Alba Orbital

Alba Orbital is a Scottish company that specializes in building PocketQube satellites and Albapod satellite deployment systems. Alba Orbital is the developer and manufacturer of the Unicorn-1[1] and Unicorn-2[2] satellite platforms.

Alba Orbital
Company typeLimited company
IndustrySatellite Manufacture
Founded5 October 2012
Headquarters
Glasgow
,
United Kingdom
Key people
Tom Walkinshaw
ProductsPocketqube Platforms and Components
Total assets£90,954
Websitewww.albaorbital.com

Overview

Alba Orbital specializes in designing and building PocketQube satellites. The company has developed two satellite platforms. The Unicorn-1 platform is a 1P (5cm x 5cm x 5cm) PocketQube satellite, while its larger counterpart, Unicorn-2, is a 2P satellite (5cm x 5cm x 10cm).[3]

Launches

Alba Orbital is a launch broker and has purchased capacity with several space companies, including SpaceX and Rocket Lab, to launch PocketQube satellites into orbit.[4] The company also hold contracts with the European Space Agency for ARTES.[5] These launches harbor clusters[6] containing space for PocketQubes that are sold to teams wanting to launch pods. Every Alba Orbital flight uses Albapod deployers to release the clusters. These deployers come in two sizes: 6P and 96P. As of December 2023, Alba Orbital has successfully launched seven missions into low Earth orbit, while one mission failed before deployment on the first flight of Orbiter SN1.

Mission Name Date Launch Vehicle Payloads Customers Outcome
Alba Cluster 2 6 December 2019 Electron ATL-1 BME Success
FossaSat-1 FOSSA Systems
NOOR 1A, 1B (Unicorn-2B, 2C) Stara Space
SMOG-P BME
TRSI-1 ACME AtronOmatic
Alba Cluster 3 13 January 2022 Falcon 9 Block 5 Delfi-PQ TU Delft Success
EASAT-2 AMSAT EA
Grizu-263a ZBEU
HADES AMSAT EA
MDQube-SAT 1 Innova Space
Alba Cluster 4 PION-BR1 PION Labs
SATLLA 2A, 2B Ariel University
Tartan Artibeus-1 (Unicorn-2TA1) CMU
Unicorn-1 Alba Orbital
Unicorn-2A, 2D, 2E Alba Orbital
Alba Cluster X 2 May 2022 Electron MyRadar-1 ACME AtronOmatic Success
TRSI 2, 3 ACME AtronOmatic
Unicorn-2F Alba Orbital
Alba Cluster (?) 3 January 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 / Orbiter Unicorn-2G Alba Orbital Failure[7]
Unicorn-2H Alba Orbital
Alba Cluster 6 12 June 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV Istanbul Hello Space Success
MRC-100 BME
ROM-2 ICHSB
Satlla-2I Ariel University
Unicorn-2I Alba Orbital
URESAT-1 AMSAT-EA
Alba Cluster 7 11 November 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV Hydra-1 / HADES-D Hydra Space / AMSAT EA rowspan=5Success
ROM-3 FRR
SpaceANT-D SpaceIn
Tartan Artibeus-2 CMU
Unicorn-2J, 2K Alba Orbital
Alba Cluster 8 1 December 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV MDQubesat-1 Innova Space Success
Unicorn-2L, 2M, 2N Alba Orbital

Funding

In 2021, Alba Orbital participated in the startup accelerator program Y Combinator, located in Silicon Valley, United States. They raised US$3.4 million after completing the program.[8]

See also
  • PocketQube – The satellite format Alba Orbital specializes in building

References
  1. "Unicorn 1". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  2. "Unicorn 2A, 2D, 2E". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  3. Wired. "Alba Orbital: pushing the limits of space development". Wired UK.
  4. "Alba Cluster 3/4 info". Alba Orbital. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  5. ESA. "ESA ARTES Contractors".
  6. "Scottish satellite firm plans second PocketQube launch mission". The National.
  7. "Orbiter SN1 Mission Update". Launcher. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  8. "Scots firm behind pocket-size satellites takes aim at world record after Silicon Valley funding". 26 August 2021.
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