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Edinburgh, 19 August 2021. – Rocket Lab will share a ride on Electron with Scottish PocketQube satellite manufacturer, Alba Orbital, alongside Aurora Propulsion Technologies, a Finnish company dedicated to the sustainable use of space, Rocket Lab said.
Rocket Lab’s Electron will deploy four Alba Orbital nano-satellites designed for innovative radio and night-time Earth observation, the company said. The cluster includes Unicorn-2 PocketQube, as well as the TRSI-2, TRSI-3, and MyRadar-1 satellites. Unicorn-2 will be carrying an optical night-time imaging sensor designed to monitor and analyze light pollution and provide insights into human activities and socioeconomic dynamics.
Alba Orbital has already flown six satellites on board of Rocket Lab’s ‘Running out of fingers’ flight. The launch in Q4, 2021 will be the first of the company’s imaging constellation dedicated to imaging the earth at night, Alba Orbital said. The Alba cluster joins AuroraSat-1 from Aurora Propulsion Technologies on this mission.
