·Rocket Lab Electron Flight 10 / Alba Orbital Cluster 2 / BME Budapest

6 December 2019: Rocket Lab Electron (Alba Cluster 2) Deploys Six PocketQubes: SMOG-P, ATL-1, FossaSat-1, TRSI-Sat & Noor-1A/1B

Launched from Mahia, New Zealand on 6 December 2019, Alba Cluster 2 deployed six PocketQubes into a ~385 km orbit, including SMOG-P and FossaSat-1.

After a six-year hiatus following the inaugural 2013 Dnepr launch, the PocketQube standard returned to orbit on 6 December 2019 aboard Rocket Lab’s 10th Electron mission ('Running Out Of Fingers') from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand.

Stowed inside Alba Orbital’s flight-qualified AlbaPod deployer were six picosatellites: BME Budapest’s 1P SMOG-P (MO-105, 183 g) and 2P ATL-1 (MO-106), Spain’s 1P FossaSat-1 (demonstrating direct-to-satellite LoRa chirp spread spectrum modulation), ACME AtronOmatic’s 1P TRSI-Sat, and Stara Space / Alba Orbital’s 3P Noor-1A and Noor-1B (Unicorn-2B and Unicorn-2C).

Injected into a low ~385 km circular orbit, SMOG-P and ATL-1 operated for ten months before natural atmospheric re-entry in September/October 2020, mapping anthropogenic UHF DVB-T radio-frequency pollution across every continent and ocean.

CELESTRAK SATCAT & TELEMETRY RECORD

Verified Spacecraft Key Facts & Orbital Dossier

SpacecraftClassOperator / CountryLaunch & VehicleNORAD / COSPAROrbit & RF DownlinkCatalog Status
SMOG-P
Mission Index
1P
BME
HU
Electron · AlbaPod
NORAD 44832
2019-084J
UHF
Decayed
ATL-1
Mission Index
2P
ATL Ltd.
HU
Electron · AlbaPod
NORAD 44830
2019-084G
UHF
Decayed
FossaSat-1
Mission Index
1P
Fossa Systems
ES
Electron · AlbaPod
NORAD 44829
2019-084F
436.7 MHz (UHF)
Decayed
TRSI-Sat
Mission Index
1P
ACME AtronOmatic
US
Electron · AlbaPod
Unassigned
Unverified
NOOR 1A
Mission Index
3P
Stara Space
US
Electron · AlbaPod
NORAD 44827
2019-084D
Decayed
NOOR 1B
Mission Index
3P
Stara Space
US
Electron · AlbaPod
NORAD 44828
2019-084E
Decayed

Catalogued Mission Summaries & Flight Notes

SMOG-P (1P, 2019):
Spectrum analyser that mapped man-made electromagnetic emissions from orbit, including the DVB-T band.
ATL-1 (2P, 2019):
Carried an in-orbit experiment on a new thermal-insulation material.
FossaSat-1 (1P, 2019):
Open-source 1P that tested LoRa and RTTY transmissions in the 435–438 MHz amateur band as a step towards low-cost IoT links.
NOOR 1A (3P, 2019):
First flight of Alba Orbital’s Unicorn-2 3P platform, flown for Stara Space.
NOOR 1B (3P, 2019):
First flight of Alba Orbital’s Unicorn-2 3P platform, flown for Stara Space.

Related SatWiki Specifications & Fleet Records

SQ-MS-003Hungarian PocketQubes (SMOG-P, ATL-1, SMOG-1, MRC-100)SQ-MS-004FossaSat familySQ-SS-009Antennas & deployment mechanisms

Related Historical Dossiers from This Era

2017-02-1515 February 2017: ISRO PSLV-C37 Deploys 104 Satellites on a Single Launch Including 88 Planet Labs 3U ‘Dove’ Imagers & Nayif-1
2013-11-2121 November 2013: Dnepr & UniSat-5 Deploy the World’s First Four 5 cm PocketQubes ($50SAT, WREN, BeakerSat-1, QubeScout-S1)