Teledyne Brown Engineering has an agreement with the DLR to host the DESIS payload and successfully deliver exquisitely calibrated hyperspectral imagery. The MUSES platform can accommodate hosted payloads for a few weeks to a few years. Since the ISS is human operated, experimental instruments can be adjusted on board in a way free flyers cannot. These instruments can be imaging sensors, laser communications, or other sensing equipment that can fit into the MUSES large and space containers. Sensors go up on a resupply mission in soft stowage (think bubble wrap) and they are attached to MUSES using the robotic arm on the ISS. The benefits of going the hosted payoad route are:

• Testing ability of your sensor to withstand the conditions of space at a lower cost than a free flier launch
• Since the ISS is manned, if there is a malfunction, there is a crew to repair or adjust
• The instrument is returned after your mission so you can evaluate its condition after exposure to space, so you can reuse as a free flyer after its return
• Launching with the instrument in soft stowage mean less testing than free flyers (e.g.shake tests)
• Variable length missions mean you have the opportunity for a short test or a longer one
• Teledyne handles all of the integration, safety, QA, data downlink and delivery. You focus on your mission, we focus on making it successful

If you have questions concerning MUSES or DESIS commercial, academic, or NGO site access, please contact our Geospatial Solutions Manager Heath Lester at [email protected].