For all the hype about data centers in space, there just aren’t that many GPUs up there. As that begins to change, the near-term orbital compute business is beginning to take shape.
The largest computer cluster currently in orbit was launched by Canada’s Kepler Communications in January, and boasts 40 Nvidia Orin processors among 10 active satellites, all linked together by laser communication links.
The company now has 18 customers, and announced its newest on Monday – Sophia Space, a startup that will test its unique orbital computer software in Kepler’s constellation.
Experts expect that we will not see large data centers like those envisioned by SpaceX or Blue Origin until the 2030s. The first step will be to process data collected in orbit to improve the capabilities of space sensors used by private companies and government agencies.
Kepler doesn’t see itself as a data center company, but as an infrastructure for applications in the space, CEO Mina Mitry tells TechCrunch. It wants to be the layer that provides network services to other satellites in space, or drones and planes in the sky below.
Sophia, on the other hand, makes micro-cooled space computers that can solve one of the key challenges of large data centers in orbit: keeping powerful processors from overheating without building and launching efficient, expensive and heavy cooling systems.
In the new partnership, Sophia will upload its proprietary operating system to one of Kepler’s satellites and try to launch and optimize it on all six GPUs in two orbits. That kind of work is table stakes in a terrestrial data center, and it’s the first time it’s been attempted in orbit. Ensuring the software works in orbit will be a key de-risking task for Sophia ahead of its planned first satellite launch in late 2027.
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For Kepler, the partnership helps prove the utility of its network. Currently, it manages and processes data downloaded from the ground, or collected by payloads carried on its spacecraft. But as the field matures, the company expects to begin partnering with third-party satellites to provide communications and processing services.
Mitry says satellite companies are now planning future assets around this model, pointing to the benefits of outsourcing the processing of power-hungry sensors, such as synthetic aperture radar. The US military is a key customer for that type of work as it builds a new missile defense system based on satellites that detect and track threats. Kepler has already demonstrated a space-to-air laser link in a US government demo.
That kind of edge processing — dealing with data where it’s being collected for immediate response — is where orbital data centers will prove their value early on. That vision sets Sophia and Kepler apart from established space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, or startups like Starcloud and Aetherflux that are raising capital to focus on large data centers with data center-style processors.
“Because we believe that it’s more logical than training, we want multiple distributed GPUs that do the thinking, rather than a single high-powered GPU with training power,” Mitry told TechCrunch. “If this thing is consuming kilowatts of power and you’re running 10% of the time, that’s not very useful. We, our GPUs are running 100% of the time.”
And if this technology is proven in orbit, well, anything is possible. Sophia CEO Rob DeMillo points out that Wisconsin adopted a ban on data center construction last week, something other lawmakers in Congress are also pushing. Anything that limits data centers on Earth, in their eyes, makes space-based alternatives more attractive.
“There are no more data centers in this country,” thought Demillo. “It’s going to be weird from here.”
