ThinSat
A thin, low-cost satellite format that lets agencies and schools fly small payloads in short-lived constellations for rapid testing.
Why it matters
Testing hardware in orbit is usually slow and expensive. ThinSats make it cheap enough to fly many small experiments at once.
How the technology works
NearSpace Launch assembles ThinSats robotically and flies them in groups. NASA and the Space Force funded ThinSat constellations for space weather and rapid testing under Phase II SBIR contracts in 2021.
Sources
Updated Oct 22, 2026 · How we source facts · Suggest a correction