World's largest database of nanosatellites,
almost 3500
nanosats and CubeSats

NOTES

Database includes and term nanosatellite implies them all:

• All CubeSats from 0.25U to 27U. Largest launched is 16U.
• Nanosatellites from 1 kg to 10 kg and shown in kg.
• Picosatellites from 100 g to 1 kg.
• PocketQubes, TubeSats and ThinSats.

Database does not include (generally):

• Femtosatellites (10 g to 100 g), chipsats and suborbital launches.
• CubeSats bolted to upper stages & not meant to be separate objects.
• Deep space inspection cameras like flown on IKAROS & Tianwen-1.
• Satellites only in idea or concept phase (often difficult to determine). There is a long non-public waitlist for such missions & constellations.
• Data is since 1998. There were at least 21 nanosatellites launched in the 1960s (Vanguard, OSCAR, ERS) and 1 in 1997.

Approach:

• Each database entry should be an independently flying spacecraft even when deployed together e.g. 60 ThinSats listed as 12 objects. There are some exceptions e.g. tethered CubeSats.
• It is relatively easy to gather most of the launched nanosats, but including planned future and cancelled missions gives a much deeper insight into trends and improves forecasting.
• There are a handful of US and Chinese nanosats about which (almost) nothing is publicly known. Will continue to try to find contacts to find facts for historical purposes.
• There is a large number of CubeSats with very little public information, especially after launch. Furthermore, missions are often changed or cancelled, but not announced publicly.
• Satellite orbits are approximate and priority is given to categorization.

Comments:

• Apologies for possible mistakes, please write about them.
• There is plethora of non-public data (emails, COM parameters etc).
• "Mission type" and "Mission type description" are part of Space Taxonomy shared by Hector Guerrero Padron from European Commission Space Policy and Research Unit in 2014.

MOTIVATION

I believe the era of nanosatellites is still to come. We are only in the beginning of the big future. Greatly more launches, novel technologies, big constellations and thrilling exploration missions all over the Solar System. Thanks to miniaturized subsystems and payloads we will be able to visit many more moons and asteroids.

Being bound to fit into a (CubeSat) box empowers creativity and innovation. It is easy to switch to a larger (custom) platform and even cheaper in some cases, but advanced R&D will benefit in the long-term. Many missions that were thought to be impossible with CubeSats even five years ago are now being demonstrated or planned.

"Just because a spacecraft is small, it doesn’t make it easy. A highly constrained spacecraft can push the engineering, push the ingenuity of the team in a way that, in every way, is comparable to some of these big missions that we’re doing." - Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA Associate Administrator

SOURCES

Updates every 2-3 months. Doing the best to keep track when information is accessible. Always attempting to find and link the original sources.

• Launch schedules and manifests such as Gunter's Space Page.
• Websites IARU, Space-Track, NASA Spaceflight, NewSpace Hub.
• Databases SPOON (parts on orbit) and PMPedia (radiation tested).
• Official websites, news articles and social media posts.
• Presentations and proceedings from related conferences.
• Radio amateurs such as DK3WN, JA0CAW and SatNOGS.
• Jonathan McDowell's Space Reports and Master Satellite List.
• Other databases such as M. A. Swartwout for some cross-checking.

TERMS OF USE

You are welcome to use the figures. Please credit the author and source, e.g. "Erik Kulu, Nanosats Database, www.nanosats.eu". You are also welcome to change the graphic design to match style.