The UAE Is Building its AI satellite constellation
Updated: Sep 13
In previous articles I have talked about how satellite imagery has become central to how governments monitor borders, track ships, respond to disasters and understand military activity. In this article I would like to expand on the matter with the latest news coming from The United Arab Emirates.
The country wants to make the jump from buying that information from abroad to being the ones to have the capacity to gather it. Small parenthesis here, if you’re wondering what I mean by this, let me explain.
Governments and entities can buy satellite information from commercial operators such as Maxar, Airbus, Planet or BlackSky, it could come in different ways, but for example, instead of simply buying a picture of a port, the UAE could contract a provider to monitor it daily and report unusual ship movements. But access remains controlled by the provider or sometimes its government, as demonstrated when the United States temporarily suspended Ukrainian accounts on a platform distributing American-purchased commercial imagery in 2025. In light of that then it makes sense why governments want sovereign satellite capacity.
This is the context in which the latest investments take relevance; it demonstrates the efforst to build the industrial capacity, computing power and international partnerships needed to produce intelligence from orbit itself.
Not a new ambition
The UAE has been putting effort in working on their vision. They launched DubaiSat-1 in 2009 and DubaiSat-2 in 2013 with South Korean support, before establishing the UAE Space Agency in 2014. KhalifaSat, launched in 2018, was the first Earth-observation satellite designed and manufactured entirely in the country. The Hope probe reached Mars in 2021, and the UAE is now preparing the MBR Explorer for a 2028 mission through the asteroid belt. These projects form part of the bigger portfolio attempting to diversify beyond hydrocarbons: train Emirati engineers and establish the country as a producer of advanced technology. If you’d like to take a look at other projects they have I recommend MBRSC’s programme history, it documents that progression.
The deal behind the headline
Now let’s talk about the event that actually brought me to write about the topic, and bear with me, we are going to take a trip together on companies relations between each other because it is important to understand it. On September the 8th, Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company (a conglomerate ultimately controlled by the Emirati royal family ) announced that its subsidiary, International Tech Group, was in the process of acquiring an 80 percent stake in Marlan Holding. It is the parent of Marlan Space, an investor and operator company that has in its portfolio space systems, autonomous operations and advanced computing.
This distinction matters: this is not a state purchase of a foreign satellite manufacturer, but the consolidation of an Emirati space company inside one of Abu Dhabi’s largest investment groups. This acquisition announcement gives Marlan access to IHC’s big capital and wider holdings options in AI and digital infrastructure.
Then, one day later, Marlan Space and Loft Orbital announced a $1 billion investment in France for Altair-Next Gen, an initial constellation of 50 AI-enabled satellites serving French, European and Emirati government users as well as commercial customers. The infrastructure will be held by a company under French jurisdiction and the satellites will be produced in Abu Dhabi by Orbitworks.
Orbitworks is a 2024 joint venture or business created between Marlan Space and Loft Orbital who is a company founded in the United States with significant operations in France. The AI support will come from the French company Mistral AI who will provide onboard AI models, and MaiaSpace, also a European entity, has been selected as a preferred launch partner for later missions.
Like so we see the connection between Emirati finance and manufacturing with French AI, European suppliers and Franco-American satellite expertise.
Why put AI on a satellite
So now the question becomes, what will be different about this AI powered satellite constellation compared to the traditional ones?
Traditional Earth-observation satellites collect images and measurements then transmit them to a ground station and wait for those data to be processed. That step consumes bandwidth and can delay a useful answer. An AI-enabled satellite can filter and analyse information directly onboard, then transmit an alert instead of an entire raw dataset. Ideally, authorities could learn within seconds that a wildfire has appeared, a vessel has entered a restricted zone, aircraft have moved at a certain air space or activity near critical infrastructure has changed.
The key advantage is speed, and also prioritisation. A satellite that decides and separates which observations matter can reduce the volume sent to Earth and keep working when ground links are limited. The number also matters, a 50-satellite constellation also shortens the interval between passes over the same area. Together, onboard processing and more frequent coverage move satellite services closer to more constant monitoring rather than occasional snapshots.
Why geopolitics matter
What I would like you as a reader to take away from this article is an awareness that satellites are becoming essential infrastructure, much like ports, undersea cables and data centres. Countries that can build, operate and process the information they collect get faster access to crucial data and greater control over how it is used and this is something that the UAE is trying to do.
On the other hand, the UAE’s willingness to cooperate with several countries also helps it avoid becoming too dependent on a single geopolitical partner, but at least regarding this project, it does not mean complete autonomy. Altair will still depend on foreign AI models, sensors, components and launch providers, while its most sensitive services will operate under French and European regulations.
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