A satellite designed and manufactured entirely in the UAE reached orbit on Friday, marking what officials are calling a turning point for the country's space industry. Altair-1 lifted off at 11:32am UAE time from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, flying as part of the Transporter-18 rideshare mission. It is the first commercial product of Orbitworks, an Abu Dhabi-based company formed through a partnership between Marlan Space and Loft Orbital.
The satellite carries five integrated sensors — optical, short-wave infrared, thermal, hyperspectral and radio frequency — allowing it to gather several types of imagery simultaneously. Altair-1 is the first of a planned ten-satellite constellation due for completion by 2027, which will be able to revisit any point on Earth roughly every four hours once fully deployed. Planned uses span disaster response, maritime surveillance, environmental monitoring, food security and infrastructure monitoring.
Dr Ahmad Al Falasi, UAE Minister of Sport and chairman of the UAE Space Agency, said the launch reflected the strength of the country's national space ecosystem. Orbitworks chief executive Dr Hamdullah Mohib said the achievement signals a shift in the UAE's role in the sector: "The UAE is no longer only a buyer of space capability; it is a builder of it." Loft Orbital chief executive Pierre-Damien Vaujour said the UAE's space ecosystem has been growing steadily on solid foundations.
Orbitworks operates a 4,645-square-metre satellite manufacturing facility in Kezad, Abu Dhabi, which opened in November 2025 and is designed to produce up to 50 satellites a year once running at full capacity. The launch positions the UAE among a small group of countries now building, rather than only buying, commercial satellite hardware.