Abu Dhabi's Marlan Space teams up with US start-up for satelliite manufacture

Abu Dhabi-based Marlan Space has teamed up with U.S. startup Loft Orbital to establish Orbitworks, a satellite manufacturer that will focus on the Middle East market, reports Matthew Fulco.

U.S. startup Loft Orbital is teaming up with Abu Dhabi-based Marlan Space to produce satellites in the United Arab Emirates for the Middle East market. Image: Jose Luis Stephens / Alamy Stock Photo

Marlan Space is affiliated with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investment fund with other space sector investments include Anduril, True Anomaly and Balerion Space Ventures.

Orbitworks will be the first company in the UAE to manufacture commercial low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. The company will have an initial investment of more than $100 million and is targeting the production of up to 50 500-kg satellites per year.

In a news release, Orbitworks says that its first satellite platform is expected to be assembled, integrated, and tested by early 2025. The company has also secured components for its first 10 satellites. The first of those could be launched as soon as early 2026.

Orbitworks arrives as the UAE ramps up its space presence. Its investments in the space economy exceeded $6 billion in 2023.

NASA and the UAE have also announced plans for the latter’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center to provide an airlock for Gateway, the first space station that will orbit the Moon.

“The UAE’s provision of the airlock to Gateway will allow astronauts to conduct groundbreaking science in deep space and prepare to one day send humanity to Mars,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

“We have long believed in the dynamism and growth of the UAE’s space sector,” Pierre-Damien Vaujour, CEO of Loft Orbital, says in a statement. He added that his company is excited about the Middle Eastern country’s vision for scaled production and operations of LEO satellite constellations.

 

 

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