Orbital data centers: what is actually in orbit, and what is only announced
If launch keeps getting cheaper, part of the world's computing could move to orbit, where the sun shines all day and there is no land to buy. This tracker separates what has flown from what has been announced, in the units each company uses, with dates.
In orbit now: 32 satellites built to compute, from four programmes: Starcloud-1 (one NVIDIA H100 GPU, November 2025), Kepler's 10 relay satellites (40 NVIDIA Jetson Orin modules, January 2026), Google's first Suncatcher prototype (October 2026), and 20 Chinese computing satellites (May 2025 and October 2026). None of their operators has published a power figure for the hardware already up.
Announced: SpaceX's IPO filing says it expects to start deploying orbital AI compute satellites as early as 2028, at 100 gigawatts a year. Starcloud plans 88,000 satellites and 20 gigawatts. FCC filings from SpaceX, Starcloud, Blue Origin and Cowboy Space ask for up to 1,159,600 satellites between them.
Price: nobody sells computing in orbit at a published price yet.
Computing hardware in orbit now
| Operator | What flew | Hardware | Sats | Launched | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starcloud | Starcloud-1, a 60 kg satellite | 1 NVIDIA H100 GPU | 1 | November 2025SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare | Starcloud, Nov 1, 2026 |
| Kepler Communications | Tranche 1: 10 optical relay satellites with on-board compute; Axiom Space has said it will host its orbital data center nodes on this network | 40 NVIDIA Jetson Orin modules across the 10 | 10 | Jan 11, 2026SpaceX Falcon 9 | Kepler, Jan 11, 2026 |
| Google (Project Suncatcher, with Planet) | First prototype satellite | Google TPUs (number not stated) | 1 | Oct 1, 2026SpaceX Transporter-18 rideshare | Google, Oct 1, 2026 |
| Zhejiang Lab and ADA Space (China) | First 12 satellites of the Three-Body Computing Constellation; stated combined 5 quadrillion operations a second | Not stated | 12 | May 14, 2025Long March 2D | China Daily, May 14, 2025 (press report) |
| ADA Space (China) | Eight satellites for a space-based computing project | Not stated | 8 | Oct 14, 2026LandSpace Zhuque-2E | CGTN, Oct 14, 2026 (press report) |
Counted: satellites whose operator says they carry computing hardware for processing in orbit. Kepler's are relay satellites with compute on board. Chinese hardware is not named in the sources; China Daily reports the first 12 at a combined 5 quadrillion operations a second.
Announced plans, in each company's own units
| Company | Plan | When | Scale as stated | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SpaceX | Orbital AI compute satellites | From 2028 ("as early as") | 100 gigawatts a year of deployment, at over 100 kW of compute power per metric ton | SpaceX Form S-1 (SEC), 2026 |
| SpaceX | First Starmind satellite, built on an NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 system | Not stated by NVIDIA | Not stated | NVIDIA, Aug 24, 2026 |
| Starcloud | Starcloud-2, with an NVIDIA Blackwell chip | By 2027 | 100 times the power of Starcloud-1 (Payload) | Starcloud, Nov 1, 2026 |
| Starcloud | Long-term constellation | Not stated | 88,000 satellites, 20 gigawatts | Via Satellite, Aug 21, 2026 (press report) |
| Two Suncatcher prototype satellites with Planet (plan as first announced; one has flown) | By early 2027 | Prototypes | Google, Nov 4, 2025 | |
| Axiom Space | First two orbital data center nodes, hosted on Kepler's network | End of 2025 (as announced); not confirmed in orbit | Not stated | Axiom Space, Apr 7, 2025 |
| Zhejiang Lab (China) | Three-Body Computing Constellation | About 100 satellites by 2027, about 1,000 by 2032 | Not stated | China Daily, Jul 29, 2026 (press report) |
| Cowboy Space (formerly Aetherflux) | Upper stages that stay in orbit as data centers | Compute after a 2026 power-beaming demo | 1 megawatt per upper stage | Via Satellite, May 11, 2026 (press report) |
Orbital data center filings with the FCC
| Company | Satellites | Orbit | Date | Filing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SpaceX | Up to 1,000,000 | 500 to 2,000 km | Feb 4, 2026 | "SpaceX Orbital Data Center system", accepted for filing (DA 26-113) | FCC Space Bureau, Feb 4, 2026 |
| Starcloud | Up to 88,000 | Not stated | Mar 13, 2026 | Accepted for filing, per the report | Advanced Television, Mar 17, 2026 (press report) |
| Blue Origin | Up to 51,600 | 500 to 1,800 km, sun-synchronous | Mar 19, 2026 | Application for an orbital data center system | Blue Origin FCC application, Mar 19, 2026 |
| Cowboy Space | Up to 20,000 | Not stated | May 2026 | "Stampede Data Center System" | Advanced Television, May 15, 2026 (press report) |
A filing asks permission; it is not a launch. For scale: 4,510 objects of all kinds were launched into space in 2025 (Our World in Data, from UNOOSA).
Why launch price decides this
Google's Suncatcher paper models launched power at about $810 per kW per year for a Starlink-type constellation if launch to low Earth orbit falls to $200 per kg. That is a model, not a price anyone sells at. Google authors, arXiv 2511.19468 v2, Jun 17, 2026
Today SpaceX's rideshare costs $7,000 per kg (our launch price index), 35 times that $200. Starcloud's chief executive told Payload in March 2026 that its first business model works at Falcon 9 launch prices; its third-generation satellite is designed to fly on Starship (Payload, Mar 30, 2026).
Money raised for orbital compute
| Company | Round | Amount | Valuation | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starcloud | Series A | $170 million | $1.1 billion | Mar 30, 2026 | Payload, Mar 30, 2026 (press report) |
| Starcloud | Series A extension | $250 million | $2.3 billion | Aug 21, 2026 | Via Satellite, Aug 21, 2026 (press report) |
| Cowboy Space | Series B | $275 million | $2 billion | May 11, 2026 | Via Satellite, May 11, 2026 (press report) |
Changes to this page
- Nov 1, 2026 · First published: 32 computing satellites in orbit, 8 announced plans, 4 FCC filings.
One layer, one week's numbers
Each issue takes one layer (launch, stations, manufacturing or compute) and shows what changed that week: new prices, new dates, missions flown, with the source for each.
The weekly issue plus the occasional news from Orbit Economics. Unsubscribe any time. Privacy
EJ, "Orbital data centers: what is actually in orbit, and what is only announced", Orbit Economics, updated Nov 1, 2026, https://orbiteconomics.com/orbital-data-centers/
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page.