A planned 50-satellite constellation will use artificial intelligence to analyze sensor data in orbit, transmitting the results to Earth.
The $1-billion initiative, led by UAE-based space investor Marlan Space and space systems company Loft Orbital, aims to build what the companies describe as the world’s largest AI infrastructure in space.
The network will support government and commercial applications such as maritime domain awareness, disaster response, and critical-infrastructure security.
Combining radar, optical, and other sensors with onboard AI, it could deliver processed intelligence within seconds instead of waiting for data to be transmitted and analyzed on the ground.
AI Processing Moves Into Orbit
Loft Orbital will provide the satellite platforms, onboard AI, software, and constellation operations, drawing on its experience deploying more than 100 payloads and supporting 20 AI missions in orbit.
The company has also demonstrated an orbiting vision-language model in collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
French AI company Mistral will supply the onboard models, giving the constellation reasoning and natural-language tasking capabilities.
The first 10 satellites are already in production at a facility in Abu Dhabi, with the initial launch planned for October.
“For the past few years, we have been working on deploying AI applications in space and orchestrating how they work together,” said Loft Orbital chief executive Pierre-Damien Vaujour.
“With this constellation, we’re giving our partners building agentic AI workflows in space a true world-class satellite infrastructure.”
