Alba Orbital
Alba Orbital provides the lowest-cost turnkey access to Low Earth Orbit for PocketQube satellites, with launch integration starting at €25,000–€30,000 per satellite. The company has launched 62 PocketQube payloads across 11 orbital missions using its flight-proven Albapod deployer system, more than every other organization combined. Beyond launch services, Alba Orbital operates the Unicorn-2 satellite bus for hosted payloads and offers environmental test services, ground station communications, and nighttime optical satellite imagery.
- Space Technology
- Hardware
- Telecommunications
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Founder details are not available yet.
Product
Problem
Small satellite developers, particularly those building PocketQubes, face prohibitively high launch costs and limited integration options, as legacy launch brokers often overlook these miniature payloads. This restricts access to space for universities, startups, and research teams with constrained budgets.
Solution
Alba Orbital provides the lowest-cost turnkey access to Low Earth Orbit through its rideshare launch service, using the flight-proven Albapod deployer system to integrate PocketQube satellites at prices starting from €25,000 to €30,000. The company has successfully launched 62 PocketQube payloads across 11 orbital missions, more than every other organization combined, and offers an annual launch service with guaranteed slot availability. Beyond launch integration, Alba Orbital operates the Unicorn-2 satellite bus platform for hosted payload missions, and provides environmental test services, ground station communications, and high-resolution nighttime optical satellite imagery through its NightLights product line.
Target Audience
Primary customers are universities, research teams, startups, and commercial entities seeking affordable access to space for small satellites, as well as organizations in optics, space, and transportation industries needing environmental qualification testing.
Features
- Turnkey PocketQube launch integration starting at €25,000–€30,000 per 1p satellite, significantly undercutting CubeSat prices (€30k vs. $100k+ for 1U CubeSat)
- Flight-proven Albapod deployer system available in 6p and 96p configurations with a published Interface Control Document (ICD)
- Unicorn-2 satellite bus platform for hosted payload missions with customizable mission ideas and published pricing
- Environmental Test House offering 30 kN 3-axis vibration testing (sine, random, resonance, mechanical shock up to 100g) starting at £3,500 and thermal vacuum bakeout testing starting at £2,000
- Dedicated mobile ground station supporting UHF and S-Band communications, plus Alba Connect subscription-based communications service
- NightLights product providing high-resolution optical satellite imagery of Earth at night