Cosmonauts at the International Space Station (ISS) have launched a Peruvian nanosatellite during a spacewalk.
Two Russian cosmonauts, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, have deployed Chasqui 1, a nanosatellite, made by the National University of Engineering in Peru. The launch of the Chasqui 1 will assist the university in getting experience in nanosatellite technology as well as in emerging communications and information technologies. The Chasqui 1 is solar-powered and will take pictures of the Earth with the help of infrared cameras and will transmit them to a ground station.
This is not the first time that a satellite has been launched from the ISS. In 2006, cosmonauts launched a satellite called "SuitSat" during a spacewalk.
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is promoting universities to build and launch nanosatellites, which are cheaper to make and easy to deploy when compared to regular-sized satellites. The size of the nanosatellites can be as small as that of a shoebox.
In fall 2013, the U.S. Air Force and NASA launched a Minotaur 1 rocket, which carried 28 small satellites that measured just around four inches and weighed less than three pounds, or 1.36 kilograms. These small satellites were created by engineers and scientists from a number of universities and organizations including Vermont Technical College, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Kentucky and NASA.
Usually, these small nanosatellites are launched in low-Earth orbit to avoid collision with major satellites.
The launch of the nanosatellite was not the only job of the cosmonauts during the over five-hours spacewalk. As part of the spacewalk, the cosmonauts also installed the EXPOSE-R2 experiment package, which is a set of experiments sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA) to the outside of the Russian Zvezda module. NASA reveals that the experiments include biomaterials and extremophiles, organisms that can survive in extreme environments.
"Results from these experiments may contribute to life-detection strategies for future robotic exploration of Mars," per a NASA statement.
As part of the spacewalk, the cosmonauts also collected samples of residue from the exterior of the space station. These samples will help the scientists understand the effects of rocket engine plumes on parts of the ISS. They also installed a handrail clamp holder to a communication antenna, which was attached during a June spacewalk.
The latest spacewalk was the 181st and was conducted to support ISS' maintenance efforts.
