# Altair constellation (Loft Orbital, Marlan Space, Orbitworks): orbital data center program

> United Arab Emirates (Middle East), consortium. Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown. Altair-1, the program's first satellite, launched on SpaceX Transporter-18 on 2026-10-01 with NVIDIA GPUs and is commissioning; edge class.

- Canonical page: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/altair-loft-marlan
- This Markdown version: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/altair-loft-marlan.md
- Data as of: 2026-10-05 (last evidence review)
- How the numbers are made: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers#method

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## Stage evidence

- Altair-1, the program's first satellite, launched on SpaceX Transporter-18 on 2026-10-01 with NVIDIA GPUs and is commissioning; edge class. Sources: [SatellitePro ME](https://satelliteprome.com/news/orbitworks-launches-first-uae-built-commercial-satellite-altair-1/); [Orbitworks](https://orbitworks.space/worlds-largest-ai-infrastructure-in-space-announced-by-the-president-of-the-french-republic/)

## Key figures

- Planned satellites: 50 satellites (company claim). Sources: [Orbitworks](https://orbitworks.space/worlds-largest-ai-infrastructure-in-space-announced-by-the-president-of-the-french-republic/)
- Program value: 1 USD billion (program investment, not a funding round) (company claim). Sources: [Orbitworks](https://orbitworks.space/worlds-largest-ai-infrastructure-in-space-announced-by-the-president-of-the-french-republic/); [Via Satellite](https://www.satellitetoday.com/earth-observation/2026/09/09/loft-orbital-marlan-space-to-build-ai-constellation-to-serve-france-europe-and-uae/)

## Approach

- Orbit: LEO
- Architecture: 50-satellite AI constellation billed as an orbital data center, with an onboard "LLM store"; Mistral vision-language models analyze radar and optical data in orbit and send alerts
- Power: Not disclosed
- Cooling: Not disclosed
- Compute: Onboard AI (specs not disclosed)
- Customers: France, Europe and UAE users: maritime awareness, wildfire, disaster response

## Milestones

| Date | Status | Confidence | Milestone | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-09-08 | achieved | Reported | IHC acquires 80% of Marlan Space | [Via Satellite](https://www.satellitetoday.com/earth-observation/2026/09/09/loft-orbital-marlan-space-to-build-ai-constellation-to-serve-france-europe-and-uae/) |
| 2026-09-09 | achieved | Confirmed | $1B Altair program signed in Paris; first 10 satellites in production. Partners: Mistral AI, BlackSky; MaiaSpace preferred launcher. | [Orbitworks](https://orbitworks.space/worlds-largest-ai-infrastructure-in-space-announced-by-the-president-of-the-french-republic/); [DatacenterDynamics](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/loft-orbital-marlan-space-and-mistral-sign-1bn-deal-to-put-compute-in-space/) |
| 2026-10-01 | achieved | Confirmed | Altair-1 launched on Transporter-18; signal acquired, commissioning. Built by Orbitworks with NVIDIA GPUs. Edge class. | [SatellitePro ME](https://satelliteprome.com/news/orbitworks-launches-first-uae-built-commercial-satellite-altair-1/); [TechAfrica News](https://techafricanews.com/2026/10/02/uae-launches-first-commercial-ai-enabled-earth-observation-satellite/); [NewSpace Economy](https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2026/10/05/can-the-uae-turn-altair-1-into-a-sustainable-satellite-manufacturing-industry/) |

## Announced next steps (as the organisation stated them)

- through 2027: The other nine satellites of the first ten. Sources: [TechAfrica News](https://techafricanews.com/2026/10/02/uae-launches-first-commercial-ai-enabled-earth-observation-satellite/); [NewSpace Economy](https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2026/10/05/can-the-uae-turn-altair-1-into-a-sustainable-satellite-manufacturing-industry/)
- about five years: Deploy the 50-satellite constellation. Sources: [TechRadar](https://www.techradar.com/pro/europe-and-uae-plan-usd1-billion-orbital-data-center-with-50-connected-computers-and-a-central-llm-store-that-allows-users-to-select-what-open-source-model-to-use-on-data-collected-by-satellite-sensors)

## What to watch (SpaceNexus note, not a prediction)

Whether the first Altair satellite launches in October 2026.

## Cautions

- More an AI-enabled Earth-observation constellation than a general-purpose data center; "orbital data center" is the press framing.
- The $1B is a program commitment, not a verified funding round; excluded from totals.
- Edge class: Altair-1 is one AI-enabled satellite, not a data-center-scale node.
- The $1B, 50-satellite plan (2026-09-09) is a program funded by Loft, Marlan and partners, not a firm contract.

## People

- Pierre-Damien Vaujour (CEO, Loft Orbital)
- Hamdullah Mohib (CEO, Marlan Space and Orbitworks)
- Syed Basar Shueb (CEO, IHC)

## Sources

- [SatellitePro ME](https://satelliteprome.com/news/orbitworks-launches-first-uae-built-commercial-satellite-altair-1/)
- [Orbitworks](https://orbitworks.space/worlds-largest-ai-infrastructure-in-space-announced-by-the-president-of-the-french-republic/)
- [Via Satellite](https://www.satellitetoday.com/earth-observation/2026/09/09/loft-orbital-marlan-space-to-build-ai-constellation-to-serve-france-europe-and-uae/)
- [DatacenterDynamics](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/loft-orbital-marlan-space-and-mistral-sign-1bn-deal-to-put-compute-in-space/)
- [TechAfrica News](https://techafricanews.com/2026/10/02/uae-launches-first-commercial-ai-enabled-earth-observation-satellite/)
- [NewSpace Economy](https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2026/10/05/can-the-uae-turn-altair-1-into-a-sustainable-satellite-manufacturing-industry/)
- [TechRadar](https://www.techradar.com/pro/europe-and-uae-plan-usd1-billion-orbital-data-center-with-50-connected-computers-and-a-central-llm-store-that-allows-users-to-select-what-open-source-model-to-use-on-data-collected-by-satellite-sensors)

## Licence and credits

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