Long exposure of a Falcon 9 carrying an Alba cluster arcing into orbit

PocketQube launch & spacecraft

The lowest costturnkey accessto space.

Launch your own PocketQube satellite from €25,000, or fly your mission as a hosted payload on Unicorn-2. Flight proven, built in Glasgow.

Book your launch See every mission

62PocketQubes launched
11orbital missions
57%of every PocketQube ever flown

As featured by

Media centre

CNNIn the market for a satellite?The GuardianGlasgow start-up enters the space race with tiny, cheap satelliteYahooGlasgow firm offers spaceships for “the price of a car”Daily MailRise of the DIY satelliteHackadayPocketQubes: even smaller than a CubeSatEngadgetPocketQube launches a DIY satellite storeRed OrbitPocketQube Store sells world's smallest satelliteSat NewsBuilding momentum for PocketQube satellitesGigaOMBuild a satellite for less than $600

Our story

From a Glasgow bedroom to the world's leading PocketQube company

Founded in 2012, Alba Orbital is the world's leading PocketQube satellite manufacturer and launch broker. Tom Walkinshaw started the company in his bedroom, building prototype PocketQubes that would eventually fly on orbit.

The Alba Orbital team — **Built in the Spaceship Factory**Hillington, Glasgow

Engineers integrating an Albapod deployer in the clean room

Today Alba builds Unicorn-2, the world's most capable Picosat by specification, runs its own ground network and is building a fleet of night-time imaging satellites. Alba now has more than 30 customers on 4 continents, with entities in Scotland, the US and Germany.

Watch Tom's TEDx talk

Founded 2012
Glasgow · Wilmington · Berlin
$3.4m Seed
Forbes 30 Under 30 founder

The Alba Orbital Spaceship Factory in Hillington, Glasgow

A Unicorn-2 spacecraft with its solar wings deployed

Products & services

Everything you need to reach orbit, and stay there

Pick a service to learn more, or email the launch team about your mission.

Alba Launch

Launch your own satellite from €25k

Rideshare to low Earth orbit on our annual launch cluster, deployed by the flight proven Albapod.

Unicorn-2

Fly your mission as a hosted payload

3U CubeSat performance in a 3p PocketQube, saving over 50% of hardware and launch cost.

NightLights

High resolution imagery of Earth at night

The world's highest resolution night-time dataset, from our own constellation.

Albapod

A deployer designed for PocketQubes

6p and 96p variants for 1p to 6p satellites, spaceflight proven on Rocket Lab's Electron.

Ground station

UHF & S-Band, owned or as a service

Dedicated mobile ground stations, or connectivity on the Alba Connect network with 24/7 support.

Test services

30 kN shaker and thermal vacuum bakeout

Qualification testing in Glasgow. Vibration from £3,500 and bakeout from £2,000, plus VAT.

Also explore Unicorn-2 specifications · Unicorn-2 pricing · Albapod deployers

What is a PocketQube?

A satellite you can hold in one hand

PocketQubes measure just 5 × 5 × 5 cm per unit, or ‘p’. That makes the cost to orbit far lower for anyone who wants to fly a spacecraft: €30k for a 1p PocketQube against $100k+ for a 1U CubeSat.

Choose a size

Size5 × 5 × 15 cm

Launch from€65k

Launch prices per PocketQube on Alba's 2027 cluster

3p PocketQube

5cm
Edge of a single 1p unit. Satellites fly as 1p to 6p.
96p
Albapod capacity for constellation deployment.
<12months
From kick-off to orbit for the first two Unicorn-2s.
227days
Continuous operation for U2Q with no restarts.

Completed missions

62 PocketQubes launched. More than everyone else combined.

Alba runs an annual launch service with Albapod deployers, and expects to move to biannual and then quarterly launches as demand grows.

Launch my satellite

#11
30.03.2026
Alba Flight 11
Vehicle
Falcon 9 Block 5
PocketQubes
5
- Tech demo
- Education
#10
28.11.2025
Alba Flight 10
Vehicle
Falcon 9 Block 5
PocketQubes
4
- Tech demo
- Education
#09
15.03.2025
Alba Flight 9
Vehicle
Falcon 9 Block 5
PocketQubes
5
- Earth observation
- IoT
- IR experiment
#08
14.01.2025
Alba Flight 8
Vehicle
Falcon 9 Block 5
PocketQubes
7
- Education
- Earth observation
- Space selfie
#07
01.12.2023
Alba Cluster 9
Vehicle
Falcon 9 Block 5
PocketQubes
4
- Earth observation
- IoT
#06
11.11.2023
Alba Cluster 8
Vehicle
Transporter-9
PocketQubes
6
- Earth observation
- Amateur radio
#05
12.06.2023
Alba Cluster 7
Vehicle
Transporter-8
PocketQubes
6
- Communication
- Electrosmog
#04
03.01.2023
Alba Cluster 6
Vehicle
Transporter-6
PocketQubes
2
- Earth observation
#03
02.05.2022
Alba Cluster X
Vehicle
Rocket Lab Electron
PocketQubes
4
- Earth observation
- Weather
#02
13.01.2022
Alba Cluster 3/4
Vehicle
SpaceX Falcon 9
PocketQubes
13
- IoT
- Inter-satellite links
#01
06.12.2019
Alba Cluster 2
Vehicle
Rocket Lab Electron
PocketQubes
6
- RF monitoring
- Education

Images from orbit

Full resolution pictures from orbit, taken by Unicorn-2

Using the flight proven Unicorn-2 platform, Alba is building the NightLights constellation: the world's highest resolution dataset of the Earth at night.

Earth's limb photographed by Unicorn-2 — U2 · limb

A coastline at night seen from Unicorn-2 — U2 · coast

Snow on a mountain range, photographed from orbit — U2 · mountains

A sandy shoreline photographed from orbit — U2 · shore

Utah desert photographed from orbit — U2 · utah

River channels in a desert, from orbit — U2 · desert

Cloud cover photographed from orbit — U2 · clouds

NightLights Early Access

Pre-order your first four cloud-free night-time images. Deposits are fully refundable.

24m/pixelSpatial resolution
62 × 48kmImage size
28daysRevisit rate
$1per km²Pricing

Join the Early Access queue

Customers

Trusted by 30+ customers in 18 countries

Read every review

★★★★★

Alba Orbital helped us to get our small PocketQube satellites SMOG-P and ATL-1 into orbit. SMOG-P and ATL-1 are still working fine and sending the scientific measurement results from space.

Gábor GéczySMOG-P and ATL-1 Lead Engineer

★★★★★

From the initial consultation to the flawless execution, Alba Orbital showcased exceptional technical competence and efficiency.

Muzzafer DuysalCo-Founder & CEO, Hello Space

★★★★★

We needed to get our satellites in space and Alba Orbital did it for us.

Julian FernandezCo-Founder & CEO, FOSSA Systems

★★★★★

They brought us safely into orbit. Still up there :)

Paul KocylaTRSI-1 and 2 Technical Lead

Customers include

The Alba Orbital team in the Glasgow office

We're hiringJoin the Alba Orbital teamGlasgow HQ · US · GermanyCareers

Book a launch

Need a launch for your PocketQube?

Tell us about your satellite and the launch team will come back with the next available slot on an Alba cluster.

Wait lists open from time to time. Unicorn-2 customers always get priority slots.

Mission updates

Join the manifest.

Launch news, new cluster slots and the latest pictures from orbit, straight to your inbox.

No spam. Unsubscribe in one click.

The lowest costturnkey accessto space.

As featured by

From a Glasgow bedroom to the world's leading PocketQube company

Everything you need to reach orbit, and stay there

Launch your own satellite from €25k

Fly your mission as a hosted payload

High resolution imagery of Earth at night

A deployer designed for PocketQubes

UHF & S-Band, owned or as a service

30 kN shaker and thermal vacuum bakeout

A satellite you can hold in one hand

62 PocketQubes launched. More than everyone else combined.

Alba Flight 11

Alba Flight 10

Alba Flight 9

Alba Flight 8

Alba Cluster 9

Alba Cluster 8

Alba Cluster 7

Alba Cluster 6

Alba Cluster X

Alba Cluster 3/4

Alba Cluster 2

Full resolution pictures from orbit, taken by Unicorn-2

Trusted by 30+ customers in 18 countries

Need a launch for your PocketQube?

Join the manifest.