By Nicolò Donà dalle Rose – Business and Corporate Development Director
In an era defined by persistent geopolitical uncertainty, the imperative for nations to secure their strategic interests has never been more pronounced. From evolving security threats to the need for advanced environmental monitoring, the ability to control space infrastructure underpins national security, economic development, and global competitiveness. National leaders need simple, reliable, and transparent solutions to maintain access to space.
Growing Demand for Sovereign Space Capabilities
Around the world, demand for space is accelerating. Emerging economies once dependent on foreign providers are now seeking to establish domestic programs. Established spacefaring nations are expanding their capabilities to meet new challenges and maintain their competitive edge.
The use cases are increasingly complex, spanning defense and civilian applications alike:
- National Security: intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, secure communications, and missile early warning.
- Environmental & Disaster Monitoring: disaster response, sustainable agriculture, weather monitoring, and water resource management.
- Connectivity & Navigation: broadband access for remote regions, direct-to-device networks, and precise positioning for infrastructure and autonomous systems.
Each nation’s objectives are unique, but they share a common challenge: how to deploy capabilities quickly, reliably, and affordably—while maintaining sovereignty.
Legacy Barriers to National Space Programs
But the path to achieving these goals has historically been fraught with challenges. Traditional aerospace companies have lengthy development cycles and a lack of transparency regarding the underlying technology and operational control. By the time systems are launched, the technology may already be obsolete and no longer able to meet emerging threats and opportunities.
The legacy approach to space infrastructure development has also proved to be complex and prohibitively expensive. National leaders, seeking to quickly acquire critical capabilities, have at times been forced to accept these limitations, only to find themselves heavily invested in systems that were difficult to adapt, costly to maintain, and lacked the agility to respond to rapidly changing requirements.
Recognizing these challenges, a new generation of providers seeking to capture market share have begun promising risky solutions – from unrealistic timelines to infeasible technological capabilities – based on minimal space heritage. Nations, particularly those new to the space arena, have often felt burned by experiences where they were offered opaque, “black box” solutions.
The result: governments are forced into a false choice between slow, inflexible legacy providers and risky, unproven newcomers.
A New Approach for Simple Access to Space
The future of national space programs demands a new paradigm—fast, simple, and reliable access to orbit that balances sovereignty with proven commercial expertise. Loft Orbital and Orbitworks offer a novel “Space Infrastructure as a Service” model that streamlines the entire process, from mission design and payload integration to launch and in-orbit operations.
- Speed to Orbit
Loft drastically reduces time from concept to orbit. By maintaining satellites in inventory and streamlining integration with a turnkey satellite platform, nations can deploy capabilities in months instead of years—ensuring assets are operational before threats or opportunities emerge. This approach eliminates the need for nations to invest in costly and time-consuming satellite development, allowing them to focus on their specific mission requirements. We provide the expertise and infrastructure, while empowering nations to retain control over their assets. - Simplicity and Flexibility
Simplicity translates to user-friendly interfaces and modular architectures that de-mystify satellite operations and reduce the burden of technical expertise. Organizations can leverage AI-driven applications that maximize utility of the satellites while customizing the operations to national needs. This model can also be flexibly deployed out of the United States, France, and the United Arab Emirates. - Proven Reliability
Loft combines commercial agility with spaceflight heritage. Every mission is backed by flight-proven technology, rigorous testing, and a record of operational performance. Nations retain full control over their assets, avoiding reliance on opaque or untested systems. This ensures that space programs are not just acquired, but truly owned and operated by the nations themselves, thereby enhancing sovereignty and long-term strategic resilience.
By offering a rapid, reliable, and cost-effective path to orbit, Loft Orbital is unlocking the full potential of space infrastructure, enabling nations of all sizes to leverage the power of satellite technology for their security, prosperity, and strategic autonomy in a rapidly changing world.
