Abu Dhabi’s Orbitworks sold capacity on its planned Altair satellite constellation to French space agency CNES, securing a useful endorsement for the UAE’s most significant commercial space venture to date.
The first of Orbitworks’ AI-enabled, Earth observation satellites was flown to Los Angeles this month onboard an Emirates plane, ahead of a planned launch in October. Nine others will follow over the next year; all are being built at the Orbitworks facility in Abu Dhabi.
The sale is part of the evolution of the UAE space industry, which has previously made headlines with government-funded missions to send the first Arab astronaut to the International Space Station, and the Hope probe to orbit Mars.
