The primary goal of the first integrated launch of NASA’s SLS and Orion spacecraft is to demonstrate the agency’s new capability to launch future crewed, deep space missions, which include missions to an asteroid and Mars. As a bonus, SLS will carry 13 CubeSats on its first flight as secondary payloads.
These small satellites will perform various in-space experiments and demonstrations to advance the technological capabilities needed to take humans farther into space than ever before, NASA said on its website.
The secondary payloads were selected through a series of announcements of flight opportunities, a public contest, and negotiations with NASA’s international partners.