Alba Orbital

Alba Orbital is a specialist aerospace manufacturer based in Scotland, focused on the design and production of picosatellites. The company occupies a niche role in the space segment by providing miniaturised satellite platforms and integration services, specifically facilitating low-cost access to orbit for academic, commercial, and governmental research payloads. The organisation is best known for the Unicorn-1 and Unicorn-2 satellite platforms, which adhere to the PocketQube standard. They act as a launch broker and integrator for small satellite clusters, having successfully coordinated orbital deployments via partnerships with major launch providers such as SpaceX and Rocket Lab. Their customer base includes international universities and technology firms testing miniature sensors or communications hardware. Prospective buyers should verify the specific mass and volume constraints of the PocketQube form factor compared to the larger CubeSat standard. It is also recommended to confirm current manifest availability for specific sun-synchronous or low Earth orbits, as well as the heritage of the integrated deployment mechanisms used for third-party payloads.