1) MiRaTA, MakerSat-0, RadFxSat, EagleSat-1 | Delta II 7920 | VAFB, SLC-2 West |
| 21 May 2018 | ELaNa 23 | 9 | (Cygnus CRS OA-9E) HaloSat, TEMPEST-D1, EQUiSat, MemSat, CANOP, RadSat, RainCube, SORTIE, CubeRTT | Antares 230 / Cygnus | MARS, LP-0A |
| 15 September 2018 | ELaNa 18 | 5 | (ICESat-2) DAVE, ELFIN$^*$, ELFIN, SurfSat | Delta II 7420 | VAFB, SLC-2 West |
| 17 November 2018 | ELaNa 16 | 1 | (Cygnus CRS OA-10E) KickSat-2 | Antares 230 / Cygnus | MARS, LP-0A |
| 3 December 2018 | ELaNa 24 | 2 | (SSO-A mission managed by Spaceflight Industries) IRVINE02, WeissSat-1 | Falcon 9 | VAFB, SLC-4E |
| 5 December 2018 | ELaNa 21 | 2 | (SpaceX CRS-16) TechEdSat-8, UNITE | Falcon 9 | CCAFS, SLC-40 |
| 16 December 2018 | ELaNa 19 | 10 | ALBUS CeREs CHOMPTT CubeSail DaVinci ISX NMTSat RSat-P Shields-1 STF-1 | Electron | Mahia, LC-1A |
| 17 April 2019 | ELaNa 26 | 5 | (Cygnus NG-11) CAPSat, HARP, Virginia CubeSat Constellation | Antares 230 | MARS, LP-0A |
| 25 June 2019 | ELaNa 15 | 3 | (Space Test Program-2) ARMADILLO, LEO (CP9), StangSat | Falcon Heavy | KSC, LC-39A |
| 25 July 2019 | ELaNa 27 | 1 | (SpaceX CRS-18) RFTSat | Falcon 9 | CCAFS, SLC-40 |
| 2 November 2019 | ELaNa 25A | 7 | (Cygnus NG-12) Argus-02, HARP, HuskySat I, Phoenix, RadSat-U, SOCRATES, SwampSat II | Antares 230+ | MARS, LP-0A |
| 5 December 2019 | ELaNa 25B and ELaNa 28 | 5 | (SpaceX CRS-19) ELaNa 25B: AzTechSat 1, SORTIE, CryoCube 1 ELaNa 28: CIRiS, EdgeCube | Falcon 9 | CCAFS, SLC-40 |
| 14 February 2020 | ELaNa 30 | 1 | (Cygnus NG-13) TechEdSat-10 (TES-10) | Antares 230+ | MARS, LP-0A |
| 13 June 2020 | ELaNa 32 | 1 | ANDESITE | Electron | Mahia, LC-1A |
| 3 October 2020 | ELaNa 31 | 3 | (Cygnus NG-14) Bobcat-1, NEUTRON-1, SPOC | Antares 230+ | MARS, LP-0A |
| 17 January 2021 | ELaNa 20 | 10 | CACTUS-1, CAPE-3, EXOCUBE-2, MiTEE, PICS 1, PICS 2, PolarCube, Q-PACE, RadFXSat-2, TechEdSat-7. | LauncherOne | Cosmic Girl, Mojave |
| 24 January 2021 | ELaNa 35 | 1 | (Nanosatellites) PTD-1 | Falcon 9 | CCAFS |
| 20 February 2021 | ELaNa 33 | 1 | (Cygnus NG-15) IT-SPINS | Antares 230+ | MARS, LP-0A |
| 3 June 2021 | ELaNa 36 | 1 | (SpaceX CRS-22) RamSat | Falcon 9 | KSC, LC-39A |
| 29 August 2021 | ELaNa 37 | 3 | (SpaceX CRS-23) CAPSat, PR-CuNaR2, SPACE HAUC | Falcon 9 | KSC, LC-39A |
| 27 September 2021 | ELaNa 34 | 2 | (Landsat 9) CUTE, CuPID | Atlas V 401 | CCSFS, SLC-41 |
| 21 December 2021 | ELaNa 38 | 4 | (SpaceX CRS-24) DAILI, GASPACS, PATCOOL, TARGIT | Falcon 9 | KSC, LC-39A |
| 13 January 2022 | ELaNa 29 | 2 | (STP-27VP) PAN-A, B | LauncherOne | Cosmic Girl, Mojave |
| 10 February 2022 | ELaNa 41 | 4 * | (VCLS Demo-2A) BAMA-1, INCA, QubeSat, R5-S1 * launch failure | Rocket 3 | CCSFS, SLC-46 |
| 19 February 2022 | ELaNa 44 | 1 | (Cygnus NG-17) NACHOS | Antares 230+ | MARS, LP-0A |
| 2 July 2022 | ELaNa 39 | 2 | (STP-S28A) GPX2, CTIM-FD | LauncherOne | Cosmic Girl, Mojave |
| 15 July 2022 | ELaNa 45 | 4 | (SpaceX CRS-25) BeaverCube, CapSat-1, D3, JAGSAT | Falcon 9 | KSC, LC-39A |
| 22 November 2022 | ELaNa 49 | 4 | (SpaceX CRS-26) MARIO, petitSat, SPORT, TJREVERB | Falcon 9 | KSC, LC-39A |
| 15 March 2023 | ELaNa 50 | 2 | (SpaceX CRS-27) ARKSat-1, LightSail | Falcon 9 | KSC, LC-39A |
| 15 April 2023 | ELaNa 40 | 1 | (Transporter-7) CIRBE | Falcon 9 | VSFB, SLC-4E |
| 15 April 2023 | ELaNa 47 | 2 | (Transporter-7) LLITED-A, LLITED-B | Falcon 9 | VSFB, SLC-4E |
| 4 March 2024 | ELaNa 57 | 1 | (Transporter-10) M3 | Falcon 9 | VSFB, SLC-4E |
| 21 March 2024 | ELaNa 51 | 4 | (SpaceX CRS-30) Big Red Sat-1, BurstCube, HyTi, SNoOPI | Falcon 9 | CCSFS, SLC-40 |
| 4 July 2024 | ELaNa 43 | 8 | (VCLS Demo-2FB) CatSat, KUbe-Sat-1, MESAT-1, R5-S2-2.0, R4-S4, Serenity, SOCi, TechEdSat-11 | Firefly Alpha | VSFB, SLC-2W |
| 9 July 2024 | ELaNa 48 | 2 | (VA262) CURIE A, CURIE B | Ariane 6 | Kourou |
| 4 August 2024 | ELaNa 52 | 2 | (Cygnus NG-21) CySat-1, DORA | Falcon 9 | SLC-40 |

### Future missions

List of future missions:
| Launch date (UTC) | Mission name | No. of CubeSats | Main mission and CubeSats included | Launch vehicle | Launch site |
| March 2025 | ELaNa 61 | 2 | (Transporter-13) TRYAD-1, TRYAD-2 | Falcon 9 | TBA |
| March 2025 | ELaNa 64 | 1 | (Transporter-13) REAL | Falcon 9 | TBA |
| TBA | ELaNa 56 | 1 | (?) ARCSTONE | TBA | TBA |
| TBA | ELaNa 53a | 1 | (?) Dione | TBA | TBA |
| April 2025 | ELaNa 53b | 1 | (TRACERS) SPRITE | Falcon 9 | TBA |
| TBA | ELaNa 42 | 6 | (?) AEPEX, DARLA, OrCa2, R5-S3, R5-S5, TechEdSat-16 | TBA | TBA |
| TBA | ELaNa 46 | 1 | (?) TechEdSat-12 | TBA | TBA |
| TBA | ELaNa 55 | 2 | (?) CANVAS, INCA-2 | TBA | TBA |
| TBA | ELaNa 54 | 2 | (?) TechEdSat-22, VISORS | TBA | TBA |
| TBA | ELaNa 58 | 4 | (?) BLAST, EagleSat-2, QubeSat-2, RHOK-SAT | TBA | TBA |
| TBA | ELaNa 59 | 3 | (?) OpenOrbiter 1, R5-S6, SWARM-EX | TBA | TBA |