More Longbow platforms and new Apex Nova bus procurements expand Loft’s shelf-ready inventory, reinforcing a model built on automated fleet management and mission integration, not bus manufacturing.
Loft announced the procurement of 10 new Longbow satellites and the availability of a larger, high-powered satellite platform, expanding our inventory to meet growing customer demand. This reflects continued momentum for Loft’s space infrastructure services, offering a range of off-the-shelf buses so loft can focus on the integration and execution of customer missions.
Loft has now procured more than 50 satellite buses, working with a curated network of bus providers selected for reliability and their ability to serve diverse mission profiles. This bus-agnostic model allows Loft to serve a wide range of customers mission requirements, scale capacity in response to demand, and ensure no single hardware dependency constrains the system’s ability to deliver mission outcomes.
We have launched more than 15, and will expand our fleet to 30 satellites by the end of 2027, to become one of the largest commercial heterogeneous satellite fleets in low Earth orbit.
Our bus-agnostic philosophy
Loft was founded on the idea that satellite bus manufacturing and mission operations represent fundamentally distinct business models. Bus manufacturing centers on subsystem design, supply chain optimization, and repeatable hardware production. Loft’s expertise in mission integration and operations centers on software-defined mission execution, payload deployment, and automated fleet management at scale.
As the satellite bus market has matured and bus platforms have grown increasingly productized, we are focusing its resources on the software and operational system that transforms a spacecraft into a functional mission. This approach allows Loft to work with multiple bus providers, source the best bus platforms to meet mission requirements, and maintain a standard integration process that minimizes non-recurring engineering costs and time in orbit.
How it works
Loft maintains an inventory of satellite platforms at its integration and test facilities. When a customer mission is ready, Loft selects the appropriate bus for the mission profile, integrates the payload, and ships the integrated satellite to the launch site on a pre-procured launch. After launch, Loft operates the satellite through the mission lifetime, with options for customers to be as hands-on or hands-off as needed. The process is designed for speed, reliability, and scale with minimal bus-specific nonrecurring engineering per mission.
At the core of our business’ integration and mission operations services are Loft’s proprietary Hub universal payload adapter and secure Cockpit mission control software. These technologies are abstraction layers that decouple the customer’s payload from the satellite bus, allowing Loft to offer standardized platforms from a wide range of providers with consistent hardware and software interfaces.
This model has allowed Loft to deploy more than 35 customer missions in 5 years, including the deployment of 2 constellations.
Expanding our inventory of satellites on a shelf
Loft has procured multiple buses to fly satellites in the 100 kg – 1,000 kg class. 10 new Longbow platforms will replenish our inventory of ready-for-integration bus platforms, a direct reflection of customer demand for Loft’s mission integration platform. The Longbow platform, which carries OneWeb heritage, is a proven foundation for our standard mission profiles across government, defense, and commercial payloads.
Alongside the additional Longbows, Loft has also procured a larger bus from Apex Space, designed for missions requiring greater power, volume, and performance. This larger, high-powered bus platform will serve customers with more demanding mission requirements, opening up new capabilities for all our customers.
Together, these procurements mean that Loft is able to accommodate a broader range of missions, ensuring that customers can now be served through a single integrator and operator.
