Alba Orbital Ltd recently announced the successful integration of nine PocketQube satellites ahead of their upcoming Alba Cluster 3 mission, ‘That time of year’, which will be the largest PocketQube launch in history to date.
Alba Orbital will take customer satellites to orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle in December 2020 as part of a rideshare agreement. Il will be used the company’s AlbaPod v2, the world’s only space proven PocketQube deployer. It has been entirely 3D printed by Italy-based CRP Technology using their Windform XT 2.0 high-performance composite material Carbon-fiber reinforced from Windform TOP-LINE family of composite materials.
“We are very pleased that Alba Cluster 3 mission represents a historic event in PocketQube history, and that professional 3D printing along with Windform XT 2.0 composite material is part of it! We revolutionized the small sat arena, and now we are doing the same with the PocketQube world. As Tom Walkinshaw, Founder and CEO Alba Orbital, recently said, “this a huge milestone for Alba and the PocketQube community”. We at CRP Technology are very proud of it.”
The cluster includes Turkey’s first pico-satellite, Grizu-263a which was designed by a team of engineering students from Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University and named in honour of the 1992 Kozlu coal mine disaster. The Grizu team are joined by other prestigious universities on the Alba Cluster 3 lineup such as TU Delft and Ariel University.
Speaking on why TU Delft signed up to launch with Alba Orbital, Delfi-PQ team member, M. Ş. (Mehmet) Uludağ said: “Alba Orbital is the only company right now who have a qualified PocketQube Deployer and this gives you a certain confidence that your satellite will be deployed without any problems’.’
Alba Orbital Cluster 3 is manifested on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle and is scheduled for a December 2020 launch date with a target SSO (Polar) Orbit.