Elon Musk’s SpaceX space company plans to increase the constellation of Starlink satellites hundreds of times, which will be combined into systems of orbital data centers.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX space company plans to increase the constellation of Starlink satellites hundreds of times, which will be combined into systems of orbital data centers.
This is reported by PCMag, citing documents SpaceX filed with the Federal Communications Commission. The project is described as «a constellation of satellites with unprecedented computing power to power advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models and applications based on them.»
The Starlink constellation currently has more than 9,600 satellites in orbit around the Earth. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) previously approved the deployment of an additional 7,500 second-generation Starlink satellites. With the regulator’s decision, SpaceX is authorized to deploy 15,000 Gen2 satellites, as well as the right to upgrade the platform and operate in five frequency bands.
«To provide the computing power needed for large-scale AI models and data center applications serving billions of users around the world, SpaceX plans to deploy a system with a million satellites, operating in narrow orbital envelopes of up to 50 km each (leaving enough space to avoid conflicts with other systems with similar ambitions),» the application states.
The satellites will harness the sun’s energy, orbiting «at an altitude of 500 to 2,000 km and at an angle of 30 degrees to the sun’s orbit,» the company adds. The orbiting data centers will also use «optical channels» or lasers to connect to Starlink, using the existing satellite internet system to route traffic to users on Earth.
«Orbital data centers are the most efficient way to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence computing power,» SpaceX assures.
The company is also betting that it can quickly launch space data centers using SpaceX’s more powerful Starship spacecraft.
Recall that the company has already begun to apply countermeasures against the use of Starlink on Russian «shaheeds» at the request of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
