ESA, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, TU delft all figured out that they can build and launch a satellite for less. The goal of these smart organizations? Miniaturization. But how small? What if I told you that you could hold a satellite in your hand? How about a functional satellite that is the size of a Rubik’s Cube? Sound crazy? It’s not. Here is how.
ESA, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, TU delft all have something in common. They are working with Alba Orbital.
Miniaturization of satellites is the target business of Alba Orbital.
There has been a trend in the satellite industry to move to smaller, more compact satellites. Smaller can translate into substantive savings during both development and launch. WestEastpace recently caught up with the founder of Alba Orbital to talk with him about the journey to orbit. Alba doesn’t build just any smallsats, they build really small ones called PocketQubes. Most recently, Alba Orbital launched numerous PocketQubes into orbit on December 6th.
The Recent launch
The December 6th launch occurred with a live audience, and the audience saw Rocket Lab successfully launch its 10th rocket. The rocket lifted off in a wonderful glow of fire, delivering not only its payload into orbit but also delivering its first stage safely back to the ground via controlled descent. As the rocket companies launches are often time spectacular, we sometimes overlook a primary reason for the launch. The payload. On this launch, another New Space company achieved part of its goal.
Electron has the capability to launch 150–225 kg (330–495 lb) depending on the orbit selected. For owners of a satellite assessing launcher capability, sometimes a rocket like Electron might not be sufficient, in particular for older, larger satellites bound for geostationary transfer orbit (GEO). With the reduction of size and mass of satellites, smaller launch vehicles like Electron can launch many satellites.
A multitude of satellites included in the Alba Cluster 2 lifted off nestled inside the Electron rocket. Alba Orbital, a Scottish company, launched 6 customer PocketQube satellites into orbit via Albapod v2 Rocket Lab Electron rocket #RunningOutOfFingers rocket. This represents the first launch that Alba Orbital brokered. The satellites launched include:
1. SMOG-P
2. ATL-1
3. FossaSat-1
4. Noor 1a (Unicorn-2b)
5. Noor 1b (Unicorn-2c)
6. TRSI
Okay, that sounds great, but what is a Cubesat vs PocketQube
Most people know what a CubeSat is, or have heard of Cubesats (Cube Satellites). CubeSats (cubesatellite, cube satellite) are a type of nanosatellites defined by the CubeSat Design Specification (CSD) or otherwise commonly known by the unofficial term “CubeSat standard”. Cubesats are small, and start off at the 1U size of 10cm x 10 cm x 11.35 cm.( about a 4 inch cube)
I know some people get worked up when something is not exact as described. For those people, yes, the CubeSat standard isn’t exactly a cube, but very close. Here are some standard CubeSat dimensions:
1U CubeSat is 10 cm × 10 cm × 11.35 cm.
2U CubeSat is 10 cm × 10 cm × 22.70 cm.
6U CubeSat is 20 cm × 10 cm × 34.05 cm.
12U CubeSat is 20 cm × 20 cm × 34.05 cm.
Packing a lot of technology into these smaller satellites may be a daunting task. The continued miniaturization of electronics along with advances in material science enables CubeSats. Looking back at history, Satellites have been getting smaller due to advances in technologies. The ability for a smaller satellite to perform the same function of an older satellite is a growing trend. Gordon Moore is credited predicting the number of components (transistors, resistors, diodes, or capacitors) in integrated circuits would double approximately every year-two years. (link to read more about Moore’s law)
PocketQubes measure smaller than CubeSats then?
Yes, PocketQubes are smaller yet. Like CubeSats, a PocketQube satellite specification defines standard sizes and requirements. A PocketQube measures 5cm cubic. Like CubeSats, PocketQubes come in larger variants, each a multiple of the base p. Each cube size refers to p for a cube, for example 1p, 2p, 3p etc. One unit (1P) Consists of roughly 50x50x50 mm. In comparison, PocketQubes are 5 cm cubes verses 10 cm for CubeSats. PocketQubes are a relatively new, with the first 4 PocketQubes were launched into space in 2013 and to date only 10 have been launched.
What’s a Unicorn?
A Unicorn is a mythical animal, but it is also the name of Alba’s 3p PocketQube.
Alba developed in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), what they call an advanced 3p PocketQube platform called Unicorn-2. Their goal of the Unicorn-2 platform is to get 3U CubeSat performance on a PocketQube. This can save satellite operators over 50% of the cost by using Unicorn-2 instead of a standard 3U CubeSat for hardware and launch.
A unicorn-1 started with one watt of power. Alba developed the technology further allowing 20 watts of power. Alba Orbital indicated their increased performance now allows them to provide many mission capabilities that a 3U CubeSat could do, but for a fraction of the cost.
The Unicorn-2 platform starts from 199,000 euro, with launch costs from 60,000 euro. These costs place Alba Orbital at approximately 50% the cost of a similar 3U CubeSat (500,000 euro) mission with launch. If a customer wants to buy multiples of the same satellite configuration, then Alba passes along some savings, assuming all spacecraft are identical.
The Unicorn-2, AKA U2, platform baseline supports Earth observation. Tom shared that their Unicorn 2A with EO payload has not flown yet, but will be launched this December with SpaceX. How good can a Rubik’s cube sized satellite be? A RGB 70mm focal length optical payload capable of approximately 15m GSD at a 350km Orbit. Upgraded resolution, spectral bands and performance continuously evolve based on Moore’s Law. Digital sensors technology becomes more sophisticated each year allowing for better quality, lower power usage and better value for the money.
A good example of how space technology advanced over the years is the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble’s abilities have dramatically improved from its first service mission in 1993. Estimates place the increased capabilities at about 90x better by the fourth servicing mission as compared to the first, this occurring over a timeline of just 1993-2009. So over 16 years, technology improved by 90 times. Although Hubble is much larger and points outward, the technology improvements show how Earth Observation with smaller sensors in 2020 can be done in a much smaller form factor like a PocketQube.
Tom explained that Alba’s most popular version of U2 focuses on communications. U2 Services communications clients for the Internet of Things(IoT) style missions as well as opening new markets. Alba built on the heritage of Intersatellite links (from Unicorn-1) and can build both real-time and store/forward type missions.
During the interview Tom explained that they can use the U2 for hosting RF Sensing missions such as ADSB, AIS and Spectrum monitoring, tracking Aircraft, Ships and spectrum usages. Off the shelf payload solutions such as the Skyfox Labs ADSB Antenna/Receiver are compatible with U2. This is an idea way to create a new proprietary dataset for your customer base to utilize.
One more take away is the U2 includes all the functionality of a larger satellite. U2’s functionality integrates onto one circuit board, complete with gyros.
Oh, and I asked Tom “why call it Unicorn?” Tom’s simple and straight forward response – Unicorns are the National Animal of Scotland. In Celtic mythology the unicorn represents purity, innocence, masculinity and power.
What’s an AlbaCluster and an AlbaPod?
Alba Orbital focuses on building and launching advanced Picosatellites – a niche market that many other companies do not focus on. Protecting Picosatellites during launch and deployment once in orbit presents a problem. Vibration can damage unprotected or poorly secured cargo. Alba Orbital invented a deployer to help solve the problem.
PocketQubes get packed into a deployer called an AlbaPod. The approach allows multiple Cubesats to safely get transported into space for release. Alba Orbital has designed various AlbaPod to deploy up to 96p of PocketQube, suitable for a constellation. AlbaPod can launch 1p, 1.5p, 2p or 3p PocketQube format satellites.
Who is Alba Orbital using to launch?
Alba using Rocket Lab as one of their launch partners seems logical. Rocket Lab offers private orbital launch from Mahia, New Zealand. Since this site sits in a more remote location than other launch sites, Rocket Lab says that they can accommodate a launch rate of 120 flights per year, a claim that is just barely possible given their launch license, which allows for a launch to occur every 72 hours. The larger rockets cadence typically comes in less than that. It takes more effort to prepare to build and launch, and therefore launch less often. Rocket Lab is developing their ability to recover their first stage for reuse to increase their ability to launch at that rate. Currently, Rocket Lab remains one of a few new space companies that has successfully developed and commercially operate orbital launch vehicles. Rocket Lab successfully launched Alba’s first cluster of satellites in Dec 2019.
Tom shared how his relationship with Rocket Lab started, which is a testament to both Rocket Lab Founder and CEO Peter Beck and Tom. Tom shared that their discussions started about 5 years ago when he met Peter at the SmallSat trade show in Utah. Tom felt Alba’s business priorities aligned well with Rocket Lab since the businesses complemented each other. This was prior to the Rocket Lab’s first orbital launch. Alba signed up about 6 months after Rocket Lab making it to orbit. Tom expressed Alba had marvelous experience with Rocket Lab adding the Rocket Lab people are great people to work with.
Alba Orbital leverages other launch partners beyond Rocket Lab. Momentus and Alba recently announced a new launch date for a December 2020 launch from Kennedy Space Center. Momentus provides of in-space transportation services for satellites and developed water thruster technologies. Three AlbaPods plan to hitch a ride on plaza deck of the dedicated ride share SpaceX mission. For this mission, the Falcon 9 launches from Cape Canaveral.
Alba Orbital’s PocketQube satellites integrate into the AlbaPod deployers mounted alongside Vigoride onto the ESPA Grande ring interface provided by SpaceX. Momentus adds additional mission flexibility and ensures drop off orbital altitudes where Alba’s customers need it. (link to Momentus press release https://momentus.space/2020/05/14/alba-orbital/)
About Alba’s Founder, Tom Walkinshaw
After Tom graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University he felt there wasn’t much opportunity in the space industry in Scotland. As a result, Tom started a company to help make pocket cubes – now successfully launched 6 to orbit. Tom named the company Alba based on the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. Tom expressed that the success of the prior missions generated more interest and Alba now has a backlog of customers looking to launch.
Tom got his company off the ground quickly with a minor budget (compared to other space startups) by leveraging as much off-the-shelf items and then qualifying the components with an internal program. Tom expressed appreciation to ESA for the collaboration efforts that started about 5 years prior. Tom’s personality shined during the interview. Even though he works on outer space stuff, he was very down to Earth.
Very passionate about space and wants to open space for more people. Tom is also big fans of other New Space companies like SpaceX, Rocket Lab, etc.
He shared that it would be great if Scotland eventually would have their own spaceport. Business focuses on the satellites and not the launch vehicles.
About Alba Orbital
Based in Glasgow, Scotland, Alba Orbital wants to get more people building and launching their own satellites. We provide a hub of support for the fledgling class of PocketQube satellites by not only building our own platforms but providing parts and launch to companies, universities and space agencies around the world. Alba now employees 15 people and is the largest picosat company in the world.
Alba Orbital is the world’s leading PocketQube satellite manufacturer and launch broker. The company was founded in 2012 in Glasgow, Scotland and recently opened its second office in Berlin, Germany. To date, Alba launch has successfully deployed 6 PocketQube satellites into orbit including the Unicorn-2 platform. Unicorn-2 is the world’s most capable Picosat by specification. AlbaConnect, a ground station service developed by Alba, completes the full end-to-end service to new space users and operators. Alba has 20+ customers on 3 continents.
Alba is still a young company, with it’s employees medium age in the early 30’s but ranging from 20-60’s. Most of the customers started as European, but Alba indicated a growing number of US customers and Asian customers are lining up to launch PocketQubes. Some are companies testing technology, other are Universities focused on research.
Tom expressed his interest to support Moon or Mars missions with PocketQube satellites for deep space missions. He explained that PocketQubes offer increased flexibility and capabilities for deep space missions with minimal increased mass. But so far, no nibbles yet. Lunar pocket cubes for lunar missions would be great.
Are they hiring?
Tom : “We are hiring – always looking for new people that can help.” Even if you don’t see a job posting specific to your job expertise, Alba is very open. They encourage you to submit your resume if you feel your skills could be valuable to Alba’s mission. One small catch, as a small company, Alba only hires EU passport holders since they don’t provide a sponsorship program.
About The Author
Bill D’Zio
Co-Founder at WestEastSpace.com
Bill founded WestEastSpace.com after returning to China in 2019 to be supportive of his wife’s career. Moving to China meant leaving the US rocket/launch industry behind, as the USA and China don’t see eye to eye on cooperation in space. Bill has an engineering degree and is an experienced leader of international cross-functional teams with experience in evaluating, optimizing and awarding sub-contracts for complex systems. Bill has worked with ASME Components, Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) for use in launch vehicles, satellites, aerospace nuclear, and industrial applications.
Bill provides consulting services for engineering, supply chain, and project management.
