Alba Orbital

Alba Orbital

Company type	Limited company
Industry	Satellite Manufacture
Founded	5 October 2012 [1]
Headquarters	Glasgow , United Kingdom
Key people	Tom Walkinshaw
Products	Pocketqube Platforms and Components
Total assets	£90,954
Website	www.albaorbital.com

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 and Unicorn-2 satellite platforms. ^[2] Alba Orbital is headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland.

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]

History

The company was founded by Tom Walkinshaw in 2012. ^[4]

Launches

Alba Orbital is a launch broker and has purchased capacity with several space companies, including SpaceX and Rocket Lab, ^[5] to launch PocketQube satellites into orbit. The company also hold contracts with the European Space Agency for ARTES. ^{[6] [2]} These launches harbor clusters ^{[7] [8]} 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. ^[9] 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.

Interstellar Communication ^[10] Holdings signed a rideshare agreement with Alba Orbital to assist in the launch of its icMercury ^[11] PocketQube satellite via SpaceX to be launched in early 2025. ^[12]

Mission Name	Date	Launch Vehicle	Payloads	Customers	Deployment 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 [13]
			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	Success
			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
Alba Cluster 9	14 January 2025	Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV	Skylink-1	Hello Space	Success
			Skylink-2	Hello Space
			HYPE	AGH University
			PROMETHEUS-1	Minho University
			Poquito	University of Luxembourg
			Hades-R	Hydra Space
			Hades-T	Hydra Space

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. ^[14]

See also

• PocketQube – The satellite format Alba Orbital specializes in building

References

1. "Alba Orbital Limited". gov.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
2. "Alba Orbital: pushing the limits of space development". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 14 February 2025.
3. Wired. "Alba Orbital: pushing the limits of space development". Wired UK.
4. Parsonson, Andrew (3 October 2023). "Alba Orbital Move into new PocketQube Manufacturing Facility". European Spaceflight. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
5. "Rocket Lab to Launch Four PocketQube Satellites for Alba Orbital". Rocket Lab. Retrieved 30 January 2025.
6. ESA. "ESA ARTES Contractors".
7. "Scottish satellite firm plans second PocketQube launch mission". The National.
8. Brothers, Eric (19 February 2022). "Alba Orbital launches small satellites from 3D-printed deployment devices". Aerospace Manufacturing and Design. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
9. "Unicorn-2 Mission Ideas". Alba Orbital. Archived from the original on 16 March 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
10. "Interstellar Communication - Investment Company & Financial Advisory Services in New York". dgipl.com. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
11. "Your Personal Messenger to Space | icMercury". 26 May 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
12. "Interstellar Communication Holdings announces agreement with Alba Orbital for icMercury launch – SatNews". news.satnews.com. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
13. "Orbiter SN1 Mission Update". Launcher. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
14. "Scots firm behind pocket-size satellites takes aim at world record after Silicon Valley funding". 26 August 2021.

External links

• Company website