(Credit: SpaceX)
Elon Musk offered a first look at his plans for orbiting data centers this weekend, and they will be longer than the International Space Station (ISS).
The satellites stand out for their exceptionally large solar arrays. The SpaceX CEO's presentation didn't give an exact length, but each one is significantly longer than the Starship V3 rocket, which stands at 124.4 meters (408 feet). The satellites also dwarf the length of the ISS, which spans 109 meters (357 feet) and is visible in the night sky.
Musk indicated the satellites can capture plenty of solar energy to power the high-density AI processing inside. The rendering shows "the solar panels and radiator to scale,” he said.
(Credit: SpaceX)However, Musk also noted that the image depicts only a “rough approximation” of the “mini” version of the upcoming AI satellite. So future models could be significantly larger. The current design promises 100 kilowatts of AI computing, whereas future versions will offer a “megawatt-range” of computing power. (For perspective, 1 megawatt can power between 200 and 700 homes, depending on usage.)
On the Earth’s surface, companies, including Musk’s xAI, are already planning terrestrial AI data centers that’ll reach 1,000 megawatts (1 gigawatt) of computing capacity. It’s why SpaceX is proposing to launch up to 1 million satellites for its orbital data centers, paving the way for the company to offer thousands of gigawatts of AI compute.
“We’re confident this is feasible,” Musk said of launching the satellites using the Starship rocket. “Like no new physics, or impossible things are required to get there.”
'I Would Expect Quite a Few Collisions'
But space experts and astronomers have concerns about SpaceX’s proposal, which would drastically increase the number of satellites in Earth’s orbit. They currently number around 15,000—about 10,000 of which belong to SpaceX’s Starlink network. SpaceX was previously vague about the satellite design for its orbiting data centers. The new rendering confirms worries that the satellites will be longer than current V2 Starlink models.
Hugh Lewis, a space debris expert and professor of astronautics at the UK's University of Birmingham, noted that the orbiting data centers will need to constantly maneuver to avoid hitting space junk and other satellites.
"If there are 1 million AI sat minis in operation, then the constellation as a whole would perform 272 million collision risk mitigation manoeuvres per year, which is nearly 9 manoeuvres every second of every day for which the constellation is operating, on average," he estimates. "Across a 15-year licence term, the cumulative total for the constellation would be 4 billion manoeuvres."
In an email, he also told PCMag, “If the residual collision probability after an ‘avoidance’ maneuver is not zero, I would expect quite a few collisions amongst the active satellites in the constellation, despite all those efforts to avoid them.”
Astronomers and environmentalists have also been raising alarms about light pollution from the proposed orbiting data centers. “We thought the size we assumed was ridiculous, but this graphic shows that we actually underestimated what SpaceX is planning to do,” said University of Regina astronomy professor Samantha Lawler, who co-published an article that argues the orbiting data centers threaten to overrun the night sky.
The concerns have triggered a surge in public opposition to SpaceX's proposal to deploy 1 million satellites, which the Federal Communications Commission is currently reviewing for potential approval. The International Astronomical Union fears they will radiate so much heat that they’ll interfere with radio astronomy observations. Another worry is that SpaceX plans to retire at least some of the satellites by letting them burn up during atmospheric re-entry, which might release ozone-depleting chemicals, though the topic needs further study.
In response, SpaceX tells the FCC that it plans to start small with the constellation to study potential impacts on the Earth’s atmosphere before scaling up. "Brightness mitigation is a core design criterion for the Orbital Data Center system to mitigate risks to optical astronomy," it says. The goal is to make the satellites too faint for the human eye and telescopes to see.
In his presentation, Musk also pushed back on critics who questioned how the company would cool the orbiting data centers, since space has no air. “It’s safe to say SpaceX knows how to do heat rejection in space, with 10,000 [Starlink] satellites in orbit,” he said, later adding: “The radiator is quite small relative to the solar panels.”
Musk Eyes 'Terafab' Chip Factory
Still, Musk said his company is currently missing the large-scale capacity to manufacture the AI chips needed for the satellites. Hence, his presentation was mainly focused on building a new factory, dubbed the "Terafab," to produce cutting-edge processors, including GPUs and memory chips, for SpaceX and his EV company, Tesla, which is also developing humanoid robots.
(Credit: SpaceX)“It’s a hostile environment in space, so you want to design the chip, optimize it, for space,” Musk said. Although the SpaceX CEO said he was grateful to the company’s current chip suppliers, Samsung and Micron, he added, “We either build the Terafab, or we don’t have the chips.” The goal is to construct the new factory in Austin, Texas.
The problem is that it usually takes three to five years and tens of billions in investment to build chip factories in the US, at a time when the industry is also facing a historic shortage. Nevertheless, Musk remains bullish on orbiting data centers, pointing to the plentiful solar energy the satellites can harness.
“I actually think the cost of deploying AI into space will drop below the cost of terrestrial AI much sooner than most people expect,” Musk said. “I think it may be only two or three years before it is lower-cost to send AI chips into space than it is on the ground.”
Blue Origin and the startup Starcloud are also preparing to launch their own orbiting data center constellations through tens of thousands of new satellites.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with new estimates from Hugh Lewis.