In article , says...

On 8/6/2019 6:30 AM, Jeff Findley wrote:

It's the dome shaped thing on the axial CBM port. That's really all it
is. You open the CBM hatch, load this thing up with nano-satellites,
close the CBM hatch, undo the CBM attachment (motorized bolts), then use
the SSRMS to grab the dome shaped thing and aim it the other way for
satellite deployment.

I suppose I should read the article. What's the advantage of being able
to do that from the ISS? Last minute reconfigurations of the satellites?
Retreival of satellites after exposure to space?

I honestly have no idea what the advantage is. This is only for
deployment. Retrieval has not been done, as far as I know.

The Russians just take them outside with the crew on an EVA and deploy
them by hand. The US has this fancy deployment mechanism. I believe
that the Japanese lab module also has a deployment mechanism for
smallsats. So I'm not really sure what the "need" is for this US
system.

Jeff

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