Launch market, brokers & orbital transfer vehicles

Also known as Transporter rideshare, Alba Cluster, Orbital transfer vehicle, D-Orbit ION

How PocketQubes and CubeSats buy rides to orbit: dedicated rideshare missions, turnkey launch brokers, orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs) and historical routes.

Document
SQ-OP-007
Updated
21 Oct 2026
Reading time
1 min
In this tab

Four routes to low Earth orbit#

In the PocketQube census ( spacecraft)[1], picosatellites reached orbit through four distinct deployment routes:

  • From a host satellite
  • From the launch vehicle
  • From an orbital transfer vehicle
PocketQubes launched per year by route to orbit010203040Spacecraft2013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Show the data as a table
CategoryFrom a host satelliteFrom the launch vehicleFrom an orbital transfer vehicleTotal
20134004
20140000
20150000
20160000
20170000
20180000
20190606
20200000
20213609
2022030838
2023002020
20240000
202509716
PocketQubes launched per year in 2013–2025, stacked by route to orbit (nadir lab. census, Appendix A).
  1. Host satellite ejection (2013): The first four PocketQubes were carried inside GAUSS Srl's UniSat-5 microsatellite on a Dnepr rocket and ejected in orbit via MRFOD[2].
  2. Direct launch-vehicle upper stage (2019–2022): Deployers such as (on Rocket Lab Electron and Falcon 9 Transporter-3) and Libre Space Foundation's PicoBus (on Firefly Alpha) mounted directly to the upper stage or adapter ring[3][4].
  3. Orbital Transfer Vehicles — OTVs (2021–present): Over half of recent PocketQubes fly inside AlbaPods mounted on D-Orbit's ION Satellite Carrier, which separates from Falcon 9 first and then releases individual PocketQubes one by one over days or weeks, easing post-deployment identification[1].
  4. Sub-orbital / failed launch attempts: Missions aboard early test flights (such as Firefly Alpha FLTA002 in October 2022, which reached and re-entered within days[5]) highlight launch-vehicle maturity trade-offs.

References

  1. [1]nadir lab. (2026). PocketQube picosatellites: A review of standards, mission trends and miniaturization constraints, with lessons learned from Grizu-263A, Türkiye’s first PocketQube [Preprint]. nadir lab.Read on nadir lab.
  2. [2]Krebs, G. D. (2026). UniSat 5. Gunter’s Space Page.space.skyrocket.de(accessed 20 October 2026)
  3. [3]eoPortal. (n.d.). Alba Orbital Unicorn PocketQubes. ESA eoPortal satellite missions database.eoportal.org(accessed 20 October 2026)
  4. [4]Libre Space Foundation. (2026). LSF-PICOBUS PocketQube deployer.libre.space(accessed 20 October 2026)
  5. [5]SpaceNews. (2022). Report on the outcome of Firefly Alpha flight FLTA002.spacenews.com(accessed 20 October 2026)
  6. [6]Bouwmeester, J., Radu, S., Uludag, M. S., Chronas, N., Speretta, S., Menicucci, A., & Gill, E. K. A. (2020). Utility and constraints of PocketQubes. CEAS Space Journal, 12(4), 573–586.doi:10.1007/s12567-020-00300-0

Cite this SatWiki entry

@misc{nadirlab2026launch,
  author       = {{nadir lab.}},
  title        = {{Launch market, brokers \& orbital transfer vehicles}},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = oct,
  howpublished = {nadir lab. SatWiki SQ-OP-007 (Rev. 1)},
  url          = {https://nadirlab.space/en/wiki/launch-market/}
}