American startup Starcloud, backed by NVIDIA, has filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deploy a constellation of 88,000 satellites in low Earth orbit. According to Interesting Engineering, the company, based in Redmond (Washington, USA), plans to use these devices as orbital data centers. Namely, to perform artificial intelligence (AI) computing tasks directly in space. This is reported by mediasat.info, the PromPolitInform portal reports.
The idea is based on the desire to bypass the limitations of ground infrastructure. The company notes that traditional data centers are increasingly faced with a lack of land, a lack of electricity, and difficulties with cooling equipment. Orbital systems free from these obstacles could become the most economical and scalable solution for providing computing power in the coming decade.
If the FCC approves the project, the satellites will be placed at an altitude of 600 to 850 kilometers. The devices will move in sun-synchronous orbits, which will allow them to be under sunlight almost continuously and constantly produce the energy needed to power the onboard AI systems.
The satellites will use optical inter-satellite communication channels to transmit data between the devices and interact with ground networks. Among the systems with which integration is planned are SpaceX’s Starlink, Amazon Leo, and Blue Origin’s Tera Wave.
The number of the group significantly exceeds the scale of most existing orbital networks. Thus, the largest of the currently operating satellite systems, SpaceX’s Starlink, has about 10,000 devices. At the same time, the Starcloud group is inferior to another SpaceX initiative proposed earlier this year – the deployment of one million orbital objects also to create a space computing infrastructure.
The company does not disclose the exact technical characteristics of the devices, but assures that the system will be designed with safety in mind in already congested orbital areas. A phased commissioning is planned – first the satellites will operate in lower orbits to test on-board systems, after which they will move to operating altitudes. This approach allows for the rapid descent of a faulty device from orbit and its combustion in the atmosphere.
