Data Center Space Race Heats Up As Startup Requests 88,000 Satellites

A race to secure regulatory approval for data centers in space is emerging, with a US startup called Starcloud submitting a proposal to the FCC for a constellation of up to 88,000 satellites—shortly after SpaceX filed plans to launch up to one million satellites.

Starcloud has already launched a fridge-sized satellite equipped with an Nvidia H100 enterprise GPU to test the space-based data center approach. It successfully trained a lightweight, open-source AI model in orbit and ran a chatbot. But SpaceX has been grabbing the headlines.

The first Starcloud test satellite being deployed. (Credit: Starcloud)

Like SpaceX, Starcloud talks up the benefits of space-based data centers in its FCC submission. “These satellites will utilize the unique advantages of space: near-constant solar power, radiative cooling, and the ability to scale sizes and power levels not possible on Earth.” It touts the potential for huge gains in cost and efficiency, as ground-based data centers trigger concerns about environmental impact and strain on the electrical grid.

Still, Starcloud’s requested constellation of 88,000 is quite large. For perspective, only about 14,500 satellites currently orbit Earth, about 9,600 of which are from SpaceX.

The filings point to a possible surge in satellite applications if other rival companies decide to pursue the concept on a wider scale.

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and Google have talked about space-based data centers. However, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman pushed back on the idea this week. “There are not enough rockets to launch a million satellites yet. So we’re pretty far from that,” he said during the Cisco AI Summit. Analysts also question whether SpaceX’s plan is even feasible, citing numerous technical hurdles and space safety concerns.

Still, the FCC seems to be fast-tracking SpaceX’s application for one million satellites. On Wednesday, the commission accepted the proposal and kicked off the public comment period for the application, only a few business days after it was submitted.

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Starcloud wants to place its own satellites in the “600km and 850km altitude in sun-synchronous orbit.” But the startup seems to be dependent on SpaceX to pull off the plan. The application says it relies on heavy-lift rockets such as Starship to deploy the vast constellation. Starcloud also envisions routing data to the satellites through “laser links” that can connect to third-party constellations, including Starlink, Amazon Leo, and Blue Origin’s recently announced TeraWave.

“The aforementioned third-party networks will provide the primary means by which the Starcloud constellation will communicate with users of the Starcloud system,” the application adds. The Redmond, Washington, startup has raised at least $21 million in funding so far.