FOSSA Systems & CMU Portugal to Launch ‘Pocket Satellite’ with Alba Orbital on SpaceX Falcon 9

Portugal’s 1st pocketqube, prometheus-1, to be delivered to orbit later this year

23rd July 2024 (Glasgow, UK) – Alba Orbital, the leading PocketQube launch broker, announced that FOSSA Systems has signed a rideshare services agreement launch PROMETHEUS-1, Portugal's first PocketQube satellite, developed under the CMU Portugal Program Exploratory Research project to promote affordable, open access to space for research and education.

Funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the International Partnership CMU Portugal Program, PROMETHEUS-1, is an open-sourced 1P PocketQube developed at Universidade do Minho in collaboration with Instituto Superior Técnico and Carnegie Mellon University (USA).

PocketQubes are tiny satellites, the size of a Rubik's Cube (5x5x5cm), making space more affordable and accessible. They perform missions from educational demos to large-scale commercial constellations for IoT and Earth Observation.

The PROMETHEUS-1 project will test the Pycubed-mini platform from Carnegie Mellon’s Rexlab, led by Prof. Zac Manchester. Alexandre Ferreira da Silva, PI of the project, plans to use this platform as an educational tool for Aerospace Engineering students at UMinho next year.

"PocketQubes, such as PROMETHEUS-1, represent a new frontier in satellite technology," says Alexandre Ferreira da Silva, the project's principal investigator. "Their small size and low cost democratise access to space, offering unprecedented opportunities in a classroom and lab, by bringing space to the inside of a classroom."

PROMETHEUS-1 and six other client satellites were successfully integrated into Alba Orbital’s PocketQube deployer at their new facilities, in early July 2024. After integration, the cluster of pocket-sized satellites will be shipped to SpaceX before hitching a ride to Low Earth Orbit.

PROMETHEUS-1 is set to launch in Q4 2024 aboard Alba Orbital's 8th campaign on SpaceX’s Transporter-12 mission. This mission highlights open-source innovation, collaboration, and transparency in the scientific community, inspiring future scientists and engineers.

“Launching FOSSASAT-1 on Alba's 2019 maiden flight was a proud moment for both Alba Orbital and FOSSA Systems,” said Tom Walkinshaw, CEO of Alba Orbital. “Now, with PROMETHEUS-1 and CMU Portugal, we're eager to keep breaking down the barriers to space together.”

“At Fossa Systems, we believe space should be accessible to all,”said CEO Julian Fernandez. “PROMETHEUS-1's open-source ethos aligns with our mission of democratising space access”.

Alba Orbital, the leading PocketQube rideshare provider, has launched 41 satellites with partners like SpaceX and Rocket Lab. We make space exploration accessible and reliable. Want to launch your mission? Contact us at contact@albaorbital.com or fill out our contact form.

ABOUT ALBA ORBITAL

Alba Orbital (UK, USA, Germany) is the world’s leading PocketQube company that has delivered 41 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.

Press contact: Caius Reza, Head of Business & Marketing; caius.reza@albaorbital.com.

About CMU Portugal

The mission of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program (CMU Portugal) is to place Portugal at the forefront of innovation in ICT related areas, through state-of-the-art research, excellence in postgraduate training, and a very close connection with Portuguese industry. The Program, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), is the result of a collaboration between the Portuguese government and the University of Carnegie Mellon (CMU), which began in October 2006. This international partnership involves, in addition to CMU, 15 Portuguese universities and +150 partner companies. The Program has already supported 86 collaborative research projects and served as a hub for entrepreneurial initiatives, having contributed to the creation of twelve startups.

For more information visit: https://cmuportugal.org/

ABOUT Fossa systems

FOSSA Systems provides a range of services including IoT connectivity and dedicated infrastructure, offering IoT solutions for asset monitoring through their satellites and ground networks. It sells to sectors such as agriculture, energy and utilities, infrastructure and construction, logistics, oil and gas, smart farming, and national security and defense. The company was founded in 2018 and is based in Madrid, Spain. For more information visit: https://fossa.systems/