Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Open in this context means that the design, firmware and manual for Protodyne™ are available for anyone to view, download, copy and (in most cases) incorporate into your personal project. The design and firmware is still owned by us, but is licensed under a CERN OH-S v2 licence . You can read more about the licence here.

The Lumen™ Developer Kit is the product that we sell. The design files, firmware and manual are the Protodyne™ design. The design files and firmware are under a CERN OH-S v2 licence, and the manual under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 licence. The Lumen™ Developer Kit is governed by our terms of sale.

Yes, the Protodyne™ design is free for personal or academic use. You can also buy the Lumen™ Developer Kit and modify it using the Protodyne™ design. Building experiments and hardware takes time and money away from your core research activities, so if Protodyne™ or Lumen™ helps you get your research done quicker and with less pain, we’re super happy with that!

You are welcome to modify or add your own adaptations, features or functionality to the Protodyne™ design. Although you are not obligated to, we do encourage you to share your design with the wider community so that others may benefit from it too, and you get feedback on your modifications. Blog posts, presentations & publications are a great way to do this. If you sell or give the modified systems to others then you are obliged to share the modifications with the developer community.

If you still need clarity on design modifications & sharing for individuals/private users, please reach out to us.

Whenever you distribute those modifications outside of your organisation, then you have to share the modifications with the developer community under the CERN OH-S v2 licence.

That way, the developer community shares progress, and you get to benefit when others share their modifications. If you have concerns about this, talk to us.

If You buy the Lumen™ Developer Kit, you can use it for commercial purposes as it is by simply incorporating it in your assembled product. If you build a product using the Protodyne™ design, or modify parts of the Lumen™ Developer Kit using the Protodyne™ design then you can also use your build for commercial purposes.

However, if you modify the design or firmware (which you are allowed to do because of the Open licence) and then after modification, sell it or include it in a product you assemble for someone else, then you will either have to: (1) make those modifications available to everyone under the CERN OH-S v2 licence or (2): negotiate a separate licence with us.

Reach out and chat with us if you want to use the Lumen™ Developer Kit or Protodyne™ design commercially as well as if you want to use a separate proprietary licence.

One way is for your company to just go ahead and share the modifications with the developer community under CERN OH-S v2, but we can discuss alternatives. Chat with us! We’re sure we can come to an arrangement that works.

There is no obligation to disclose your design change(s) to Protodyne™ when used internally within your company. For example, if you build and launch your own satellite for internal use. However, we offer incentives for partner companies to encourage sharing of new and improved designs.

Bear in mind that if you build something for someone else that includes the Lumen™ Developer Kit or Protodyne™, and you modify the design or firmware, then that is not internal use. Under this scenario, you then have to share any modifications with the community under the CERN OH-S v2. That way you get feedback on your modifications. But if you still have concerns, chat with us! We’re sure we can come to an arrangement that works.

Absolutely, the Open licences we use are perpetual. That doesn’t mean that there will always be a copy available online. But if you have copies then even if Hypernova no longer exists, you can still use it under the CERN OH-S v2 licence. If Hypernova ceases to exist it may not be easy to find out who owns the rights but you don’t have to find out because the licence binds anyone who owns the rights to Protodyne™. You won’t have to find them or ask permission because the licence permanently and perpetually gives permission. You can also host the Protodyne™ design online yourself, so long as you include the licence notices.

Yes, if you are purchasing a Lumen™ Developer Kit manufactured by Hypernova, then there is a warranty on that hardware product, but that warranty isn't on the design itself. In other words, Hypernova guarantees what it has manufactured itself, but not what you do with that product nor what you make or modify with our design and firmware. Clause 6 of the CERN OH-S v2 licence explicitly states that there are no warranties by and no liability for Hypernova, when you use the Protodyne™ design under that licence . The same clause protects you when you share modifications under the CERN OH-S v2 licence.

Whilst the Lumen™ Developer Kit is based on a design that was qualified for and launched into space, the Kit hardware in our online store is not specifically suitable for the rigours of spaceflight. Speak to us about your specific requirements and purchasing flight-qualified models.

In keeping with best practice in open hardware, the CERN OH-S v2 licence covers patents and software. That means that if you use the Protodyne™ design under the licence then you have a licence to any applicable Hypernova patent so that You can build and modify Protodyne™. Right now there are no applicable patents, but if future releases of Protodyne™ are covered by one or more patents, then the licence gives you patent permission.

The same obligation falls on anyone who shares modifications under the licence – they give a patent licence to everyone who uses the design under the CERN OH-S v2, but that licence is only to any patent claim that would prohibit someone using the design under the licence. All other patents are entirely unaffected. If you want further clarity on this, talk to us.

It depends how you distribute the modifications. If you are giving someone modified hardware then it must be accompanied by (a) the design files to make that modified hardware, (b) any non-modified files from Protodyne™, and (c) those files must be licensed under CERN OH-S v2.

You could use a notice and link to the licence in the file or an accompanying notice. If you share via the WWW then a notice similar to Hypernova’s (which already includes the licence name and link) but with “modified by [your name]” is the easiest. You can learn how to use the licence here.

Well spotted. The manual is under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0. That is a licence designed for text, images (and music and video but we weren’t able to include any music in the manual). Under that licence you can copy and redistribute the manual provided that you attribute Hypernova as requested and if you distribute modifications that you licence them under the same licence.

We are proud of our technology but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t sometimes need to be modified, and even improved. We have also observed many duplicated efforts by academics & startups over the last decades or so on electric propulsion and other space technologies, which has slowed progress. We want to catalyse a better approach to space tech development by cultivating & collaborating with a developer community that shares our drive to improve technology, and deploy it in a lot of different applications in & beyond the space sector. Come join us!

If you make minor modifications to Protodyne™, it is doubtful that you’ll need to be concerned about dual-use technology regulations. If you make major modifications to Protodyne™, you want to be able to distribute them, and are concerned that dual-use regulations might apply, then let's talk.