Developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the three individual small spacecraft were launched together from the belly of a Lockheed L-1011 aboard the Pegasus XL rocket, on 22 March 2006.

One technology involved antennas that were designed by computers using an evolutionary AI system developed at NASA Ames Research Center.

[2] The ST5 on-board flight computer, the C&DH (Command & Data Handling) system, was based on a Mongoose-V radiation-hardened microprocessor.

On 30 June 2006 the satellites making up ST5 were shut down after successfully completing their technology validation mission.

[3] ST5's objective was to demonstrate and flight qualify several innovative technologies and concepts for application to future space missions.