ISIS — Innovative Solutions In Space B.V.. located in Delft, The Netherlands, and Kubos Corporation, located in Denton, Texas, are joining forces to provide Linux to satellite developers.
These companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding related to the port of KubOS Linux to the iOBC, ISIS' on-board computer. ISIS has helped democratize space over the firm's ten years of existence with both their launch services and the CubeSat Shop. ISIS is now taking their approach to the next level by supporting the development of open source software on their platform.
To assist users in using KubOS Linux for their mission, Kubos has built an open source community, called OpenKosmos.org, where users will find source code, documentation, and a public Slack channel to communicate with other developers. Kubos also provides a downloadable SDK and a suite of tools. Kubos offers Service Level Agreements to provide support and solutions for missions running KubOS RT and KubOS Linux.
The iOBC with the newly developed operating system will be available by the end of the year from both companies' websites as well as on CubeSatShop.com.
Jeroen Rotteveel, the CEO of ISIS, believes that Kubos will enable new creative projects from people within the open source community but who have a limited experience of space systems—this move will help to lower the barrier to entry to the smallsat market even further.