About Us

Masten Space Systems is leading the charge of commercial companies into the suborbital research market. NASA has quickly recognized the potential of Masten and other members of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation when it comes to interesting suborbital research applications and recently formed the NASA Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program (CRuSR) at Ames Research Center.

There are several advantages to using Masten Space Systems reusable launch vehicles over traditional sounding rocket solutions for suborbital research. They include

  • Cost.
    MSS is currently able to offer 100kg payload slots for $100,000 - significantly cheaper than traditional sounding rockets.
  • Experiment Isolation.
    Masten Space Systems doesn't cram your payload on board as a secondary payload. There are no humans to interfere with your experiment or provide an unquantifiable element to your data.
  • On-Demand Services
    Masten Space Systems can fly on a moment's notice and turn around vehicles very quickly. Along with a low cost, this allows scientists the ability to change experiments and fly them on back-to-back weeks or even days as quickly as they want. Now you can collect more data points than ever before!
  • Student Experience
    Masten Space Systems offers an unparalleled amount of hands-on student experience with science experiment hardware and payload integration. This produces more skilled and qualified students for future projects and provides crucial hands-on experience as they search for jobs.
  • Leverages Private Investment
    Masten Space Systems is privately held and encourages the commercial spaceflight industry.

    • If you're interested in more information on research payload possibilities or want to speak with MSS about working together, please fill out this contact form.

    Other interesting activity in the suborbital research community includes the Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG), started by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. Composed of educators, experienced scientists and researchers, SARG seeks to further the research and education potentials of commercial suborbital launch vehicles like Masten Space Systems.

    Interest has been expressed in suborbital research from the following areas: earth science, heliophysics, planetary sciences, astronomy, microgravity physical sciences, life sciences, aeromedical, and aeronautics.

    Now is the time to move if you want to be among the first to venture into the exciting new world of rapid flight rate suborbital research! Even if you're looking to fly something in a couple years, it's never too early to begin shopping around, getting an idea of payload integration for experiment design, and discussing which flight trajectories would be most beneficial to your group.