The UK Space Agency's next CubeSat mission, AlSat Nano, is starting to take shape, following the selection of the mission's payloads. The suite of 3 payloads will be developed by UK academic-industrial partnerships that will use the mission for rapid and cost-effective demonstration of new and innovative space technologies.

AlSat Nano is a joint space mission between the UK Space Agency and Algerian Space Agency (ASAL). In March 2014 the UK Space Agency and ASAL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which the two parties agreed to enhance collaboration in space programmes.

A specific action identified following the MoU was the establishment of a joint educational CubeSat development programme to be delivered by Surrey Space Centre (SSC), utilising its ties and heritage in the field.

The mission's payloads include:

SpaceMag-PV Boom This payload could significantly improve the range of science experiments that a CubeSat could carry by making advances in the field of booms - arms used to hold instrument sensors as far as possible from the spacecraft body to minimise interference.

SpaceMag-PV Boom will flight test the world's longest retractable CubeSat-compatible boom which will be able to deploy up to 2 metres in length from a volume the size of a cigarette packet. This technology could also form the basis of de-orbit systems for future missions.

The payload also carries a magnetometer, one of the most compact of its class, to carry out measurements of the Earth's magnetic field. Also on the payload will be RadFET radiation monitors, and test tokens of a revolutionary flexible solar cell material. The payload is led by Oxford Space Systems Ltd, collaborating with partners including RAL Space and Bartington Instruments Ltd.

C3D2 C3D2 is a highly customisable CubeSat camera offering three fields of view and innovative on-board software processing capabilities. The payload will also be a remote experiment of the Open Science Laboratory - an award-winning suite of remote experiments that supports distance learning students studying science and engineering.

C3D2 will offer these students the chance to operate a real payload on an orbiting spacecraft. The payload development is led by the Open University Centre for Electronic Imaging with sensor hardware provided by e2v Ltd and electronics from XCAM Ltd.

Thin Film Solar Cell Thin Film Solar Cell is a novel and potentially step-changing solar cell structure which is directly deposited on cover glass just 1/10th of a millimeter thick.

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UK Space Agency's second CubeSat mission is taking shape