ORB-3 — 3U CubeSat Satellite Platform
OrbAstro
OrbAstro's ORB-3 is a flight-ready 3U CubeSat bus: up to 5 kg total, 3 kg payload capacity, 36 Wh battery, 5.5 W orbital-average solar power, 0.1° pointing accuracy, electric propulsion, 8-10 year design life.
Key figurescomparable across the catalogue
- Payload capacity
- 3 kg
- Power
- 160 W
- Design life
- 10 years
Normalised to common units so this product can be compared with others in its category. The supplier's own wording is below.
As published by the supplier
- Form factor
- 3U CubeSat
- Total spacecraft mass
- Up to 5 kg
- Payload mass
- Up to 3 kg
- Payload volume
- ~2U (196 × 95 × 95 mm)
- Battery capacity
- 36 Wh (upgradeable to 72 Wh)
- Solar power (orbital average)
- 5.5 W
- Payload power (orbital average)
- 3.5 Wh (upgradeable to 20 Wh)
- Max power consumption
- 160 W
- Pointing accuracy
- 0.1°
- Pointing knowledge
- 0.01°
- Propulsion
- Electric, 116 µN max thrust
- Interfaces
- I2C, SPI, USART, CAN, LVDS, PCIe 3.0, USB 2.0, Ethernet
- Orbit
- LEO / SSO
- Design life
- 8-10 years
- Price (base bus)
- £60,000 (+ £95,000 launch)
About
The ORB-3 is OrbAstro’s entry-level 3U CubeSat satellite platform, designed for Earth observation technology demonstration, science, and IoT missions where low cost and rapid time-to-orbit are paramount. The platform accommodates up to 3 kg of payload in approximately 2U of volume (196 × 95 × 95 mm), with a total spacecraft mass not exceeding 5 kg. Power is provided by body-mounted solar panels delivering 5.5 W orbital average, backed by a 36 Wh battery (upgradeable to 72 Wh), and 3.5 Wh orbital average payload power (upgradeable to 20 Wh with deployable arrays). The attitude determination and control system achieves 0.1° pointing accuracy with 0.01° knowledge. A 116 µN maximum electric propulsion system supports orbit maintenance and controlled deorbit. The platform provides a rich interface suite including I2C, SPI, USART, CAN, LVDS, PCIe 3.0, USB 2.0, and Ethernet for payload integration. The ORB-3 is designed for 8-10 years of mission life in LEO/SSO. OrbAstro (Orbital Astronautics Ltd.) is a UK-based satellite bus manufacturer offering a product family from 3U CubeSats through ESPA-class platforms.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.