It is jointly administered by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Space Development and Test Wing and the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate's Spacecraft Technology division.
Grants are offered to the awardees to participate in a rigorous two-year process to design and develop their satellite concept.
At the end of the two years, a Flight Competition Review is held where judges evaluate each program's progress and readiness to move to the next phase.
[2] The program's objective is to train tomorrow's space professionals by providing a rigorous two year concept to flight-ready spacecraft competition for U. S. higher education institutions and to enable small satellite research and development (R&D), integration and flight test.
The panel selected the University of Texas at Austin’s Formation Autonomous Spacecraft with Thruster, Relative-Navigation, Attitude and Crosslink or FASTRAC satellite(s) as the winner.
The University of Colorado at Boulder’s Drag and Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment or DANDE was selected to continue on toward launch.
Events and Milestones: The Nanosat-6 Program Flight Competition Review was sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.