Jordi Puig-Suari at CaliforniaPolytechnic StateUniversitybuiltadeploymentmechanismcalled the poly picosatelliteorbitaldeployer, or P-POD, that could pack up to three CubeSats.
Researchers in the field, such as Ernest Robinson, the head of the Aerospace Corporation's picosatellite project, dream of a day when swarms of nanosatellites (weighing less than 10kg) and picosatellites (weighing less than 1kg) might be used to establish a global navigation and communications network around Mars.