ThumbSat
ThumbSat
Femtosatellite-class hosted-payload module (~48x48x15-32mm, up to 25g) that flies student, research or artistic experiments to low Earth orbit as a shared-bus mission starting at about $20,000.
Technical specifications
- Payload envelope
- 48 x 48 x (15-32) mm
- Payload mass
- up to 25 g
- Camera
- CMOS, active array 2048(H) x 1536(V) pixels; optional microscope, macro or telescope lens configurations
- Onboard memory
- 128 MB or 512 MB flash
- Transmitter
- 100 mW, 400 MHz band
- Positioning
- Integrated GPS receiver
- Battery
- Lithium Thionyl Chloride primary cells
- Power to experiment
- Regulated 5V and unregulated 3.6V, 1.8 Wh capacity
- Experiment interface
- 6 analog inputs, 1 analog output, 2 USART, I2C, SPI, 10 digital I/O
- Mechanical features
- Deployable tail/antenna and stabilising vane on shape-memory-alloy boom
- Typical schedule
- Weeks from payload delivery to on-orbit data
About
ThumbSat is a miniaturised, femtosatellite-class hosted-payload platform designed to make orbital access affordable for schools, universities, research institutions, artists and individual experimenters. Customer payloads of roughly 48x48x(15-32)mm and up to 25g are integrated onto a shared ThumbSat structure alongside the platform’s own bus electronics, which provide power, imaging, positioning, data storage and RF downlink. ThumbSat, Inc. handles satellite build, regulatory licensing, launch integration (via partners such as CAS Space) and post-launch data return, compressing a process that traditionally takes years and hundreds of thousands of dollars into a package available in weeks starting at roughly $20,000. On-orbit data and imagery are recovered through the ThumbNet global network of citizen-operated ground stations, turning each ThumbSat mission into both a commercial payload flight and a hands-on STEAM/citizen-science exercise. The most recent ThumbSat mission, TS1/TS2, launched in August 2025 on a Lijian-1 rocket from Jiuquan, China, carrying a mirror-selfie payload and an artistic payload as two sub-100g femtosatellites.
Documentation
Need the full ICD, test reports or a specific revision? Ask the supplier directly.
