AMSAT-EA partners with Alba Orbital for second SpaceX launch of 2022
AMSAT-EA selects alba orbital as mission partner for second time following successful in-orbit deployment of amsat built ‘twin’ Pico-satellites via spacex in january 2022
Image of the SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle during the Transporter-3 mission which successfully launched Alba Orbital’s ‘Cluster 3 and 4’ satellites in January 2022. Two AMSAT-EA satellites (HADES and EASAT-2) were successfully deployed in-orbit on this mission.
15th February 2022 - Following the mission success of Alba Cluster 3 & 4 in the new year, Alba Orbital and AMSAT-EA (Spain) today announced a rideshare agreement to launch another PocketQube satellite (‘URESAT-1’) on-board Alba Cluster 6 in Q4 2022, a project managed by AMSAT-EA, a non-profit amateur radio association, on behalf of Union de Radioaficionados Españoles (URE), the Spanish Radio League Association. The mission is scheduled to fly via SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle using Alba Orbital’s flight-proven AlbaPod to deploy the pico-satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
URESAT-1 is the latest iteration of the GENESIS pico-satellite platform used by AMSAT-EA missions with the engineering support from Hydra Space, a company also based in Madrid. Development of the URESAT-1 will draw from AMSAT-EA and Hydra Space experience of previous GENESIS missions, which recently achieved space heritage with the successful deployments of their twin pico-satellites, HADES and EASAT-2, that launched to orbit on board the ‘Alba Cluster 3’ mission via SpaceX on January 13th 2022.
President of AMSAT-EA (Félix Páez) in the Alba Orbital cleanroom facility holding the HADES pico-satellite prior to the satellite integration process.
Three pico-satellites integrated into the AlbaPod deployer including (from left to right): HADES (1.5p), EASAT-2 (1.5p) and DELFI-PQ (3p; developed by TU DELFT.)
Similarly to these satellites, URESAT-1 will incorporate an FM voice and an FSK data repeater with store and forward capability, used to relay frames such as the ones on APRS, an IoT (Internet of Things) network for amateur radio use. All functionalities will be open so anybody with a proper license will be able to use and experiment with them.
Measuring at just 5 x 5 x 8 cm (roughly the size of a rubik’s cube), AMSAT-EA’s pico-satellites are able to accommodate a wide variety of payloads for in-space experiments. The current implementation of the URESAT-1 platform is to support communications between radio amateurs through the regenerative relay (or ‘mailbox’), featuring simple message exchange capabilities.
President of AMSAT-EA (Félix Páez; pictured on left) meeting Founder and CEO of Alba Orbital (Tom Walkinshaw; pictured on the right) at the Spanish Small Satellites International Forum (SSSIF) in Malaga, Spain (Feb, 2020).
“We’re delighted to be AMSAT-EA’s mission partner once again”, said Alba Orbital Founder and Chief Executive, Tom Walkinshaw. “Achieving flight heritage is a major milestone for any space company, so we’re proud to be a part of AMSAT-EA’s recent success in-orbit. Thanks to teams like AMSAT-EA, we are proving that PocketQubes can make it simpler, faster and more affordable to access space.”
Félix Páez, President of AMSAT-EA, said “We are very happy to continue working with Alba in this mission as their services have been very valuable to us. Having a reliable partner you can trust due to their experience is vital for space operations. With this launch we are going to improve the technology used in previous missions and continue working for the radio and scientific community that uses our satellites”.
Alba Orbital has four PocketQube launch clusters planned for 2022, making space access easier, faster and more affordable for small organisations. Alba’s January SpaceX flight alone broke records as the world’s largest PocketQube launch to date with 13 satellites manifested on board. If you are thinking of sending your own payload to orbit, get in touch with Alba Orbital’s launch team at contact@albaorbital.com 🚀
About Alba Orbital
Alba Orbital (UK, USA, Germany) is the world’s leading PocketQube company that has launched 19 pico-satellites on-orbit to date. Alba is a vertically integrated NewSpace company ‘democratising access to space’, providing turnkey solutions from advanced pico-satellite platforms, low-cost launch opportunities, and ground station services. Alba has worked with over 30 customers across three continents, including prestigious clients such as Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University and TU Delft.
For more information, visit www.albaorbital.com or get in touch at contact@albaorbital.com.
About AMSAT-EA
AMSAT EA is a non-profit Spanish cultural association dedicated to the study, dissemination of information and the promotion and development of space satellites for communication of the Amateur Radio Service, as well as the educational, scientific and experimental work that is associated.
For more information visit https://www.amsat-ea.org/ or get in touch at contact (at) amsat-ea.org