Starcloud plans a November launch of an Nvidia H100 GPU into orbit to test its functionality, aiming for extraterrestrial data centers as an alternative to Earth-based facilities.
Datacenters on Earth require significant electricity and water for cooling. Starcloud posits that space offers more accessible and cheaper energy and cooling. The startup’s white paper states that concept designs have not revealed “any insurmountable obstacles,” but economic viability relies on decreasing space launch costs. Starcloud intends to create modular data centers in space. A 5GW data center would use a four-square-kilometer solar panel array and a heat-dissipating radiator array approximately half that size.
Orbital data centers could expedite satellite data processing and support AI companies in managing compute demands for model training. These data centers would comprise individual modules. Upon reaching their end-of-life, these modules could be salvaged for material reuse or allowed to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, according to the white paper.
Tech companies are expanding AI infrastructure, yet new Earth-based data centers consume vast resources. Companies like Meta face concerns from local communities regarding water supply and increased electricity use. In Memphis, xAI uses gas turbines to power data centers due to grid limitations, raising resident health concerns over emissions.
Despite ecological and humanitarian impacts, AI companies heavily invest in complex AI models. Nvidia is a significant investor, providing OpenAI over $100 billion and backing startups addressing data center issues, including Starcloud.
Starcloud’s planned November satellite launch, containing an Nvidia GPU, is a preliminary step. Nvidia states this chip is one hundred times more powerful than previous space operations. Significant hurdles remain before Starcloud builds an extraterrestrial data center.
The startup acknowledges regulatory challenges, particularly regarding increased collision risk to other satellites. The Union of Concerned Scientists reports over 7,500 active satellites currently in orbit. Launch costs present another hurdle. Starcloud expects launch costs to decrease and frequency to increase over the next decade. A 5GW data center would require approximately 100 launches for GPUs and another 100 for solar panel and radiator arrays.
Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston predicts that “in ten years, nearly all new data centers will be being built in outer space.”
