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 and Unicorn-2 satellite platforms.^[1] Alba Orbital is headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland.

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).^[2]

The company was founded by Tom Walkinshaw in 2012.^[3]

Alba Orbital is a launch broker and has purchased capacity with several space companies, including SpaceX and Rocket Lab,^[4] to launch PocketQube satellites into orbit. The company also hold contracts with the European Space Agency for ARTES.^{[5] [1]} These launches harbor clusters^{[6] [7]} 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.^[8] 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^[9] Holdings signed a rideshare agreement with Alba Orbital to assist in the launch of its icMercury^[10] PocketQube satellite via SpaceX to be launched in early 2025.^[11]

In 2021, Alba Orbital participated in the startup accelerator program Y Combinator, located in Silicon Valley, United States. They raised US3ドル.4 million after completing the program.^[13]

• PocketQube – The satellite format Alba Orbital specializes in building

• Company website