Alba Orbital
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| Company type | Limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Satellite Manufacture |
| Founded | 5 October 2012 [citation needed] |
| Headquarters | , United Kingdom |
Key people | Tom Walkinshaw |
| Products | Pocketqube Platforms and Components |
| Total assets | £90,954 |
| Website | www |
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.
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.[7] 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[8] | |
| 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=5 | 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 |
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.[9]
See also
- PocketQube – The satellite format Alba Orbital specializes in building
References
- ^ "Unicorn 1". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ "Unicorn 2A, 2D, 2E". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Wired. "Alba Orbital: pushing the limits of space development". Wired UK.
- ^ "Alba Cluster 3/4 info". Alba Orbital. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ ESA. "ESA ARTES Contractors".
- ^ "Scottish satellite firm plans second PocketQube launch mission". The National.
- ^ "Unicorn-2 Mission Ideas". Alba Orbital. Archived from the original on 16 March 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
- ^ "Orbiter SN1 Mission Update". Launcher. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
- ^ "Scots firm behind pocket-size satellites takes aim at world record after Silicon Valley funding". 26 August 2021.
