Europe risks becoming dependent on foreign orbital computing infrastructure as U.S. companies and Chinaβs government-led push accelerate the development of space-based data centers, according to the European Space Policy Institute.
As companies develop large constellations of orbital data center satellites, experts say now is the time to start thinking about some critical space safety topics and rules of the road.
SAN FRANCISCO β Sophia Space announced the award July 30 of a patent, shared with the California Institute of Technology, covering large, modular space-based data centers. The patent, issued July [β¦]
SpaceX has pinned the bulk of its future value on orbital data centers. Not rockets. Not spacecraft.
Instead, it envisions launching and maintaining a constellation of 1 million satellites capable of generating 120 GW to power tens of millionsβand potentially up to 100 millionβfrontier-class GPUs for data center services.
The company's founder, Elon Musk, revealed plans for this massive constellation months ago, but until recently, the scope of the individual satellites was largely unknown. That changed in June, when Musk and Ian Dahl, director of satellite engineering for SpaceX, spoke in a promotional video about the company's plans to develop the first iteration of an orbital data center, called an AI1 satellite. The video finally provided the company's numbers about the satellite's size and power capabilities.
SpaceX has pinned the bulk of its future value on orbital data centers. Not rockets. Not spacecraft.
Instead, it envisions launching and maintaining a constellation of 1 million satellites capable of generating 120 GW to power tens of millionsβand potentially up to 100 millionβfrontier-class GPUs for data center services.
The company's founder, Elon Musk, revealed plans for this massive constellation months ago, but until recently, the scope of the individual satellites was largely unknown. That changed in June, when Musk and Ian Dahl, director of satellite engineering for SpaceX, spoke in a promotional video about the company's plans to develop the first iteration of an orbital data center, called an AI1 satellite. The video finally provided the company's numbers about the satellite's size and power capabilities.
Americaβs electric grid is entering a period of unprecedented strain. Utilities across the country are scrambling to keep up as power-hungry AI data centers expand at a staggering pace, often [β¦]
SAN FRANCISCO β Sophia Space announced the selection June 22 of an Apex bus for its first orbital computing node. Pasadena, California-based Sophia plans to demonstrate its Thermal Integrated LEO [β¦]
As SpaceX gears up to start launching orbital data center spacecraft as soon as next year, astronomers warn those satellites could cause serious interference with their observations.
A Los Angeles-based startup has raised $5 million to fund an in-orbit computing demonstration next year, ahead of plans to deploy more than 100,000 orbital data centers to meet surging demand for AI infrastructure.
This episode of Space Minds is from SpaceNewsβ recent event on orbital data centers. There, Jeff Foust talks with talks with Founders Fundβs Delian Asparouhov about why heβs warming to [β¦]
China is establishing an industrial policy framework to support a push to build space-based computing infrastructure, with the emergence of influential coordinating bodies.
Muon Space announced a Starship-class satellite platform June 3 designed from the ground up to meet the demands of the emerging orbital data center market, with an initial launch slated for 2028 after securing customers.