Pumpkin Inc.’s CubeSats

Nanosatellites Take Off, Forbes

“The average American consumer might not yet realize the purpose of launching his own personal box of silicon and aluminum into space, admits Andrew Kalman. In fact, Kalman isn’t quite sure of it himself. Then again, the 46-year-old Stanford professor points out, a few decades ago no one quite saw the point of putting a box of chips and software–the personal computer–into American homes. Since Kalman’s firm, Pumpkin Inc., entered the satellite business ten years ago, the four-person San Francisco company has become the world’s top supplier of “CubeSat” kits–collections of components for building 2-pound, 4-inch-tall Rubik’s cubes of hardware ready to be launched into Earth’s orbit. Those $7,500 packages have made Kalman the closest thing the space industry has to a Henry Ford as he works to put a pint-size unmanned spacecraft in every garage in America.”