Loft Orbital, Marlan Space, and partners are investing $1 billion to build an artificial intelligence satellite constellation to serve customers across France, Europe, the UAE, and the rest of the world.
The program, announced Wednesday during France’s International Space Summit, brings together Loft Orbital, Marlan Space, a UAE-based investor and subsidiary of Dubai conglomerate IHC, as well as Loft Orbital and Marlan Space joint venture Orbitworks, BlackSky, and Mistrial AI.
This expands plans for the Altair constellation from 10 satellites to 50 satellites. Altair is an Orbitworks Earth Observation (EO) constellation announced last year for sovereign intelligence.
Loft Orbital explained the full constellation will be equipped with radar, optical and other sensors, where different satellites have different capabilities. The constellation will process data in-orbit for applications like maritime domain awareness, wildfire detection and disaster response, and security for ports and critical infrastructure.
Orbitworks will produce the satellites in Abu Dhabi. The first 10 are already in production and set to begin launching this October.
In addition, BlackSky will provide optical imagery satellites as part of the constellation. BlackSKy did not specify how many satellites the deal includes, but they will be based on its Gen-3 satellite platform.
France’s MaiaSpace, a subsidiary of Ariane Group, has been selected as the preferred launch provider.
Loft Orbital CEO Pierre-Damien Vaujour said the constellation will enable solutions that have not been possible in the space industry.
“For the past few years, we have been working on deploying AI applications in space and orchestrating how they work together. With this constellation, we’re giving our partners building agentic AI workflows in space a true world-class satellite infrastructure,” he said in a statement.
Separately, IHC acquired an 80% stake in Marlan Space on Sept. 8 to increase the group’s investment in the space industry.
“By bringing together advanced satellite infrastructure, AI, sovereign capabilities and world-class international partners, this investment positions the UAE and France at the forefront of a rapidly evolving space economy,” commented IHC CEO Syed Basar Shueb. “For IHC, it’s also a powerful example of how we connect capital, technology and global partnerships to build platforms with lasting strategic and commercial relevance.”
