December 17, 2010 — Naval Research Lab Article on QbX1 & QbX2 Colony I Busses
The Naval Research Lab (NRL) has released an article on QbX1 & QbX2, the first of the Colony I-class CubeSats built by Pumpkin to reach orbit. |
December 8, 2010 — Three more CubeSat Kits in Space
Today's SpaceX Falcon 9 launch carried three CubeSats with substantial Pumpkin components into space ... QbX1, QbX2 and Caerus/Mayflower. All three CubeSats were deployed from Cal Poly P-PODs on-board the rocket's second stage. These CubeSats each have deployable solar panels that utilize Pumpkin's CubeSat Kit Hinge™ family of deployable panel hardware. Additionally, all three are the first to utilize Pumpkin's fourth-generation pluggable processor architecture via the CubeSat Kit Motherboard (MB) and 8051- (QbX) or PIC24- (Caerus/Mayflower) pluggable prcessor modules (PPMs). All three CubeSats are operating normally. Read about them on our space page. |
November 19, 2010 — Another CubeSat Kit in Space
The Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX) mission -- jointly developed by University of Michigan and SRI International -- has reached orbit. Initial beacon telemetry looks good! |
November 4, 2010 — Pumpkin Article in Forbes Magazine
Forbes magazine did an article on Andrew Kalman, Pumpkin, and the CubeSat Kit. Written by Andy Greenberg. The print edition is dated November 22, 2010. |
October 5, 2010 — All CSK EFFS-THIN Software Updated
A bug in the EFFS-THIN software has been resolved after long-term testing (e.g. with CubeSat Kit test application SD\SD1). All users are advised to update their software to this release (1.9.2-rc3). |
September 23, 2010 — FM430 in LUXSPACE's PathFinder2 Celebrates Birthday
Pumpkin was recently informed that "PathFinder2 passed is 1st birthday of uninterrupted operation: not one reset, and [the] safety recovery mechanism implemented by Luxspace under SALVO worked perfectly." |
September 13, 2010 — PPM A3 Datasheet Updated
PPM A3's datasheet has been updated to fix an error and to expand on the use of alternate or multiple I2C busses. |
July 9, 2010 — Additional CAD Models Online
Additional requested 3D CAD models are now online, including:
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June 18, 2010 — First MISC 2 /PIC24 Delivered to Customer
Virginia Tech is Pumpkin's first MISC 2 customer to use PPM D1 (utilizing a 32MHz Microchip® PIC24FJ256GA110 MCU). As part of its Colony I program in 2008-2009, the U.S. government customer requested PPM B1 (with a 100MHz Silicon Labs C8051F120 MCU) for the first twelve MISC 2s . MISC 2 is now available with 8051-, PIC24- or dsPIC33-based Flight MCUs / DSCs, with deliveries typically under 10 weeks. The ability to use a variety of processors via PPMs further underscores MISC 2's versatility as a nanosatellite-class payload carrier. |
June 3, 2010 — CSK Windows 7 USB Drivers Released
CubeSat Kit USB drivers for Windows 7 (x32 and x64) are now available online, along with a version of HyperTerminal that is compatible with Windows 7. |
April 24, 2010 — All CSK EFFS-THIN Software Updated
CubeSat Kit sample application SD\SD1 revealed a bug in the effs-thin code associated with file operations and the "a"/"a+" (append) option. The bug has been fixed, and all CubeSat Kit EFFS-THIN distributions have been updated with newly-generated libraries. All users are advised to update their software. |
April 18, 2010 — Initial Release of CSK EFFS-THIN /dsPIC33 Software
CubeSat Kit /dsPIC33 users now have full FAT16 read and write access to SD Cards of up to 2GB on CubeSat Kit hardware. |
April 17, 2010 — Initial Release of CSK EFFS-THIN /PIC24 Software
CubeSat Kit /PIC24 users now have full FAT16 read and write access to SD Cards of up to 2GB on CubeSat Kit hardware. |
March 20, 2010 — Initial Release of PSPM D Datasheet
The PSPM D datasheet has been released. PSPM D is a version of PPM D designed for use on the Development Board. It has a 100pin clamshell ZIF socket and a user-selectable jumper, as well as an RJ11-6x6, and 1x6 and 2x7 0.100" pitch headers to connect a range of Microchip® In-Circuit Debuggers and JTAG adapters. |
March 2, 2010 — Initial Release of PSPM B Datasheet
The PSPM B datasheet has been released. PSPM B is a version of PPM B designed for use on the Development Board. It has a 100pin clamshell ZIF socket and some user-selectable jumpers, as well as conventional 0.100" pitch headers to connect a Silicon Labs USB Debug Adapter. |
February 20, 2010 — Initial Release of CubeSat Kit /dsPIC33 Software
CubeSat Kit software for CubeSat Kits equipped with the dsPIC33FJ256GP710 processor (PPM D2) has been released. This brings the CubeSat Kit /dsPIC33 software inline with the CubeSatKit /MSP430 and CubeSat Kit /PIC24 software. |
February 12, 2010 — Initial Release of CubeSat Kit /PIC24 Software
CubeSat Kit software for CubeSat Kits equipped with the PIC24FJ256GA110 processor (PPM D1) has been released. This brings the CubeSat Kit /PIC24 software inline with the CubeSatKit /MSP430 software. |