PICOBUS is a PocketQube deployer built by Libre Space Foundation. It is the first open-source hardware satellite deployer and it can successfully hold and deploy in orbit, up to 8 PocketQube Units. (Note: Each PocketQube unit measures 5cm x 5cm x 5cm and weighs less than 250gr each). The PICOBUS deployer is part of the QUBIK project on which the Libre Space Foundation has been working for years. The QUBIK project includes two PocketQube Satellites and the PICOBUS deployer, and they were initially built to be part of the DREAM payloads program. They were to fly as ride-share participants on the inaugural Firefly Alpha Launch by Firefly Aerospace in September 2021. The PICOBUS would hold and deploy not only Libre Space Foundation’s QUBIK-1 and QUBIK-2 but also  FOSSA System‘s FOSSASat-1B & FOSSASat-2 and AMSAT-EA‘s Genesis N and Genesis L.

A second PICOBUS deployer was built to participate in the second QUBIK mission, along with a new set of QUBIK PocketQubes (QUBIK-3 and QUBIk-4). This mission reached space on the 1st of October, 2022, onboard Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha Flight 2, #ToTheBlack mission.

You can find more details about this mission and its outcome here.

The PICOBUS open-source repositories can be found on GitLab.

For a closer look at the PICOBUS Deployer, you can check out the Handling and Operating Manual. 

If you want to find out more about the QUBIK mission, check out the open-source repositories.

You can also have a look at a brief presentation on PICOBUS, the first-ever open-source, PocketQube deployer: