(Credit: SpaceX)
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Starlink satellites are best known for supplying high-speed internet, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is suggesting they might one day also be used as orbiting data centers.
Creating a network of orbiting data centers would be no easy task. But according to Musk, SpaceX already has a foundation with the company’s next-generation V3 Starlink satellites, which are designed to beam gigabit internet. "Simply scaling up Starlink V3 satellites, which have high-speed laser links, would work,” he tweeted. “SpaceX will be doing this."
(Credit: SpaceX)This comes amid growing discussions about building power-hungry AI data centers in space to mitigate the environmental impact on Earth. SpaceX's proposed V3 satellites require SpaceX's Starship vehicle for launch, which is still in testing. An earlier regulatory filing from the company indicates that each V3 could weigh up to 2,000 kilograms (4,409 pounds), or almost four times the current mass of the V2 Mini Starlink satellites.
Musk’s tweet suggests SpaceX could make them even larger to host more built-in computing. A customer could then remotely connect to the Starlink satellites—which already possess high-speed connectivity—and run AI training workloads.
(Credit: SpaceX)Musk’s reference to the high-speed laser links is also notable. One key challenge with operating any data center in space is remotely connecting to it, especially when the data center is continually circling the Earth, in and out of view for customers on the ground. However, SpaceX has already developed a solution using the built-in laser system on existing Starlink satellites, enabling them to transmit data at up to 200Gbps, thereby creating a mesh network in space.
We’ll have to wait and see how SpaceX’s data center plans shake out at a time when the company already has its hands full with developing the Starship vehicle and sending humans to the Moon and Mars.
In the meantime, a startup called Starcloud plans to launch its own test satellite into space, which will carry an Nvidia H100 GPU for AI training. The goal is to build a network of orbiting data centers that can connect to Starlink while harnessing the Sun as a natural power source. The test satellite is scheduled to fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Nov. 2, Starcloud’s CEO says.