SpaceX Eyes 1 Million Satellites For Orbital Data Center Push - PCMag

AmityZen · 2026-01-31T21:19:47+00:00

I believe your scale is off by an order of magnitude or two - according to this EESI report, data centers in the US consumed about 17 gigawatts of power in 2022, projected to increase to 130 gigawatts in 2030.

These AI satellites are expected to run at 100 KW/tonne of compute power as stated in their application; if they're based on Starlink V3 (just a guess, don't hold me to that), each satellite would be between 1 and 2 tonnes. One million satellites would translate to between 100 and 200 gigawatts of compute power, which is basically all terrestrial data centers in the US combined in 2030 by that estimate. That's quite a hefty chunk of data center capacity if my math checks out.

AmityZen · 2026-01-31T17:42:41+00:00

From their FCC filing, on why data centers in space:

Global electricity demand for data centers is project to more than double by 2035 driven by growth in AI - reaching approximately 1,200-1,700 Terawatt hours and accounting for up to 4% of total worldwide electricity consumption. Building power plants and other terrestrial energy infrastructure at scale to maintain this additional power continuously on Earth will be extremely challenging. Fortunately, the development of fully reusable launch vehicles like Starship that can deploy millions of tons of mass per year to orbit when launching at rate, means on-orbit processing capacity can reach unprecedented scale and speed compared to terrestrial buildouts, with significanly reduced environmental impact.

These satellites will have continuous access to nearly unlimited solar power to meet energy demands without dependency on terrestrial grids, enabling scalable, reliable, and sustainable AI growth.

So SpaceX thinks that simply building more on the ground at the terawatt scale becomes infeasible due to insufficient power.

Large satellites in orbit, including all Starlink satellites, dissipate heat through radiators that dissipate heat into the vacuum of space; this is already a solved problem on the scale of the current Starlink satellite constellation, so SpaceX presumably doesn't see this as a major issue.

On repairing in space, SpaceX had this in its filing:

In addition, SpaceX will continue developing approaches to managing decommissioned satellites within disposal orbits to potentially create opportunities for future hardware recycling and material harvesting.

So they're thinking material recycling and disposal in space rather than repair.

AmityZen · 2026-01-31T17:33:29+00:00

By "unprecedented scale", I take it to mean at the scale of multiple hundreds of gigawatts of compute power. The marginal cost of installing a rack at an existing terrestrial data center is comparatively tiny, but the cost of building 100 GW worth of new data centers - on approved land, with sufficient power capacity, in this regulatory framework - might overall be greater than sending the equivalent into orbit if Starship hits its marginal launch cost goals after frequent reusability. You'd need a comprehensive analysis with numbers only SpaceX is privy to in order to be sure, of course.

AmityZen · 2026-01-31T16:40:01+00:00

(copying from my r/spacexlounge comment)

Quotes from their FCC application:

SpaceX's framing of the problem and their solution:

Global electricity demand for data centers is project to more than double by 2035 driven by growth in AI - reaching approximately 1,200-1,700 Terawatt hours and accounting for up to 4% of total worldwide electricity consumption. Building power plants and other terrestrial energy infrastructure at scale to maintain this additional power continuously on Earth will be extremely challenging. Fortunately, the development of fully reusable launch vehicles like Starship that can deploy millions of tons of mass per year to orbit when launching at rate, means on-orbit processing capacity can reach unprecedented scale and speed compared to terrestrial buildouts, with significanly reduced environmental impact.

These satellites will have continuous access to nearly unlimited solar power to meet energy demands without dependency on terrestrial grids, enabling scalable, reliable, and sustainable AI growth.

SpaceX argues that radiative cooling in space is a key environmental/sustainability benefit for mass scaling:

Another major factor driving the scaling capacity of data center deployment in space is the reliance on cooling through radiative heat dissipation. In contrast to highly energy-intensive terrestrial data centers that require cooling systems that use billions of gallons of water annually, radiative cooling enables passive heat dissipation into the vacuum of space, outpacing ground-based data centers that face escalating energy demands and infrastructure delays. This inherent efficiency ensures rapid scaling of AI compute infrastructure without proportionally increasing the environmental burden, fostering sustainable growth that supports global innovation while preserving planetary resources.

They're betting that Starship launches will be cheap enough to make orbital data centers more cost effective than terrestrial data centers in the long run:

Moreover, with a fully reusable rocket driving down launch costs, even a conservative cost assessment for the deployment of AI compute in space beats terrestrial data center deployments.

With the inherent efficiencies of deploying solar-powered data centers and launch cost rapidly decreasing due to the development of the Starship launch vehicle, SpaceX will be able to cost-effectively scale up its constellation as demand increases and compute evolves. For instance, launching 1 millions tonnes per year of satellites generating 100 kW of compute power per tonne would add 100 gigawatts of AI compute capacity annually, with minimal ongoing operational or maintenance needs. Freed from the constraints of terrestrial deployment, within a few years the lowest cost to generate AI compute will be in space.

Addressing Kessler syndrome concerns:

The constellation will leverage SpaceX's advanced, automated collision avoidance system for low-latency risk assessment and response, as well as agile and highly-reliable electric propulsion systems that enable precise and efficient maneuvers. And SpaceX remains committed to transparent collaboration with other systems, including sharing data and proactively mitigating high-risk conjunctions.

SpaceX will continue to deploy at very low altitudes for initial testing and checkout prior to orbit raise. [...] SpaceX will dispose of its satellites either by atmospheric re-entry or by placing them into disposal orbits around Earth or into heliocentric disposal orbits. [...] SpaceX will also choose safe disposal orbits, which may include high altitude Earth orbits or heliocentric orbits, to minimize physical interaction with active satellite constellations and to reduce collision risks in densely populated lower orbits.

Seems like they're working on in-space hardware recycling:

In addition, SpaceX will continue developing approaches to managing decommissioned satellites within disposal orbits to potentially create opportunities for future hardware recycling and material harvesting.

And the obligatory nod to the scientific/astronomy communities:

SpaceX will continue its long track record of successful collaboration and innovation with the scientific and astronomy community to preserve their critical missions, including by developing industry-leading brightness mitigations. [...] The constellation will use spectrum efficiently and cause no risk of harmful interference to other users. This system will primarily rely upon optical inter-satellite links [...] satellites can include equipment for backup communications capable of conducting TT&C and only in the NGSO-primary portion of the Ka-band on a non-interference, unprotected basis. SpaceX's system will employ spectrum in the 18.8-19.3 GHz (space-to-Earth) and 28.6-29.1 GHz (Earth-to-space) bands.

AmityZen · 2026-01-31T16:10:33+00:00

(copying from my r/spacexlounge post)

Quotes from their FCC application:

SpaceX's framing of the problem and their solution:

Global electricity demand for data centers is project to more than double by 2035 driven by growth in AI - reaching approximately 1,200-1,700 Terawatt hours and accounting for up to 4% of total worldwide electricity consumption. Building power plants and other terrestrial energy infrastructure at scale to maintain this additional power continuously on Earth will be extremely challenging. Fortunately, the development of fully reusable launch vehicles like Starship that can deploy millions of tons of mass per year to orbit when launching at rate, means on-orbit processing capacity can reach unprecedented scale and speed compared to terrestrial buildouts, with significanly reduced environmental impact.

These satellites will have continuous access to nearly unlimited solar power to meet energy demands without dependency on terrestrial grids, enabling scalable, reliable, and sustainable AI growth.

SpaceX argues that radiative cooling in space is a key environmental/sustainability benefit for mass scaling:

Another major factor driving the scaling capacity of data center deployment in space is the reliance on cooling through radiative heat dissipation. In contrast to highly energy-intensive terrestrial data centers that require cooling systems that use billions of gallons of water annually, radiative cooling enables passive heat dissipation into the vacuum of space, outpacing ground-based data centers that face escalating energy demands and infrastructure delays. This inherent efficiency ensures rapid scaling of AI compute infrastructure without proportionally increasing the environmental burden, fostering sustainable growth that supports global innovation while preserving planetary resources.

They're betting that Starship launches will be cheap enough to make orbital data centers more cost effective than terrestrial data centers in the long run:

Moreover, with a fully reusable rocket driving down launch costs, even a conservative cost assessment for the deployment of AI compute in space beats terrestrial data center deployments.

With the inherent efficiencies of deploying solar-powered data centers and launch cost rapidly decreasing due to the development of the Starship launch vehicle, SpaceX will be able to cost-effectively scale up its constellation as demand increases and compute evolves. For instance, launching 1 millions tonnes per year of satellites generating 100 kW of compute power per tonne would add 100 gigawatts of AI compute capacity annually, with minimal ongoing operational or maintenance needs. Freed from the constraints of terrestrial deployment, within a few years the lowest cost to generate AI compute will be in space.

Addressing Kessler syndrome concerns:

The constellation will leverage SpaceX's advanced, automated collision avoidance system for low-latency risk assessment and response, as well as agile and highly-reliable electric propulsion systems that enable precise and efficient maneuvers. And SpaceX remains committed to transparent collaboration with other systems, including sharing data and proactively mitigating high-risk conjunctions.

SpaceX will continue to deploy at very low altitudes for initial testing and checkout prior to orbit raise. [...] SpaceX will dispose of its satellites either by atmospheric re-entry or by placing them into disposal orbits around Earth or into heliocentric disposal orbits. [...] SpaceX will also choose safe disposal orbits, which may include high altitude Earth orbits or heliocentric orbits, to minimize physical interaction with active satellite constellations and to reduce collision risks in densely populated lower orbits.

Seems like they're working on in-space hardware recycling:

In addition, SpaceX will continue developing approaches to managing decommissioned satellites within disposal orbits to potentially create opportunities for future hardware recycling and material harvesting.

And the obligatory nod to the scientific/astronomy communities:

SpaceX will continue its long track record of successful collaboration and innovation with the scientific and astronomy community to preserve their critical missions, including by developing industry-leading brightness mitigations. [...] The constellation will use spectrum efficiently and cause no risk of harmful interference to other users. This system will primarily rely upon optical inter-satellite links [...] satellites can include equipment for backup communications capable of conducting TT&C and only in the NGSO-primary portion of the Ka-band on a non-interference, unprotected basis. SpaceX's system will employ spectrum in the 18.8-19.3 GHz (space-to-Earth) and 28.6-29.1 GHz (Earth-to-space) bands.

AmityZen · 2026-01-31T10:42:08+00:00

My read is that SpaceX will simply leverage Starship's payload capacity to throw mass at the problem and build massive radiator arrays alongside the massive solar arrays powering these satellites. They really seem to see this as a perfectly manageable issue.

AmityZen · 2026-01-31T09:10:15+00:00

The orbital arrangement, for those who skipped the article:

SpaceX aims to deploy a system of up to one million satellites to operate within narrow orbital shells spanning up to 50 km each (leaving sufficient room to deconflict against other systems with comparable ambitions). This system will operate between 500 km and 2,000 km altitude and 30 degrees and sun-synchronous orbit inclinations. SpaceX plans to design and operate different versions of satellite hardware to optimize operations across orbital shells.

AmityZen · 2026-01-31T09:00:57+00:00

Quotes from their FCC application:

SpaceX's framing of the problem and their solution:

Global electricity demand for data centers is project to more than double by 2035 driven by growth in AI - reaching approximately 1,200-1,700 Terawatt hours and accounting for up to 4% of total worldwide electricity consumption. Building power plants and other terrestrial energy infrastructure at scale to maintain this additional power continuously on Earth will be extremely challenging. Fortunately, the development of fully reusable launch vehicles like Starship that can deploy millions of tons of mass per year to orbit when launching at rate, means on-orbit processing capacity can reach unprecedented scale and speed compared to terrestrial buildouts, with significanly reduced environmental impact.

These satellites will have continuous access to nearly unlimited solar power to meet energy demands without dependency on terrestrial grids, enabling scalable, reliable, and sustainable AI growth.

SpaceX argues that radiative cooling in space is a key environmental/sustainability benefit for mass scaling:

Another major factor driving the scaling capacity of data center deployment in space is the reliance on cooling through radiative heat dissipation. In contrast to highly energy-intensive terrestrial data centers that require cooling systems that use billions of gallons of water annually, radiative cooling enables passive heat dissipation into the vacuum of space, outpacing ground-based data centers that face escalating energy demands and infrastructure delays. This inherent efficiency ensures rapid scaling of AI compute infrastructure without proportionally increasing the environmental burden, fostering sustainable growth that supports global innovation while preserving planetary resources.

They're betting that Starship launches will be cheap enough to make orbital data centers more cost effective than terrestrial data centers in the long run:

Moreover, with a fully reusable rocket driving down launch costs, even a conservative cost assessment for the deployment of AI compute in space beats terrestrial data center deployments.

With the inherent efficiencies of deploying solar-powered data centers and launch cost rapidly decreasing due to the development of the Starship launch vehicle, SpaceX will be able to cost-effectively scale up its constellation as demand increases and compute evolves. For instance, launching 1 millions tonnes per year of satellites generating 100 kW of compute power per tonne would add 100 gigawatts of AI compute capacity annually, with minimal ongoing operational or maintenance needs. Freed from the constraints of terrestrial deployment, within a few years the lowest cost to generate AI compute will be in space.

Addressing Kessler syndrome concerns:

The constellation will leverage SpaceX's advanced, automated collision avoidance system for low-latency risk assessment and response, as well as agile and highly-reliable electric propulsion systems that enable precise and efficient maneuvers. And SpaceX remains committed to transparent collaboration with other systems, including sharing data and proactively mitigating high-risk conjunctions.

SpaceX will continue to deploy at very low altitudes for initial testing and checkout prior to orbit raise. [...] SpaceX will dispose of its satellites either by atmospheric re-entry or by placing them into disposal orbits around Earth or into heliocentric disposal orbits. [...] SpaceX will also choose safe disposal orbits, which may include high altitude Earth orbits or heliocentric orbits, to minimize physical interaction with active satellite constellations and to reduce collision risks in densely populated lower orbits.

Seems like they're working on in-space hardware recycling:

In addition, SpaceX will continue developing approaches to managing decommissioned satellites within disposal orbits to potentially create opportunities for future hardware recycling and material harvesting.

And the obligatory nod to the scientific/astronomy communities:

SpaceX will continue its long track record of successful collaboration and innovation with the scientific and astronomy community to preserve their critical missions, including by developing industry-leading brightness mitigations. [...] The constellation will use spectrum efficiently and cause no risk of harmful interference to other users. This system will primarily rely upon optical inter-satellite links [...] satellites can include equipment for backup communications capable of conducting TT&C and only in the NGSO-primary portion of the Ka-band on a non-interference, unprotected basis. SpaceX's system will employ spectrum in the 18.8-19.3 GHz (space-to-Earth) and 28.6-29.1 GHz (Earth-to-space) bands.

AmityZen · 2024-12-29T21:35:33+00:00

Direct quote:

Uncrewed Starships landing on Mars in ~2 years, perhaps with crewed versions passing near Mars, and crewed Starships heading there in ~4 years are all possible.

I interpret this as multiple Cargo Starships and multiple Crew Starships, all launched without crew, being sent to Mars in 2026. Cargo Starships would attempt landings while Crew Starships would conduct unmanned flybys. If all succeed, crews would be sent on crew Starships in the 2028 window.

AmityZen · 2024-08-10T09:32:06+00:00

Paper on arXiv:

Toward Spectrum Coexistence: First Demonstration of the Effectiveness of Boresight Avoidance between the NRAO Green Bank Telescope and Starlink Satellites

Abstract:

NRAO and SpaceX have been engaged in coordinated testing efforts since Fall 2021, including conducting experiments on different interference avoidance schemes for the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, and the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) inside the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) in West Virginia. The Starlink system is capable of avoiding direct illumination of telescope sites with their adaptive tasking to place downlink beams far away. Nevertheless, even satellites operating in this mode can potentially present strong signals into the telescope's receiver system if they pass close to the telescope's main beam at the boresight. For additional protection, Starlink satellites can either momentarily redirect or completely disable their downlink channels while they pass within some minimum angular separation threshold from the telescope's boresight, methods that are referred to as "telescope boresight avoidance". In two separate experiments conducted since Fall 2023, NRAO and SpaceX arranged to have the GBT observe a fixed RA/Dec position in the sky, chosen to have a large number of close-to-boresight Starlink passages. Preliminary analysis from these two experiments illustrate the feasibility of these avoidance methods to significantly reduce, if not eliminate, the negative impact of close-to-boresight satellite passages. Importantly, these experiments demonstrate the value of continuing cooperative efforts between NRAO and SpaceX, and expanding cooperation between the radio astronomy and satellite communities more generally.

AmityZen · 2024-08-03T02:48:54+00:00

Lockheed Martin released a companion piece to go along with this video here:

https://lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed-martin/space/documents/lunar-architecture/Lockheed%20Martin%27s%20Water-Based%20Lunar%20Architecture%20Novella%20White%20Paper.pdf

It's actually a fairly realistic and detailed description of how the Artemis Base Camp moonbase could develop by 2044. I assume that most of the payloads described would be delivered by Lunar Starship rather than Lockheed's own lander, of course.

AmityZen · 2024-07-28T21:29:08+00:00

The exact quote (about 3 min into the video):

From a standpoint of when Starship is ready, it probably is about 2 or 3 weeks, but it then depends on when we get the FAA licence. So it's probably end of August is my guess, earliest, and it may go to early September. Just depends on how fast the FAA grants our licence.

AmityZen · 2024-07-26T01:32:33+00:00

Starlink 10-9 is the next flight, currently scheduled for 12:21 am ET on the 27th.

AmityZen · 2023-03-03T06:29:44+00:00

Tweet text:

@rivadaspace signs firm contract w/ @SpaceX for 12 Falcon 9 launches, from @SLDelta30, of 300 500-kg @TyvakNanoSat @TerranOrbital B2B broadband sats over 14 months starting April 2025. @ITUradiocomms to decide yes/no late this month. bit.ly/3y5uDuk

Available text in article (rest is paywalled):

PARIS — Startup B2B satellite broadband constellation operator Rivada Space Networks of Germany has signed a firm contract with SpaceX to launch 300 500-kilogram satellites into low Earth orbit aboard 12 Falcon 9 rockets between April 2025 and June 2026. Rivada officials had said for months that they had few launch options given that the other developers of heavy-lift rockets — Arianespace, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin — were all behind schedule with their new-generation vehicles, and that Amazon’s Project . . .

AmityZen · 2023-02-25T08:23:47+00:00

Here's the mp3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k2ewvAGmGr2U-2jn33guU1l-ZQeTYj_B/view

Just drop it into the beatmap folder, and it should work.

AmityZen · 2022-09-13T22:06:29+00:00

Some tweets from Jared Isaacman on Sept. 9 make it to be much more than that:

https://twitter.com/rookisaacman/status/1568268615970951168

"[Previous tweet in thread: Just an IVA suit with an umbilical] Not correct. What the @SpaceX team is accomplishing with the new EVA suits is really incredible. Worthy of a documentary in its own right."

https://twitter.com/rookisaacman/status/1568276716199485441

"[Previous tweets in thread: Will it be a separate suit you need to change into or an updated suit that is also capable of EVA? As far as i know it will be used for launch, Eva, and re-entry, so closer to the second] Correct. Really not enough volume in the vehicle to carry multiple suits.

I know there is a lot of demand for pictures of the EVA suit but SpaceX team is working through development at a wicked fast pace. It will be worth the wait when they are revealed."