NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) intends to build and fly a very small cubesat-type satellite called the CubeSail on a US Air Force STP Minotaur IV launch that is scheduled to take place by June 2009.
On 4 September MSFC released a synopsis describing the agency's requirement for a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD) as part of the mission's spacecraft deployment and launch vehicle integration support and gave until 11 September to respond.
However the agency has also stated that it will buy the P-POD from California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly) because, "competition is impractical because CalPoly is the original developer and is the only source available for the P-POD ejector".
CalPoly's contract will have two phases. Phase I will include P-POD manufacturing, qualification testing, and CubeSail support. Phase II will include pursuing launch opportunities for CubeSail, launch services, and launch support.
Source: Flight International
