Loft Orbital is a space infrastructure-as-a-service provider that simplifies access to space for organizations. They build and operate satellites, flying customer payloads and handling missions end-to-end. Loft Orbital's key offerings include standardized satellite platforms, payload integration services, and mission control software, serving customers like NASA, Microsoft, and the US Space Force. Associated keywords include: space infrastructure, hosted payloads, satellite missions, and space-as-a-service.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
The DESIR mission will leverage Loft Orbital’s experience in hosting commercial and government payloads for rapid orbital deployment.
The DGA’s International Defence Companies Notebook 2026, published in December 2025, lists DESIR as having been entrusted to Loft Orbital in June 2025.
Loft Orbital is the prime contractor for the DESIR project and is responsible for the satellite and the ground control segment.
CNES awarded a contract to a consortium led by Loft Orbital to develop a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery demonstrator.
Loft Orbital’s Virtual Mission Operations Center (VMOC) will be integrated to allow French defense operators to manage the satellite as a dedicated sovereign asset within a shared-resource framework.
France selected Loft Orbital to develop the nation’s first sovereign Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite under a contract announced on January 21, 2026.
Loft Orbital is a commercial company specializing in modular satellite buses and software-defined mission management.
Loft Orbital secured a nearly €50 million (approximately $58.6 million) contract from the French military to deliver France’s first sovereign synthetic-aperture radar capability.
Loft Orbital’s stated platform concept is the ability to fly any payload on any platform, deploy on any cloud, and rely on any ground station network.
Emmanuelle Meric is the European general manager of Loft Orbital.
Loft Orbital aims to put the demonstration SAR satellite into service by mid-2029.
The DESIR agreement is the first time Loft Orbital will act as prime contractor for the French government.
Loft Orbital assembled a consortium of French companies to complete the SAR demonstration contract.
The spacecraft will be built on Loft Orbital’s standard Longbow bus designed for rapid payload integration and on-orbit software updates.
The Canadian Space Agency QEYSSat payload is on the Loft Orbital YAM 4 satellite currently manifested for a Q4 launch on a SpaceX Transporter rideshare mission.
The PUNCH observatory has tracked large coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that loft solar particles across the sky and pass over Earth.
The Dragonette-004 and Dragonette-005 satellites have hyperspectral sensors on the YAM-8 and YAM-9 satellites built by Loft Orbital.
Helsing validated its space-based AI by testing real-time RF signal detection on a Loft Orbital satellite in August 2024.
Loft provides a turnkey deployment for various customer payloads onboard high-power satellites.
Loft's satellites leverage off-the-shelf bus inventory for rapid deployment, enabling launches in months rather than years.