Kirtland Air Force Base

The University Nanosatellite Program (UNP) funds U.S. university students and programs to design, build, launch, and operate small satellites. UNP is funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and managed from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate (RV) located on Kirtland Air Force Base, NM. In 2023, the Mission Concept (MC) program was added to UNP through a partnership with NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) and Exploration Research & Technology (ER&T). All three organizations found universities applying to our programs for the first time often had non-competitive applications and concepts. The MC program was created to help these new universities access mentoring and guidance in scoping a relevant mission. UNP expects that as these participants learn and grow, the pool of more mature applicants will also expand.

The University Nanosatellite Program (UNP) funds U.S. university students and programs to design, build, launch, and operate small satellites. UNP is funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and managed from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate (RV) located on Kirtland Air Force Base, NM. UNP is a nationally recognized Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math workforce training program. UNP’s objective is to train the next generation of space professionals by providing a rigorous concept-to-flight-ready spacecraft development process centered on systems engineering principles and practices. UNP provides AFRL and DoD parties the option to leverage technologies and platforms in research areas of interest to AFRL. Finally, UNP provides AFRL and industry a work force pipeline made up of students who have been trained in small satellite development. In 1999, UNP was synonymous with the Nanosatellite (NS) cycle of small satellite development from universities, with professional mentoring led by AFRL. NS is a four phased cycle where multiple university teams are funded to develop their systems with the goal of achieving a flight ready system.