SPACE INDEX COMPANIES INSIGHTS SECTORS PRODUCTS NEWS BLOG ANSWERS RESEARCH ABOUT FOR COMPANIES BUILD / 2026.06.03
Alba Orbital logo Alba Orbital Designs and manufactures PocketQube picosatellites, brokers rideshare launches, and operates a nighttime Earth observation constellation. vs iQPS Develops and operates a constellation of small SAR satellites providing high-resolution radar imagery for near-real-time Earth observation iQPS logo
HEAD-TO-HEAD2 shared sectors
Alba Orbital iQPS
Founded 2012 2005
Headquarters Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom Fukuoka, Japan
Type private public
Status operating operating
Employees 14 62
Total funding $3.4M
Latest round Seed
Sectors Satellite Manufacturing, Earth Observation & Remote Sensing Earth Observation & Remote Sensing, Geospatial Intelligence & Analytics, Satellite Manufacturing
Products listed 5 2
Federal contracts
Launches
Leaders listed Tom Walkinshaw, Irene Belton Shanks Shunsuke Onishi, Toshimitsu Ichiki, Tetsuo Yasaka
News mentions 0 0
SHARED SECTORS
FREQUENTLY ASKED

How do Alba Orbital and iQPS compare?

Both companies work in Satellite Manufacturing, Earth Observation & Remote Sensing. Alba Orbital was founded in 2012 and iQPS in 2005.

Which is larger, Alba Orbital or iQPS?

iQPS reports the larger workforce, with 62 employees versus 14.

Numbers refresh on every render against the live Space Index database. Federal contract data from USAspending.gov; launches from LaunchLibrary2.