Europe and UAE announce $1 billion orbital data center project featuring AI-powered satellite constellation

Marlan Space and Loft Orbital have unveiled a $1 billion initiative to expand the Altair Earth observation constellation from ten to fifty satellites. Funded by UAE-based investors, the project aims to create an orbital data center capable of processing sensor data in space using Mistral AI models. By performing onboard analysis, the satellites can transmit critical alerts within seconds, bypassing the hours-long delays associated with ground-based processing. A key feature of the program is an AI application store, which allows users to select specific open-source models to run on shared spacecraft. This infrastructure addresses the bottleneck of traditional satellite data transmission by providing real-time, actionable intelligence. The consortium, supported by French AI lab Mistral, plans to deploy the full fleet over the next five years, marking a significant step in sovereign space-based computing and edge AI capabilities for the European Union and the UAE.