Nvidia GPU Heads Into Orbit On A Mission To Test Data Centers In Space

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A US startup is preparing to take an early step toward creating a data center in space by flying a $30,000 Nvidia enterprise GPU, the H100, into Earth’s orbit.

The Redmond, Washington, startup Starcloud, formerly known as Lumen Orbit, is scheduled to launch a demo satellite carrying the H100 GPU sometime next month, according to Nvidia.

In a blog post, Nvidia revealed that Starcloud plans to pack the H100 chip inside the Starcloud-1 satellite, which weighs approximately 130 pounds and is about the size of a small refrigerator. It promises to “offer 100x more powerful GPU compute than any previous space-based operation.”

(Credit: Starcloud/Nvidia)

Currently, data centers are built on the ground in large facilities. However, the growing demand for AI compute has raised concerns about the environmental toll of these facilities as the entire tech industry scrambles to construct even larger, next-generation data centers that’ll consume gigawatts of electricity, enough to power entire cities.

Placing data centers in space could be a solution to the energy demands, as they could be fitted with solar panels and harness the sun’s energy. The vacuum of space could also act as a heat sink by equipping the orbiting data centers with “deployable radiator,” ditching the need to rely on traditional liquid cooling. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is among the supporters of the approach.

Starcloud network

(Credit: Starcloud)

“The only cost on the environment will be on the launch, then there will be 10x carbon-dioxide savings over the life of the data center compared with powering the data center terrestrially on Earth,” Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston told Nvidia.

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The startup also predicts that the space-based approach can reduce the energy costs of running a data center by 10 times, even when accounting for the required rocket launches. “For connectivity, we envision using laser-based connectivity with other constellations,” such as SpaceX’s satellite internet system Starlink or Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Starcloud’s white paper adds. Such laser connectivity would pave the way for customers on the ground to easily communicate and run workloads from Starcloud’s orbiting data centers.

Starcloud’s CEO also told the YouTube channel HyperChange that the company has already been preparing to fit the satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for next month’s launch. The startup plans to launch a larger satellite next year. The Starcloud-2 has been designed to be the company’s first commercial satellite.