Alba Orbital is a Scottish aerospace company based in Glasgow that develops PocketQube class satellites and satellite deployers and provides launch services for small satellites.
History The company was founded by Tom Walkinshaw in 2012. The company is headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland. 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.
Earth Observation
In 2025, Alba Orbital began releasing Earth observation imagery collected by its Unicorn-2 satellite constellation.
Products The company has developed two satellite platforms. The Unicorn-1 platform is a 1P PocketQube satellite. The Unicorn-2 platform, is a 3P Earth observation satellite. The company has also developed two spacecraft deployers. The Albapod 6P can carry up to 6 PocketQube satellites. The 96P deployer can carry up to 96 individual satellites supporting a Satellite constellation mission into orbit.
Partnerships and Programmes The company holds contracts with the European Space Agency for ARTES.
In 2026, Alba Orbital was selected for the NATO DIANA Challenge Programme and is listed by NATO DIANA as a member of its 2026 cohort under Resilient Space Operations.
Launch Services Alba Orbital arranges rideshare launch opportunities for PocketQube spacecraft, using deployers supplied by the company.
The following table lists launch missions in which Alba Orbital acted as launch broker or supplied an AlbaPod deployer. Alba Orbital launch missions Date Launch Vehicle Payloads Orginization Deployment OutcomeAlba Cluster 26 December 2019Mission: "Running out of Fingers". Rocket Lab.Electron ATL-1 BME rowspan=5 FossaSat-1 FOSSA Systems NOOR 1A, 1B (Unicorn-2B, 2C) Stara Space SMOG-P BME TRSI-1 ACME AtronOmaticAlba Cluster 313 January 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 Delfi-PQ TU Delft rowspan=10 EASAT-2 AMSAT EA Grizu-263a ZBEU HADES AMSAT EA MDQube-SAT 1 Innova SpaceAlba 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 OrbitalAlba Cluster X2 May 2022Electron MyRadar-1 ACME AtronOmatic rowspan=3 TRSI 2, 3 ACME AtronOmatic Unicorn-2F Alba Orbital Alba Cluster (Launcher-1 / Orbiter SN1) 3 January 2023 Falcon 9 Block 5 / Orbiter Unicorn-2G Alba Orbital rowspan="2" Unicorn-2HAlba OrbitalAlba Cluster 612 June 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV Istanbul Hello Space rowspan=6 MRC-100 BME ROM-2 ICHSB Satlla-2I Ariel University Unicorn-2I Alba Orbital URESAT-1 AMSAT-EAAlba Cluster 711 November 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV Hydra-1 / HADES-D Hydra Space / AMSAT EA rowspan=5 ROM-3 FRR SpaceANT-D SpaceIn Tartan Artibeus-2 CMU Unicorn-2J, 2K Alba OrbitalAlba Cluster 81 December 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV MDQubesat-1 Innova Space rowspan=2 Unicorn-2L, 2M, 2N Alba OrbitalAlba Cluster 914 January 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV Skylink-1 Hello Space rowspan=7 Skylink-2Hello Space HYPEAGH University PROMETHEUS-1Minho University PoquitoUniversity of Luxembourg Hades-RHydra Space Hades-THydra SpaceAlba Cluster 1015 March 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV Unicorn-2O, 2P, 2Q Alba Orbital rowspan=3 Hades-ICMHYDRA SPACE / IC MERCURY / SMART IR Hades-WHydra SpaceAlba Cluster 1128 November 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 / ION SCV Hunity BME rowspan=4 SARI-01 Ideia Space / Saudi Space Agency SARI-02 Ideia Space / Saudi Space Agency ANISCSAT AzercosmosAlba Cluster 1230 March 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 SpinnyONE HYDRA SPACE / Spinning Around rowspan=4 Vegafly-1 Vegastar/Vietnam Amateur Radio Club (VARC) Decimals-Sat1 Ocullo Space Unicorn-2R, 2S Alba Orbital
See also PocketQube – The satellite format Alba Orbital specializes in building
References
External links Company website