Customer spotlight: Alba Orbital on Transporter-16

Next up in our Transporter-16 customer spotlight series is Alba Orbital — a familiar face and a team we’re always excited to work with. As a repeat SEOPS customer, Alba Orbital continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible with PocketQubes, and this mission is no exception.

Scheduled to launch this month, this dedicated rideshare mission will see Alba Orbital flying five PocketQube payloads, developed by teams across Nepal, Vietnam, Spain, the UK, and the United States. It’s a great snapshot of how global — and accessible — small satellite missions have become.

As the world’s leading PocketQube company, Alba Orbital has already delivered 57 pico-satellites to orbit for global customers, and we’re proud to support them again on this rideshare mission.

Let’s take a closer look at the five payloads heading to space.

Unicorn-2S and Unicorn-2R – Alba Orbital

Unicorn-2S and Unicorn-2R are Alba Orbital’s latest advanced 3P Earth observation PocketQube missions. They build on the proven Unicorn-class platform, with 18 Unicorn satellites already launched.

Following the success of the 2025 Unicorn-2 missions — which returned high-resolution imagery from around the globe — these new satellites focus on further improving performance and reliability. The Unicorn platform features the world’s smallest attitude determination and control system (ADCS), enabling precise Earth pointing in an ultra-compact form factor.

This capability supports Alba Orbital’s long-term vision of high-revisit-rate, nighttime Earth observation, proving once again that PocketQubes can deliver serious EO capability at a small scale.

SpinnyONE – Spinning Around / Hydra Space Systems

SpinnyONE is the flagship mission from Edinburgh-based startup Spinning Around. Built on a 2P PocketQube platform developed by Hydra Space Systems, the satellite serves as an in-orbit technology demonstrator.

The mission will validate core software, micro-electronics, and operational architecture behind Spinning Around’s vision of accessible, customisable gravitational environments for life-science research. SpinnyONE will capture and transmit imagery and data from orbit, demonstrating a low-cost, scalable orbital microlab — and opening the door to more frequent, affordable life-science experiments in Low Earth Orbit.

DECIMAL-SAT1 “Elephant Juice” – OCULLO Space

Also flying as a 1P PocketQube, DECIMAL-SAT1, known as the Elephant Juice mission, is developed by OCULLO Space. The satellite hosts a unique DNA data-storage payload, created in collaboration with BioSistemika and XexiconSat.

Inspired by NASA’s Voyager Golden Record, Elephant Juice encodes messages within DNA and sends them into orbit — blending aerospace engineering with modern biotechnology. Alongside its technical goals, the mission has a strong education and outreach focus, showing how PocketQubes can inspire new generations while exploring bold, cross-disciplinary ideas.

VEGAFLY-1 – Vega Space and Geospatial Academy

VEGAFLY-1 is an education-focused 1P PocketQube developed to give students in Vietnam hands-on experience designing, building, and operating a real satellite in orbit.

The mission carries a simple imaging payload that captures photos from space and makes them publicly available for learning and outreach. It also includes an amateur radio digipeater, inviting radio operators around the world to interact directly with the satellite. VEGAFLY-1 is a great example of how PocketQubes can combine education, community engagement, and open data.

With five diverse payloads flying with us on this mission, Alba Orbital continues to showcase the versatility and global impact of PocketQube technology. We’re proud to support them once again and look forward to working together on Transporter-16 and future rideshare missions.