The FalconSAT-2 program started in late 2000, as a follow-up to FalconSAT-1. The spacecraft was based on a bus constructed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, with the experiments being constructed at the USAF Academy. The primary instrument aboard FalconSAT-2 was the Miniaturized Electrostatic Analyzer, or MESA. It was originally scheduled to be deployed from , on mission STS-114 in early 2003. Following the "Columbia" accident this mission was delayed, and FalconSAT-2 was removed from the Shuttle manifest.