3D-printed composite PocketQube deployer delivers 13 nanosatellites to space in SpaceX Falcon 9 launch

Five of Alba Orbital’s (Glasgow, U.K.) AlbaPod 2.0 PocketQube satellite deployers, entirely 3D printed by CRP Technology (Modena, Italy) using Windform XT 2.0 carbon fiber composite materials, were successfully launched into orbit using a Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 13, 2022, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., as part of SpaceX’s (Hawthorne, Calif., U.S.) Transporter-3 mission. Once separated from the rocket, the deployers launched 13 PocketQubes — a type of miniaturized satellite for space research — into orbit, the latter of which began sending signals to Earth. 

The “Alba Cluster 3 and 4” mission represents the first PocketQube deployment, and Alba Orbital’s biggest cluster to date. It was also the third dedicated launch for SpaceX’s small satellite rideshare service, which aims to give microsatellites and CubeSats a more affordable ride into orbit.

The Transporter-3 mission flew southeast from Cape Canaveral, then turned south to track parallel to Florida’s east coast, delivering the Falcon 9’s total 105 satellite passengers into a roughly 326-mile-high (525-kilometer) polar sun-synchronous orbit.

“Congrats to Alba Orbital and to all the teams flown with them, for all their hard work,” says Franco Evolini, engineer, CTO and CEO of CRP Technology. “January 13 signed a new milestone in the nanosatellites arena; we are proud of taking part as [a] supplier of materials and technology that are space-proven. The successful mission once again demonstrates the value of Windform for high-performance, heavy-duty and mission-critical applications.”

In addition to the launch, four out of the 13 PocketQubes that participated in the mission, marked their own “firsts,” says Alba Orbital: 

• “UNICORN-2A, 2D & 2E” is Alba Orbital’s first Earth observation satellites designed to provide the highest resolution dataset of the earth at night;
• 1p “PION-BR1” is said to be the first satellite to be developed by a Brazilian startup company;
• 1p “GRIZU-263a” is Turkey’s first pico-satellite to be launched in orbit. It was designed and built by Turkish student team Grizu-263 Uzay Takımı.
• “TARTAN-ARTIBEUS -1” is the first intermittent, orbital edge computing nanosatellite that operates with no batteries aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-3 mission. This open source project was developed at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.).

The other PocketQubes integrated into Alba’s 3D-printed composite deployers were:

• “MDQube-SAT1”: An Argentinian 2p PocketQube developed by “classroom-turned space startup” Innova Space (London, U.K.), carrying out an IoT mission.
• “UNICORN-1”: Another Alba-built 2p PocketQube, designed in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA).
• “HADES” & “EASAT,” twin 1.5p PocketQubes developed in Spain by AMSAT-EA and Hydra Space (Madrid, Spain). They were designed for satellite communications between radio amateurs via a 145/435-megahertz transponder.
• “SATTLA-2A & 2B,” an open-source project developed by Ariel University (Israel). These 2p PocketQubes used WiFi cards for extreme, long-range links applicable to transmit video for more than 600 kilometers in line-of-sight (LOS) conditions.
• “DELFI-PQ,” a 3p PocketQube developed by TU Delft | Aerospace Engineering (Netherlands). This satellite is a tech demo mission testing a LOFAR payload and a laser retro reflector.