Glasgow-based space company Alba Orbital has announced the first seven PocketQube customers for the upcoming ‘Alba Cluster 2’ mission, which will launch into orbit on a Rocket Lab Electron vehicle later this year.

As part of a rideshare agreement, Alba Orbital will manifest several satellites onto one launch vehicle. The seven PocketQubes will be integrated into their satellite deployer, the AlbaPod.

PocketQube satellites are small, lightweight cubes around 5cm in size, which can be stacked to make larger variants. The first four PocketQubes were launched into orbit in 2013, with this latest cluster building on previous success.

Through the Alba Cluster 2, PocketQube format satellites from around the world are being sent into orbit. The following satellites confirmed for Alba Cluster 2 are:

• ATL-1, ATL Ltd (Hungary
• TRSI Sat, ACME AtronOmatic/MyRadar (USA/Germany)
• Discovery, Mini-Cubes (USA)
• SMOG-P, BME University (Hungary)
• Fossasat-1, Fossa Systems (Spain)
• NOOR 1A, Stara Space (USA)
• NOOR 1B, Stara Space (USA)

This cluster includes SMOG-P, a novel spectrum monitoring payload built by Budapest University of Technology and Economics. This satellite’s mission will be to develop a global map of spectrum usage, while the US-built Discovery satellite is a flying optical camera.

Other satellites included in the payload will test new thermal isolation material in space, as well as providing free and open source IoT communications.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck, said: “The satellites of today are getting smaller, doing more and costing less to build, but until now it has been a challenge for them to get to orbit. By partnering with Alba Orbital for a rideshare on a Rocket Lab Electron, these small but mighty payloads will get to orbit faster, experiencing a first-class ride and precise orbital insertion to maximise their potential in orbit.”

Alba Orbital founder and CEO, Tom Walkinshaw, added: “Getting a satellite to orbit has traditionally cost six figures, taken years and is prone to many delays. Alba’s Launch Cluster 2 alleviate these problems, significantly reducing the barriers to launching PocketQubes in a regular and cost-effective manner.

“This will help fulfil Alba Orbital’s goal of democratising access to space. We are looking forward to working with Peter and the Rocketlab team.”

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Alba Orbital has won five major contracts with the European Space Agency (ESA) since its launch in 2012, with its Unicorn-1 and Unicorn-2 platforms serving different parts of the satellite value chain.