Ubotica demonstrates world-first autonomous onboard scheduling for Earth observation satellites using orbital AI

Ubotica demonstrates world-first autonomous onboard scheduling for Earth observation satellites using orbital AI

European space technology firm recently demonstrated how a low-cost satellite can identify a vessel and independently schedule a follow-up observation without ground station intervention, advancing the future of real-time maritime intelligence.

November 4, 2026 - Ubotica, the space technology firm pioneering Orbital AI for maritime security, has achieved a world first in commercial Earth observation, demonstrating how a low-cost satellite can use onboard artificial intelligence to identify a feature of interest on Earth and autonomously schedule a follow-up image in space without ground station intervention.

The breakthrough, coined as Autonomous Scheduling, marks a major step towards satellites that can think and act for themselves in space. Instead of capturing images, sending to earth for processing, and waiting for instructions via a ground station, this breakthrough technology uses onboard AI to identify a feature of importance in an image, and autonomously schedule a follow-up observation of it from space.

By removing the need for a ground station to coordinate each new observation, Autonomous Scheduling could dramatically speed up the collection of vital maritime intelligence, as European governments face growing security pressures, including shadow fleets, ships operating without identification signals and potential threats to the continent's subsea communications cables and offshore energy assets.

In early October this year, Ubotica's CogniSAT-6 captured an image in the Pacific Ocean within which, using on-board AI processing, it identified the location of a cruise ship. Algorithms running on the satellite determined, without any ground interaction, the next opportunity to capture the same location in order to determine whether the vessel remained at that position. Two days later, the satellite acquired an image of the location of the ship showing that the cruise ship was gone - completing the Autonomous Scheduling process without instructions coming from the ground.

CogniSAT-6 is a 6U CubeSat designed, built and operated by Open Cosmos, carrying Ubotica's onboard AI technology and CogniSAT-XE2 processing platform. The collaboration combines Open Cosmos' expertise in satellite design and mission operations with Ubotica's specialist AI capabilities, allowing the spacecraft to analyse imagery, identify features of interest and make operational decisions fully autonomously. CogniSAT-6 was launched aboard SpaceX's Transporter-10 mission in March 2024, and forms part of Open Cosmos' OpenConstellation initiative.

Faster, more targeted maritime surveillance

Conventional satellite observation relies heavily on ground-based human tasking, which can delay follow-up imagery when events on Earth unfold rapidly. Ubotica's Autonomous Scheduling technology could help close these intelligence gaps and could help support faster, more targeted maritime surveillance, using satellites enabled to decide when and where to observe next.

The demonstration advances the capabilities underpinning Ubotica's Live Maritime Intelligence (LMI) platform, which combines Orbital AI with satellite tasking and multiple sources of maritime data to predict and identify emerging risks and direct observation resources towards areas of greatest concern at sea.

Rather than relying on fixed imaging schedules, Ubotica's LMI aims to build a dynamic picture of maritime activity, helping governments and maritime agencies protect and monitor vast areas of ocean. In June this year, Ubotica announced an $11 million funding round to accelerate the platform's rollout.

Think, decide and act independently in orbit

"Autonomous Scheduling is about giving satellites the ability to interpret what they see and decide what to do next," said David Rijlaarsdam, Director of Space System Engineering at Ubotica. "Demonstrating this capability on a low-cost satellite in space, we are seeing how Orbital AI can enable satellites to respond dynamically to events on Earth, without having to wait for instructions from the ground.""What we've demonstrated with one satellite becomes significant when scaled to a constellation. Imagine one satellite detecting something of interest at sea and alerting another, which can then independently determine when to capture a follow-up image. This is known as 'tip-and-cue', and we have shown that it can be done without a ground station or human in the loop. Orbital AI is what makes it possible to coordinate these observations quickly and at scale."

Autonomous Scheduling can ultimately support applications ranging from tracking suspicious vessels and monitoring subsea infrastructure to detecting forest fires and volcanic activity, according to Rijlaarsdam.

"For naval operations, for example, autonomous scheduling could help reduce the delays associated with conventional observation requests, which can take anything between 30 minutes and a day to process."Commenting on theA successful demonstration, Ubotica CEO Fintan Buckley said: "This first-of-its-kind achievement marks a further step towards autonomous Earth observation systems that can prioritise targets, schedule acquisitions and, as the tech develops, coordinate observations across satellite constellations - transforming satellites from passive image collectors into responsive sources of intelligence."