[08/16/07 – Satellite Today] Boeing Co. completed the first phase of its nanosatellite research and experimentation with the conclusion of the CubeSat TestBed 1 mission, the company announced Aug. 16.

The spacecraft was launched April 17 from Baikonur Cosmosdrome in Kazakhstan, and Boeing collected more than 500,000 sensor data points from the test bed during the mission, which ran for nearly four months. Boeing will correlate the data with simulations and ground testing, apply it to development tools for future nanosatellites, and assess the lifespan of several commercial off-the-shelf parts used on the spacecraft, the company said.

"Leveraging the experience gained from this mission and its flight-validated design elements will enable us to explore new, more capable designs to support emerging nano-satellite missions,” Scott MacGillivray, manager of Boeing Nano-Satellite Programs and the CubeSat TestBed 1 program manager, said in a statement.

The program is entering an optional test phase to support additional experiments such as taking more photographs using CubeSat’s ultra-low power imager and evaluating non-traditional attitude control algorithms, Boeing said.