Altair-1, first UAE-built commercial AI Earth observation satellite, launches

Altair-1, the first commercial satellite built in the UAE, launched on 1 October 2026 aboard SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. It deployed, acquired a signal and is in commissioning. Orbitworks, a joint venture of Marlan Space and Loft Orbital, assembled and tested it at its Abu Dhabi facility in KEZAD.

It is the first of ten satellites in the Altair constellation, with the other nine due through 2027. Each carries optical, shortwave infrared, thermal, hyperspectral and radio frequency sensors, with onboard NVIDIA GPUs processing data in orbit within minutes. At full strength the constellation is designed to revisit any point on Earth about every four hours.

Customers can buy a satellite and its data or task and license it as a service. Early users include French government bodies plus two Abu Dhabi organisations, a maritime academy and a development fund. Orbitworks is also talking to prospective customers in North America, Africa and Asia.

Why it matters: Onboard processing and multi-sensor tasking could shorten the time from detection to action for wildfire, maritime and food-security monitoring. Orbitworks says it is discussing access to the remaining capacity with prospective African customers.