GeneSat-1


GeneSat-1 is a fully automated, CubeSat spaceflight system that provides life support for bacteria. The system was launched into orbit on December 16, 2006, from Wallops Flight Facility. GeneSat-1 began to transmit data on its first pass over the mission's California ground station.
The nanosatellite 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.
Weighing 5 kilograms, the miniature laboratory was a secondary payload on an Air Force four-stage Minotaur 1 rocket that delivered the Air Force TacSat 2 satellite to orbit. In the development of the GeneSat satellite class, Ames Research Center 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.