A Glasgow company, started in a bedroom in 2012, that builds tiny PocketQube satellites and the launchers that carry them into orbit.
Alba Orbital builds some of the smallest satellites in the world. A PocketQube is a satellite about the size of a Rubik's cube, much smaller than a standard CubeSat, so it is cheaper to build and to launch. The company's Unicorn-2 platform, which it describes as the world's most capable picosatellite, is a three-unit PocketQube developed with the European Space Agency. It also makes deployers, called Albapods, that hold six or up to 96 satellites and release them in orbit, brokers launches for other teams, and offers ground station services under the name Albaconnect. It is also developing a fleet of night-time imaging satellites.
Tom Walkinshaw founded the company in 2012, starting by building prototype PocketQubes in his bedroom. Its first successful launch was in December 2019, and its website says it had launched 62 PocketQubes on 11 missions, for more than 30 customers on four continents. Mr Walkinshaw says he is passionate about "getting PocketQubes on orbit and helping new teams get flying". That sentence is the nearest the site comes to a mission statement, so we have not invented a longer one. He was named Glasgow Caledonian University Alumni of the Year in 2019 and appeared on a Forbes 30 under 30 list.
The company is based in Glasgow, and the site says it also has entities in the United States and Germany. A 2025 article says it has grown from bedroom prototypes into a dedicated factory in Glasgow, in a city that a council-commissioned report calls Europe's leading small-satellite manufacturing hub. It has contracts with the European Space Agency under its ARTES programme and was selected for the 2026 NATO DIANA cohort in resilient space operations. Customers listed include universities in several countries, small companies and the Saudi Space Agency.
On culture, the site is short on detail. It shows a team photo captioned "teamwork dreamwork" and a strong emphasis on helping new teams, including students and universities, reach orbit, which suggests a community-minded outlook. It was also the first Scottish company to join the Y Combinator start-up programme. Other than that, there is no published information about team size or working style, and we would be wary of guessing.
In a company like this, roles include spacecraft and electronics engineers, mechanical designers who build satellites and deployers, software developers, integration and test technicians who prepare satellites for launch, and customer, launch and operations staff. Because the satellites are tiny, people often handle several jobs, from designing a part to preparing a launch. Physics, electronics, engineering and computing are the natural starting points.
Website: www.albaorbital.com
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