Satellite Self-Discovery: A Breakthrough in Space-Based AI

Imagine a future where satellites can find what they're looking for all by themselves, without needing humans to sift through data on the ground. That's exactly what just happened with an Earth observation satellite built by Loft Orbital. For the first time, this satellite used a vision-language model to identify areas of interest in response to natural language queries.

The demonstration, which occurred in April, is significant for two reasons. In the near term, it could make space sensors far more useful by doing initial data triage on orbit, reducing the flood of raw data that analysts currently have to wade through. Longer term, it's a proof point toward running larger-scale AI infrastructure in space.

Loft Orbital’s spacecraft are designed as platforms for third-party customers. The business model is closer to infrastructure-as-a-service than traditional satellite manufacturing. One recent deal saw it build, launch, and operate six new satellites for EarthDaily, which will analyze and market the data collected onboard the spacecraft.

The demonstration was made possible by Gemma 3, a vision-language model from Google DeepMind’s Gemma 3 family. The model is purpose-built for edge applications, meaning it is designed to run on limited hardware far from a data center. Researchers asked the model to classify sensor data where natural environment meets human development, or to identify infrastructure around railway hubs — and it did.

Paul Lasserre, Loft’s head of AI, told TechCrunch that this technology opens the door to always-on, patrol layers in space. “If you have a VLM, you can have logic — like ‘monitor this border for me, and let me know when something is suspicious,’ and interact back and forth with the satellites.”

Loft’s spacecraft are equipped with Nvidia Jetson Orin AGX GPUs, one of the leading chips used in space compute. The demonstration is significant because it marks the first reported use of a VLM on orbit. We can expect other companies to follow suit.

Planet Labs flies satellites with Jetson Orin processors; for now, it is using them for simpler object detection tasks, but a spokesperson says research is underway on other AI applications, including VLMs. Kepler Communications, which operates the largest group of GPUs in space, declined to say whether it had deployed VLMs in space due to NDA agreements with partners, but noted that there have been “several undisclosed use cases of our compute environment” since those spacecraft launched in January.

The goal is to build out the constellation to ensure real-time coverage of anywhere on Earth. Loft currently operates 12 spacecraft on orbit, and Lasserre says it would take somewhere between 50 and 100 satellites like YAM-9 to achieve this. Lessons learned deploying these smaller models on orbit will inform how companies attempt to deploy larger-scale compute infrastructure in space, particularly in the prosaic-but-vital areas of power and memory management.

While this is the first reported use of a VLM on orbit, it’s just the beginning. The idea for NAVI-Space began when Delfa Victoria and JPL researcher Taran Cyriac John were thinking about digital assistants for astronauts exploring the moon or Mars. “We’re thinking, okay, you have astronauts with pressurized suits, and you know they cannot be tapping on a keyboard, whatever they want to do is complex,” said Delfa Victoria. “So, how about we provide an assistant, like in video games and in movies, where you see an AI which is interactive?”

For now, this technology is paving the way for smarter space exploration and more efficient data collection from satellites. The future of space-based AI looks bright.