Alba Orbital
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Company type | Limited company |
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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
[edit]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
[edit]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.[citation needed] 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 | BME | Success | ||
FOSSA Systems | ||||||
Stara Space | ||||||
BME | ||||||
ACME AtronOmatic | ||||||
Alba Cluster 3 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | TU Delft | Success | ||
AMSAT EA | ||||||
ZBEU | ||||||
AMSAT EA | ||||||
Innova Space | ||||||
Alba Cluster 4 | PION Labs | |||||
Ariel University | ||||||
CMU | ||||||
Alba Orbital | ||||||
Alba Orbital | ||||||
Alba Cluster X | 2 May 2022 | Electron | ACME AtronOmatic | Success | ||
ACME AtronOmatic | ||||||
Alba Orbital | ||||||
Alba Cluster (?) | 3 January 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / Orbiter | Alba Orbital | Failure[7] | ||
Alba Orbital | ||||||
Alba Cluster 6 | 12 June 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Hello Space | Success | ||
BME | ||||||
ICHSB | ||||||
Ariel University | ||||||
Alba Orbital | ||||||
AMSAT-EA | ||||||
Alba Cluster 7 | 11 November 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Hydra Space / AMSAT EA | rowspan=5 | Success | |
FRR | ||||||
SpaceIn | ||||||
CMU | ||||||
Alba Orbital | ||||||
Alba Cluster 8 | 1 December 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Innova Space | Success | ||
Alba Orbital |
Funding
[edit]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
[edit]- PocketQube – The satellite format Alba Orbital specializes in building
References
[edit]- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.