Less than six months after signing an Earth observation contract with the French Space Agency (CNES), Loft Orbital has delivered on its commitment to rapidly deploy sovereign space capabilities.
Launched on October 1, 2026 onboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission, Altair-1 is the first milestone delivery under MS-HR (Multi-Sensor High Revisit), the multi-year Earth observation contract CNES awarded Loft in partnership with Magellium Artal Group as part of France 2030, France’s national strategic investment plan. It is also the first mission Loft has delivered under CNES’s IOD/IOV (In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation) program, which gives French technology companies faster, more predictable access to orbit to prove out new space capabilities.
Bringing these two France 2030 initiatives together on a common space infrastructure demonstrates Loft’s ability to move rapidly from contract signature to operational delivery, while working with trusted French industrial partners.
Loft Delivers the first CNES IOD/IOV Mission
In December 2025, CNES selected Loft to provide three missions under its IOD/IOV (In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation) program, with launches scheduled in 2026, 2027, and 2028. The program is designed to accelerate the transition from promising technology to proven capability by giving companies faster and more predictable access to orbit.
Under this model, Loft provides satellite infrastructure, payload integration, launch, and mission operations, allowing technology providers to focus on validating their systems in space rather than managing a satellite bus.
The first IOD/IOV mission is now in orbit, carrying Safran Reosc’s SEEING 230 Ident, a new generation of compact optical imagers designed for high-resolution Earth observation. Magellium Artal Group supports the instrument’s in-orbit calibration and image-quality validation, transforming raw observations into reliable, usable data products.
Supporting MS-HR, France’s Multi-Sensor Earth Observation Constellation
The launch is also the first major delivery milestone under MS-HR, the multi-year Earth observation program awarded by CNES to Loft, in partnership with Magellium Artal Group, as part of France 2030. Less than six months after the contract was signed, the first satellite is already in orbit.
MS-HR will leverage a constellation of satellites to provide rapid revisit and faster access to actionable information for French institutional users. Its applications include civil security, maritime awareness, disaster response, environmental monitoring, and defense.
Within this program, Loft provides and operates the space infrastructure, while Magellium handles the image ground segment, payload calibration, and ongoing image-quality monitoring. This complementary partnership provides French institutional users with a secure and controlled chain for processing satellite data designed around their specific operational requirements.
Multi-Sensor Observations and AI Processing in Orbit
The satellite carries five distinct sensing modes on a single shared platform:
- High-resolution optical
- Shortwave infrared (SWIR)
- Thermal infrared (TIR)
- Hyperspectral
- Radiofrequency (RF)
By co-locating these sensors on common space infrastructure, the system can collect different types of information over the same areas of interest simultaneously,enabling a more complete picture of what’s happening on the ground.
Historically, multi-sensor programs required custom-designed architectures for each sensing type. But similar to how cloud platforms run multiple workloads on common hardware, Loft’s approach treats the satellite bus as shared infrastructure making it practical to combine sensing capabilities that would otherwise require separate, dedicated missions.
Onboard Processing: NVIDIA GPUs in Orbit
The satellite also incorporates onboard computing, including NVIDIA GPUs, enabling AI models and software applications to run directly in orbit. Rather than transmitting raw data to the ground for processing, the satellite can filter observations, flag changes of interest, and deliver processed results to reduce the time from data collection to a usable product.
That onboard capability is paired with Magellium’s ground segment, which handles image processing, payload calibration, and ongoing data-quality monitoring. Together, they form a closed loop between what the satellite collects and what French institutional users actually receive.
Delivering With Trusted Industrial Partners
This milestone in developing sovereign capabilities for CNES brings together solutions across the French space ecosystem: Loft’s satellite infrastructure and mission operations, Safran Reosc’s optical technology, and Magellium’s expertise in image processing, calibration, and data quality.
The satellite was assembled and tested in Abu Dhabi by Orbitworks, the joint venture established by Loft Orbital and Marlan Space, and integrated into Loft’s mission infrastructure.
This first launch demonstrates Loft’s ability to deliver complex space capabilities rapidly and reliably. Less than six months after signing the MS-HR contract, the first satellite is in orbit and the first CNES IOD/IOV mission is underway.
