# 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.

## 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).

## History

The company was founded by Tom Walkinshaw in 2012.

## 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. The company also hold contracts with the European Space Agency for ARTES. These launches harbor clusters 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. 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 Holdings signed a rideshare agreement with Alba Orbital to assist in the launch of its icMercury PocketQube satellite via SpaceX to be launched in early 2025.
| Mission Name | Date | Launch Vehicle | Payloads | Customers | Outcome |
| Alba Cluster 2 | 6 December 2019 | Electron | ATL-1 | BME | Success |
| Alba Cluster 2 | 6 December 2019 | Electron | FossaSat-1 | FOSSA Systems | Success |
| Alba Cluster 2 | 6 December 2019 | Electron | NOOR 1A, 1B (Unicorn-2B, 2C) | Stara Space | Success |
| Alba Cluster 2 | 6 December 2019 | Electron | SMOG-P | BME | Success |
| Alba Cluster 2 | 6 December 2019 | Electron | TRSI-1 | ACME AtronOmatic | Success |
| Alba Cluster 3 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Delfi-PQ | TU Delft | Success |
| Alba Cluster 3 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | EASAT-2 | AMSAT EA | Success |
| Alba Cluster 3 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Grizu-263a | ZBEU | Success |
| Alba Cluster 3 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | HADES | AMSAT EA | Success |
| Alba Cluster 3 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | MDQube-SAT 1 | Innova Space | Success |
| Alba Cluster 4 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | PION-BR1 | PION Labs | Success |
| Alba Cluster 4 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | SATLLA 2A, 2B | Ariel University | Success |
| Alba Cluster 4 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Tartan Artibeus-1 (Unicorn-2TA1) | CMU | Success |
| Alba Cluster 4 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Unicorn-1 | Alba Orbital | Success |
| Alba Cluster 4 | 13 January 2022 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Unicorn-2A, 2D, 2E | Alba Orbital | Success |
| Alba Cluster X | 2 May 2022 | Electron | MyRadar-1 | ACME AtronOmatic | Success |
| Alba Cluster X | 2 May 2022 | Electron | TRSI 2, 3 | ACME AtronOmatic | Success |
| Alba Cluster X | 2 May 2022 | Electron | Unicorn-2F | Alba Orbital | Success |
| Alba Cluster (?) | 3 January 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / Orbiter | Unicorn-2G | Alba Orbital | Failure |
| Alba Cluster (?) | 3 January 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / Orbiter | Unicorn-2H | Alba Orbital | Failure |
| Alba Cluster 6 | 12 June 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Istanbul | Hello Space | Success |
| Alba Cluster 6 | 12 June 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | MRC-100 | BME | Success |
| Alba Cluster 6 | 12 June 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | ROM-2 | ICHSB | Success |
| Alba Cluster 6 | 12 June 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Satlla-2I | Ariel University | Success |
| Alba Cluster 6 | 12 June 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Unicorn-2I | Alba Orbital | Success |
| Alba Cluster 6 | 12 June 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | URESAT-1 | AMSAT-EA | Success |
| Alba Cluster 7 | 11 November 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Hydra-1 / HADES-D | Hydra Space / AMSAT EA | |
| Alba Cluster 7 | 11 November 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | ROM-3 | FRR |
| Alba Cluster 7 | 11 November 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | SpaceANT-D | SpaceIn |
| Alba Cluster 7 | 11 November 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Tartan Artibeus-2 | CMU |
| Alba Cluster 7 | 11 November 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Unicorn-2J, 2K | Alba Orbital |
| Alba Cluster 8 | 1 December 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | MDQubesat-1 | Innova Space | Success |
| Alba Cluster 8 | 1 December 2023 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Unicorn-2L, 2M, 2N | Alba Orbital | Success |
| Flight 8 | 14 January 2025 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Skylink-1 | Hello Space | rowspan="7" | Success |
| Flight 8 | 14 January 2025 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Skylink-2 | Hello Space | | Success |
| Flight 8 | 14 January 2025 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | HYPE | AGH University |
| Flight 8 | 14 January 2025 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | PROMETHEUS-1 | Minho University |
| Flight 8 | 14 January 2025 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Poquito | University of Luxembourg |
| Flight 8 | 14 January 2025 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | Hades-R | Hydra Space |
| Flight 8 | 14 January 2025 | Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV | 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.