ORB-8 / ORB-16 — Mid-size Nanosatellite Platform
OrbAstro
OrbAstro's ORB-8/ORB-16 are mid-size nanosatellite platforms: 5.2-7.9 kg bus mass, 9.8-27.1 kg payload capacity, 72 W solar, 144 Wh battery, Zynq Ultrascale+ OBC, LEO/MEO/GEO capable, priced from £350,000.
Typed specifications9 values
Discloses 2 of 7 fields engineers filter by in this category (category median 3).
- Power consumption
- 2 000 W product page
- Orbit
- LEO product page MEO | GEO
- Max payload mass
- 9.8 kg product page
- Payload volume, U
- 6.5 U product page
- Power available to payload
- 14 W product page
- Power generation (orbit average)
- 2 000 W peak · product page
- Battery capacity
- 16–576 Wh product page
Each value is typed with its unit and measurement condition and cites the datasheet page it was taken from. Nothing is guessed: a field that is absent here has not been published by the manufacturer. machine-extracted ✓ checked by NewSpace Market ✓ manufacturer confirmed by the manufacturer.
As published by the supplier12 lines, in the manufacturer's own wording
- Variants
- ORB-8 (6.5U payload) and ORB-16 (16U payload)
- Bus mass (wet)
- ORB-8: 5.2 kg; ORB-16: 7.9 kg
- Max payload mass
- ORB-8: 9.8 kg; ORB-16: 27.1 kg
- Max payload volume
- ORB-8: 6.5U; ORB-16: 16U
- Solar power generation
- 72 W (expandable to 168 W)
- Battery capacity
- 144 Wh (ORB-8 expandable to 288 Wh; ORB-16 to 576 Wh)
- Continuous payload power
- 14 W (upgradeable to 154 W)
- Peak power
- 2 kW
- OBC
- Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC 5EG, 4 GB LPDDR4
- Orbit
- LEO (12+ yr), MEO (5 yr), GEO (10+ yr)
- Operations service
- £8,000 / month
- Price (platform)
- From £350,000
About
The ORB-8 and ORB-16 are OrbAstro’s mid-size nanosatellite platforms designed for higher-performance Earth observation, science, and commercial missions that exceed the capability ceiling of CubeSat form factors. The ORB-8 features a 5.2 kg (wet) bus mass supporting up to 9.8 kg of payload within 6.5U of payload volume. The ORB-16 scales to 7.9 kg (wet) bus with up to 27.1 kg payload in 16U volume, for missions requiring larger optics, higher-powered RF payloads, or redundant subsystems. Both variants share the same core avionics architecture centred on a Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC (5EG) processing platform with 4 GB LPDDR4, providing significant on-board computation for AI-driven payload processing or multi-beam communications payloads. Power generation is 72 W (expandable to 168 W with additional solar panels) with 144 Wh battery (expandable to 288/576 Wh depending on variant). Continuous payload power is 14 W, upgradeable to 154 W, with 2 kW peak capability. The platforms are qualified for LEO lifetimes exceeding 12 years, MEO up to 5 years, and GEO up to 10+ years. Operations are provided as a managed service at £8,000 per month. OrbAstro is a UK-based satellite bus manufacturer.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.