Loft Orbital

Recognized under Tier 7 — Interplanetary Communications, Loft Orbital is a U.S. satellite-as-a-service company that hosts customer payloads on standardized spacecraft buses rather than requiring each customer to build and operate its own satellite. In 2026, the company expanded its available bus inventory with ten additional Longbow platforms from Airbus Defence and Space and a new high-power Nova bus line from Apex, and continued deploying multi-satellite missions such as a six-satellite EarthDaily launch and hosted-payload agreements with companies including Esper Satellites and Helsing. By lowering the cost and lead time of getting a communications or sensing payload into orbit, Loft Orbital's shared-infrastructure model offers a template for how lunar and Mars support constellations could be assembled from standardized, mass-produced buses rather than bespoke spacecraft, potentially shortening the timeline for deploying dedicated relay and navigation infrastructure for deep-space missions.