AI in orbit: The next evolution of compute infrastructure
The conversation about AI in space keeps arriving at the same image: a floating supercomputer processing the world's information from 400 miles up. It’s a compelling narrative, but there’s a gap between what companies are hoping to build and what is being built today.
General Manager, AI for Space at Loft Orbital.
Today, satellites run on fixed power budgets measured in watts with strict constraints. Bandwidth is scarce enough that every byte reaching the ground has to earn its place.
Those limits push the field toward architecture that looks more like a nervous system, than a data center – lightweight models running onboard that interpret sensor data in near real time and convert observations into structured events. The event reaches the ground.
The raw pixel doesn’t.
From hours to minutes
In a conventional Earth observation pipeline, a satellite captures an image, downlinks it to a ground station, ground systems process...
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