Alba Orbital

Alba Orbital, is a Scottish company building PocketQube satellites. Alba Orbital is the developer and manufacturer of the Unicorn-1 and Unicorn-2 satellite platforms.

Alba Orbital
TypeLimited company
IndustrySatellite Manufacture
Founded5 October 2012
Headquarters
Glasgow
,
United Kingdom
Key people
Tom Walkinshaw
ProductsPocketqube Platforms and Components
Number of employees
20
Websitewww.albaorbital.com

The company holds contracts with the European Space Agency.[1]

Overview

Alba Orbital builds and designs picosatellites, small satellites that are under 1 kg in mass. Picosatellites are modular with each 1P of volume equal to 5 cm x 5 cm x 5 cm and with capabilities of stacking these modular units together to get larger volumes. Its Unicorn-1 platform is a 1P picosatellite while its slightly larger Unicorn-2 platform is a 2P satellite that is 5 cm x 5 cm x 10 cm.[2]

Launches

Alba Orbital is a launch broker , and in the last year it has announced partnerships with several space companies, including Vector and Rocket Lab, in order to send PocketQube satellites into space. These launches harbor clusters[3] containing space for PocketQubes that is sold to teams wanting to send a pod along.

The first launch on December 6, 2019 had room for 6P worth of PocketQubes and was launched on an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab. The payload contained the picosats: SMOG-P, ATL-1, FossaSat-1, Noor 1a (Unicorn-2b), Noor 1b (Unicorn-2c) and TRSI.[4] The next two cluster deployments will have room for 12P and are scheduled to launch on a Falcon9 from SpaceX.[5] Three launches are planned for 2022.[6]

All Alba Orbital launches use Albapod deployers in order to release the clusters. These deployers come in two sizes: 6P and 96P.[7][8]

Funding

In 2021, Alba Orbital participated in the startup accelerator program Y Combinator, located in Silicon Valley in the United States. They raised $3.4 million after completing the program.[9]

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

References
  1. ESA. "ESA ARTES Contractors".
  2. Wired. "Alba Orbital: pushing the limits of space development". Wired UK.
  3. "Scottish satellite firm plans second PocketQube launch mission". The National.
  4. "Alba Orbital - eoPortal Directory - Satellite Missions".
  5. "Scots firm behind pocket-size satellites takes aim at world record after Silicon Valley funding".
  6. "Launch".
  7. Vector. "Vector to Conduct Dedicated Launch of Alba Orbital PocketQube Satellites on First Orbital Attempt".
  8. Satnews Daily. "Alba Orbital Prepares a Pod for PocketQube Launch".
  9. "Scots firm behind pocket-size satellites takes aim at world record after Silicon Valley funding".
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