A consortium led by UAE-based Marlan Space and US-French startup Loft Orbital just committed $1B to scale an AI-powered satellite constellation from 10 spacecraft to 50. The Royal Group of Abu Dhabi is bankrolling the expansion, and the first satellite is slated to reach orbit by October 2026.
The announcement, made at the International Space Summit in Paris on September 9, represents one of the largest single investments in commercial Earth observation infrastructure this year. It also marks a deliberate push by Abu Dhabi to build sovereign space capabilities rather than simply buying imagery from Western providers.
What the Altair constellation actually does
The expanded Altair constellation won’t just take pretty pictures of Earth from orbit. Each satellite carries onboard AI designed to process optical, hyperspectral, thermal, infrared, and radar data before it ever reaches a ground station.
Traditional Earth observation satellites collect raw data, beam it down, and leave the heavy analytical lifting to ground-based systems. Altair’s architecture compresses that timeline to seconds, delivering alerts from orbit in near-real-time.
The constellation’s target customers sit primarily in Europe and the UAE.
Abu Dhabi’s space manufacturing bet
The satellites themselves will be built through Orbitworks, a joint venture between Marlan Space and Loft Orbital. The manufacturing facility sits in Abu Dhabi, occupying 5,000 square meters with a production capacity of up to 50 satellites per year. Each spacecraft can weigh up to 500 kg.
The supply chain draws heavily from European component makers. Loft Orbital, headquartered between San Francisco and Toulouse, has built its reputation on making satellite missions more modular and accessible, offering a “satellite-as-a-service” model where customers can fly their payloads without building their own spacecraft.
The consortium has also locked in a contract with CNES, the French space agency, for services associated with the Altair constellation.
The UAE’s broader space ambitions
The International Holding Company, one of Abu Dhabi’s most powerful conglomerates, is planning to acquire an 80% stake in Marlan Holding. That deal would funnel additional capital into the parent company’s space ventures and tie satellite infrastructure more tightly to the UAE’s broader economic diversification strategy.
The UAE has been methodically building its space credentials over the past decade. The Hope Mars Mission in 2021 made the country only the fifth to reach Mars orbit.
The October 2026 launch target for the first Altair satellite will be the most immediate test of execution. The onboard AI claims will also face scrutiny once the constellation is operational, when clients will compare Altair’s alert latency and data quality against competitors like Planet Labs, Maxar, or Airbus Defence and Space.