Has any orbital data center launched?

Not as a data center: none yet runs one in orbit. 21 of 53 programs have flown their own computing or storage hardware, as hosted payloads, on the ISS or on satellites of their own. Kepler is the only one selling compute, and it is edge-class: small modules of tens of watts, not data-center racks. Launches carrying computing or storage hardware: 7 in 2024, 7 in 2025 and 8 so far in 2026 (2 failed).

How much does an orbital data center cost?

No one has published the price of a working orbital data center. Published cost models put parity with data centers on the ground at about $50 to $500 per kg of launch; launch prices quoted today run $600 to $7,000 per kg. Model runs below parity all assume more than cheaper launch: lighter or cheaper hardware, compute left out, or a narrow scope.

Why put data centers in space?

Supporters point to near-constant sunlight for solar power in the right orbit, and to needing no land, grid connection or cooling water on the ground. Whether that beats a data center on Earth depends mostly on the launch bill, which is why the published cost models turn on the price per kilogram.

What are the problems with data centers in space?

The constraints in the tracker: heat rejection; power per satellite; radiation; links between satellites; downlink and latency; launch cost; servicing and refresh; debris and regulation. Heat is one example. In vacuum all waste heat must be radiated, so radiator area grows with power. Estimates: about 1.4 m² of radiator per 700 W H100 at 60 °C (ABI); about 2,500 m² per MW (Turyshev). Every constraint adds mass, and mass costs launch. 15 named skeptics and studies are on record in the tracker, beside the forecasts.

Starcloud has flown one 60 kg satellite carrying an NVIDIA H100 and holds the most verified funding of any company in the field, $443.4M across five rounds. Every step after the demonstrator depends on launch access and on thermal hardware that has not flown: Starcloud-2 has moved from October 2026 to 2027.

What is Google Project Suncatcher?

Google Research is testing whether solar-powered satellites carrying its TPUs could one day host machine-learning clusters; Planet built the first prototype, launched on 1 Oct 2026. It is a research effort with no commercial commitment, and Google ties the economics to launch prices of about $200/kg in the mid-2030s.

Is SpaceX building an orbital data center?

SpaceX has filed with the FCC for up to one million compute satellites and shown a draft design, AI1; its prospectus filings say it will fly the first ones in 2027 and could begin deploying as early as 2028. The same filings warn that orbital compute involves unproven technology and may not be commercially viable.

What is the Three-Body Computing Constellation?

Zhejiang Lab's Three-Body constellation shares its first 12 satellites with ADA Space and added two more in July 2026, 14 in all. Its 2025 target of more than 50 satellites was missed by a wide margin, and its compute and link figures come from state and company sources.

Is anyone building a lunar data center?

Lonestar Data Holdings has flown data storage, not computing, to the Moon. Lonestar sells off-planet data storage and has flown small storage payloads on the ISS and two lunar landers; its LEO StarVault service rides on Sidus Space satellites. It always flies as a rider, and its dates have followed host delays: StarVault moved from October 2026 to no earlier than April 2027. Firefly Aerospace signed Starcloud on 30 Sep 2026 for a lunar-orbit compute demo launching no earlier than 2028.

Orbital Data CentersWho is building data centers in space, and how far each has got

21 programs have flown their own computing hardware in orbit. None yet runs a data center, and most published cost models tie the answer to the price of launch.

Reviewed 5 Oct 2026327 sourcesIndependently fact-checked twiceMethod Corrections Cite this Download the data

At a glance

Figures computed from the data below. Sources are under each exhibit.

21 of 53 programs
21 of 53 programs have flown their own computing or storage hardware. None yet runs a data center.
Ten more flew software only or supplied a part to someone else's satellite. Six further entries are statements of intent (Anthropic, CASC / CAST, Hanwha Systems, Meta, OpenAI, Relativity Space). Exhibit 1
1 program selling compute
Kepler is the only program at our Operational service stage, reported to sell edge-class compute. All three pathfinder constellations are Chinese.
The compute on sale runs on small modules of tens of watts, not data-center racks. Kepler opening to customers is reported by one outlet. Exhibit 1
8 flight attempts so far in 2026
7 flight attempts carried computing or storage hardware in 2024, 7 in 2025 and 8 so far in 2026 (2 failed).
Each launch is counted once, however many payloads it carried. Results, software uploads and non-compute launches are listed in the flight log but not counted. Exhibit 2
$50 to $500 per kg
Published cost models put parity with the ground at about $50 to $500 per kg of launch. Prices quoted today run $600 to $7,000.
Model runs below parity all assume more than cheaper launch: lighter or cheaper hardware, compute left out, or a narrow scope. Exhibit 4
94% of verified funding
Two US startups, Starcloud and Cowboy Space, hold 94% of the $820.3M in verified funding. FCC applications seek up to 1.26 million satellites.
Those five applications are requests, not approvals; 14 programs have flown a compute satellite of their own. Exhibits 6 and 7

What is an orbital data center?

An orbital data center, also called a space data center or space-based data center, is a satellite, or a fleet of them, that runs data-center computing in orbit on solar power and sheds its heat through radiators. Most recent plans are pitched as AI data centers in space. The pitch is near-constant sunlight and no land, grid or cooling water; the catch is that every kilogram must be launched and nothing can be repaired.

Fewer than half the programs have flown their own hardware; one sells compute

Exhibit 1

21 of 53 programs have flown their own computing hardware; one sells compute

Programs by the highest stage their own evidence supports, highest first. Select a name for the record behind it.

7Operational service
In-orbit compute sold to customers.
1 program
- Kepler, Canada
6Pathfinder constellation
Several compute satellites flown as a network.
3 programs
5Own satellite flown
Its own compute satellite flown.
10 programs
4Payload demo flown
Compute or storage flown as a hosted payload or on the ISS.
17 programs
Above: flown (21 with their own hardware, 10 software or supplier)Below: not yet (22 programs, plus 6 statements of intent)
3Ground prototype
Hardware in development, nothing flown.
2 programs
- OrbitsEdge, United States
- Ramon.Space, Israel
2Funded study
A funded feasibility or design study.
2 programs
- ASCEND, France
- SpaceBlast, Japan
1Concept
Plans, filings or designs with no ODC hardware built or flown.
24 programs

Source: company releases, launch records, regulatory filings and press reports, fact-checked; SpaceNexus analysis, as of 5 Oct 2026

Exhibit 2

Seven flight attempts carried computing hardware in 2024, seven in 2025 and eight so far in 2026; most are hosted payloads or edge-class satellites

Launches carrying compute or storage hardware, each counted once. Results, software uploads and launches without compute are in the flight log, not here.

Flight attempt carrying compute or storage
Failed
Commercial service opened
Announced target
Target date passed, no launch found
Today, 5 Oct 2026

The counts as a table

Flight attempts and announced targets by year
Year	Flight attempts	Failed	Announced targets
2017	1	0	0
2020	1	0	0
2021	2	0	0
2022	1	0	0
2023	2	0	0
2024	7	0	0
2025	7	0	0
2026	8	2	10
2027	0	0	21
2028	0	0	11

Source: launch records (CelesTrak, agencies), company releases and press reports; SpaceNexus analysis, as of 5 Oct 2026

Exhibit 3

Every dated promise that has come due was met late or missed: 7 delivered late, by up to 24 months, and one missed (8 in all)

Dated promises with two sources for both the promise and the outcome. A window that got narrower is shown as a narrowing, not a slip. No grades or ratings.

Dated promises and what happened: promised date, outcome or current date, and how far it moved. No grades or ratings.
Program: step	Promised (when said)	Outcome or current date	Moved by
Starcloud: First demonstrator (Starcloud-1)	May 2025 (11 Mar 2024)[1][2]	Launched 2 Nov 2025 delivered late[1]	5 to 6 months
Starcloud: Starcloud-2 launch	October 2026 (30 Mar 2026)[1][2]	Now 2027 (stated 21 Aug 2026) moved later[1]	3 to 15 months
Axiom Space: ISS data center prototype	2024 (19 Dec 2023)[1]	AxDCU-1 reached the ISS 24 Aug 2025 delivered late[1]	8 to 20 months
Axiom Space: Nodes 1 and 2 on Kepler satellites	by the end of 2025 (7 Apr 2025)[1]	Launched 11 Jan 2026 delivered late, host-set date[1]	under 1 month
Kepler: Optical relay network launch	2024 (services by Q1 2025) (13 Apr 2023)[1][2]	Launched 11 Jan 2026 delivered late[1]	12 to 24 months
Orbital Chenguang: Chenguang-1 launch	end of 2025 (15 Aug 2025)[1][2]	Launched 24 Jul 2026 (Beijing time) delivered late[1]	7 to 8 months
Three-Body: More than 50 computing satellites in 2025	2025 (21 May 2025)[1]	None more in 2025; 14 constellation satellites by October 2026 missed[1][2]	n/a
Cowboy Space: First demonstration spacecraft	Q4 2025 or Q1 2026 (9 Oct 2024)[1]	Reason-1 launched 1 Oct 2026 (power beaming, not compute) delivered late[1]	6 to 12 months
Lonestar: Lunar data center payload on IM-2	October 2023 (7 Mar 2023)[1]	Launched 26 Feb 2025 (local time) delivered late, host-set date[1]	16 to 17 months
Lonestar: First StarVault payload	October 2026 (15 Apr 2026)[1]	Now no earlier than April 2027 (stated 28 Sep 2026) moved later, host-set date[1]	6 months or more
ADA Space: Groups 02 and 03 deployed	2026 (24 Apr 2026)[1]	Group 02 batch sent off 1 Sep 2026, not launched by 5 Oct 2026 due, not yet done[1]	n/a

Not slips: Kepler’s next satellite tranche went from “every two years” to 2028 (stated 24 Aug 2026) (narrowed (not a slip))[1][2]; Sophia Space’s TILE in-orbit demo went from “late 2027 or early 2028” to 2027 (stated 23 Jun 2026) (narrowed (not a slip))[1][2]; Google Suncatcher’s two-satellite mission went from “by early 2027” to stated as 2027; a single extra prototype flew 1 Oct 2026 (wording softened (not a slip))[1][2][3].

Source: company statements and releases, dated, with launch records; SpaceNexus analysis, as of 5 Oct 2026

Back to contents

The physics can be engineered; the launch bill decides

Exhibit 4

Published models put parity at about $50 to $500 per kg of launch; prices quoted today run $600 to $7,000

Each point is one published model run: launch price against the cost of orbital compute relative to the ground. Points below parity all assume more than cheaper launch: lighter or cheaper hardware, compute left out, or a narrow scope.

Total cost, including chips
Excluding chips or compute
Launch or power cost only
Other or undisclosed scope
Published parity thresholds

1Google Suncatcher (2025): $3,600/kg, 4.9× to 25.8× (our division of its totals)[1]
2UVA NSDPI (McCalip model) (2026): $1,600/kg, 8.2× (our division of its totals)[1]
3BCG (2026): $1,500/kg, 2.5× to 3×[1]
4SemiAnalysis (2026): $1,400 to $1,800/kg, 3.6×[1]
5Bain (2026): $600/kg, 1.5×[1]
6McCalip calculator default (2026): $500/kg, 3.2× (our division of its totals)[1]
7BCG realistic scenario (2026): $500/kg (our mapping), 1.5× to 1.8×[1]
8Deutsche Bank path, 2029 (2026): $398/kg, 1.2×[1][2]
9Google Suncatcher (2025): $300/kg, 0.4× to 2.1× (our division of its totals)[1]
10Forethought conservative scenario (2026): $250/kg, 1.28× (our division of its totals)[1]
11Google Suncatcher (2025): $200/kg, 0.27× to 1.42× (our division of its totals)[1]
12Goldman Sachs, 2030 (2026): $183/kg, 0.47× to 0.71× (our division of its totals)[1]
13Deutsche Bank path, 2032 (2026): $170/kg, 0.6×[1][2]
14Forethought median scenario (2026): $100/kg, 0.93× (our division of its totals)[1]
15BCG aggressive scenario (2026): $100/kg (our mapping), 1.1× to 1.2×[1]
16Forethought bullish scenario (2026): $50/kg, 0.81× (our division of its totals)[1]
17ABI Research (2026): $44/kg, at least 10×[1]
18UVA NSDPI ambitious 2040 case (2026): $30/kg, 0.93× (our division of its totals)[1]
19Starcloud white paper (2024): $30/kg, 0.05× (our division of its totals); not drawn (below the chart at 0.05x)[1]
20UVA NSDPI, launch only (2026): $1/kg, 3.5× (our division of its totals); not drawn (left of the chart at $1/kg)[1]

What each model covers, the parity thresholds, and models without a launch price

Scope of each model run

1. Google Suncatcher: Launch or power cost only. Launched power at $14,700 per kW-year against $570 to $3,000 for US data center power.
2. UVA NSDPI (McCalip model): Excluding chips or compute. $135.6B vs $16.6B over five years, excluding GPUs.
3. BCG: Total cost, including chips. 20-year total cost per MW, including GPUs.
4. SemiAnalysis: Total cost, including chips. $8.64 vs $2.37 per GPU-hour.
5. Bain: Other or undisclosed scope. Capital cost per kW at 100 MW ("roughly 50% more").
6. McCalip calculator default: Excluding chips or compute. $51.1B vs $15.9B over five years, excluding GPUs; as run 2026-10-05 (the calculator changes).
7. BCG realistic scenario: Total cost, including chips. A 67% launch cost cut, mapped to about $500/kg by us; the scenario also assumes lighter satellites.
8. Deutsche Bank path, 2029: Excluding chips or compute. Excludes compute; against non-compute ground costs. Secondary relay.
9. Google Suncatcher: Launch or power cost only. $1,200 per kW-year of launched power.
10. Forethought conservative scenario: Other or undisclosed scope. $48.2B vs $37.6B for 1 GW; the scenario also changes mass and thermal assumptions.
11. Google Suncatcher: Launch or power cost only. $810 per kW-year of launched power.
12. Goldman Sachs, 2030: Other or undisclosed scope. $15B to $20B vs $28B to $32B per GW; scope not disclosed. Secondary relay.
13. Deutsche Bank path, 2032: Excluding chips or compute. Excludes compute; against non-compute ground costs. Secondary relay.
14. Forethought median scenario: Other or undisclosed scope. $35.0B vs $37.6B; also changes mass and thermal assumptions.
15. BCG aggressive scenario: Total cost, including chips. "Full Starship economics", mapped to about $100/kg by us.
16. Forethought bullish scenario: Other or undisclosed scope. $30.3B vs $37.6B; also changes mass and thermal assumptions.
17. ABI Research: Other or undisclosed scope. At least 10x even at $44/kg, per GPU-year.
18. UVA NSDPI ambitious 2040 case: Excluding chips or compute. $15.4B vs $16.6B; also assumes $10/W hardware, 100 W/kg and 1% failure.
19. Starcloud white paper: Launch or power cost only. Energy, cooling and backup only: $8.2M vs $167M (company claim).
20. UVA NSDPI, launch only: Excluding chips or compute. $58.9B vs $16.6B even at $1/kg with nothing else changed.

Published parity thresholds

Bain: $50 to $100 per kg, for orbital economics to be competitive.[1]
Forethought: about $100 per kg, approximate cost parity with ground builds.[1]
Google Suncatcher: about $200 per kg, launched power comparable to ground power spend, by about 2035.[1]
Turyshev (NASA JPL): $250 to $1,000 per kg, launch plus build, to match ground capital cost.[1]
Starcloud CEO (McKinsey interview, relayed by JLL): about $500 per kg, cost-competitive (company view).[1]

Models that give a cost ratio but no launch price

Deutsche Bank, today: 6x, excluding compute.[1]
IEEE Spectrum (McCalip-based): about 3.2x ($51B vs $16B for 1 GW over 5 years).[1]
TechCrunch run of the McCalip calculator: almost 3x ($42.4B).[1]
Morgan Stanley, 2031 (secondary): 0.96x ($6.5 vs $6.8 per watt-year).[1]

Source: the published cost models listed; ratios marked as ours are our division of their totals; SpaceNexus analysis, as of 5 Oct 2026

Exhibit 5

Every constraint costs mass, and mass costs launch

The hard problems: the number that matters, the best flown result so far, and what would change it
Problem	The number that matters	Best flown result so far	What would change it
Heat rejection	About 1.4 m² of radiator per 700 W H100 at 60 °C (ABI); about 2,500 m² per MW (Turyshev)[1][2][3][4][5]	Suncatcher prototype reportedly computes in 15 to 20 minute bursts on about 1 kW	Hotter, lighter radiators; chips that run hot
Power per satellite	One modern AI rack draws tens of kW; 1 GW needs about 4,300 satellites of 240 kW (IEEE Spectrum)[1][2]	About 1 kW (Suncatcher, reported); 8 kW planned for Starcloud-2 in 2027	Large deployable arrays; Starship-class launch
Radiation	Google TPU: HBM irregularities from 2 krad(Si), no hard failures to 15 krad(Si); about 750 rad(Si) expected over 5 years[1][2][3][4]	HPE Spaceborne Computer-1 lost 9 of 20 SSDs on the ISS	Error-tolerant software; shielding; published flight data
Links between satellites	About 10 Tbps per link needed for training clusters (Google)[1][2][3][4][5]	Kepler 2.5 Gbps per link; Three-Body up to 100 Gbps (claimed)	Close formation flying with commercial optics (Google, 2027 test)
Downlink and latency	About 1.8 ms one-way at 550 km; real round trips about 30 to over 100 ms[1][2]	HPE SBC-2 processed 182 GB on the ISS and sent down 13 MB	Workloads whose data starts in orbit
Launch cost	Published models put parity at about $50 to $500 per kg[1][2][3]	Prices quoted today: about $600 to $7,000 per kg	Fully reusable heavy launch
Servicing and refresh	About 9% a year GPU failure rate (McCalip model, Meta reference)[1][2]	No GPU has been repaired or replaced in orbit	Over-provisioning; robotic servicing
Debris and regulation	The SpaceX filing alone is about 100× the current LEO population (AAS)[1][2][3]	No large compute constellation has an FCC grant	New FCC licensing rules (FCC 26-47) and debris standards
Power is a small share of cost	Electricity is about 5 to 7% of AI data center revenue (Chanos)[1][2]	Google compares launched power with ground power bills only	Cheaper chips matter more than free sunlight

Source: NASA, peer-reviewed and preprint papers, analyst reports and company statements; SpaceNexus analysis, as of 5 Oct 2026

Back to contents

Money is concentrated in two US startups, and licence requests run far ahead of hardware

Exhibit 6

Two US startups hold 94% of the $820.3M in verified funding

Verified USD equity in companies whose main business is orbital compute or storage.

Verified funding by company, largest first; total $820.3M
Company	Verified	Share
Starcloud5 rounds	$443.4M	54.1%
Cowboy Space2 rounds	$325M	39.6%
Sophia Space3 rounds	$20.5M	2.5%
Aethero1 round	$8.4M	1.0%
Satlyt1 round	$8M	1.0%
Lonestar1 round	$5M	0.6%
Orbital1 round	$5M	0.6%
TakeMe2Space1 round	$5M	0.6%
Total	$820.3M	100.0%

Rounds come from company announcements, regulatory filings and press reports. Amounts, valuations and investors are as reported and may be incomplete or later revised. Not investment advice, and not an offer or solicitation for any security. Full disclaimer

9 rounds listed on program pages but not added to the total, with the reason for each

Lonestar $825K, Pre-Series A (18 Oct 2023): Single source.
Lonestar $6.6M, Seed-plus (14 Jan 2026): Single source.
K2 Space $250M, Series C ($3B valuation) (11 Dec 2025): Bus or network maker (an enabler), not a dedicated orbital-compute company.
ADA Space RMB 3.55B, Pre-IPO (RMB 11.554B post-money) (Apr 2026): In yuan; not converted to dollars.
Orbital Chenguang RMB 170M, Pre-A1 (20 Apr 2026): In yuan; not converted to dollars.
Ramon.Space $26M, Series B (28 Jun 2023): Predates its orbital data center program.
Kepler $92M, Series C (13 Apr 2023): Bus or network maker (an enabler), not a dedicated orbital-compute company.
K2 Space $500M, Series D ($6.8B valuation) (30 Jul 2026): Bus or network maker (an enabler), not a dedicated orbital-compute company.
Pixxel and Sarvam $100M, Series C (Pixxel, company-wide) (7 Sep 2026): Company-wide round, not for this program alone.
Public money and studies (not equity): Texas Space Commission up to $5.5M (Axiom); EU ASCEND EUR 2,047,882; JAXA up to JPY 23.5B (Space Compass, optical relay); MIIT RMB 10M x 10 projects a year (reported).
Credit (available, not drawn): Orbital Chenguang RMB 57.7B (12 financial institutions); ADA Space RMB 5B (Bank of China Sichuan branch).

Source: company releases, regulatory filings and press reports; a primary source or two independent outlets per round; SpaceNexus analysis, as of 5 Oct 2026

Exhibit 7

FCC applications seek up to 1.26 million satellites; 14 programs have flown a compute satellite of their own

The maximum each applicant asked the FCC to authorise: applications, not licences or build plans.

FCC applications for orbital data center constellations, largest first. Applications, not approvals.
Applicant	Filed	Satellites, up to
SpaceX[1][2]30 Jan 2026	30 Jan 2026	1,000,000
Orbital[1]24 Jun 2026	24 Jun 2026	100,000
Starcloud[1][2][3]4 Feb 2026	4 Feb 2026	88,000
Blue Origin Sunrise[1][2][3]19 Mar 2026	19 Mar 2026	51,600
Cowboy Space[1][2][3]14 May 2026	14 May 2026	20,000

The FCC has granted none of the large compute filings and is rewriting its licensing rules. The policy log is in Appendix C.

Source: FCC filings and public notices, regulators and legal commentary; SpaceNexus analysis, as of 5 Oct 2026

Exhibit 8

SpaceX launched most Western compute flights so far, and plans a compute constellation of its own

Who supplies whom, by layer. Confirmed means a named supply, hosting or launch relationship in a release or reliable report; announced means a product aimed at orbital data centers with no named customer yet.

Launch

Confirmed supplier:SpaceX (Falcon 9 rideshare, Transporter, Bandwagon), CAS Space (Kinetica-1), CASC (Long March 2D), ISRO (PSLV), Firefly Aerospace

Announced, no named customer:Rocket Lab

Satellite buses, hosts and integrators

Confirmed supplier:Astro Digital, Apex, Reflex Aerospace (Germany), EnduroSat, Planet Labs, Kepler Communications, Sidus Space, Loft Orbital, Spacebilt

Announced, no named customer:Muon Space, K2 Space

Edge class:D-Orbit (ION)

Compute silicon and storage

In-house:Google (TPU)

Confirmed supplier:NVIDIA, Microchip (PIC64-HPSC), Phison, Red Hat / IBM

Announced, no named customer:Ramon.Space (with Ingrasys, a Foxconn subsidiary)

Edge class:Ubotica, Unibap, Aethero, EDGX (Belgium), KP Labs

Optical links, networking and ground

Confirmed supplier:SpaceX Starlink lasers, Tesat (Airbus), Skyloom

Power: arrays and space power

Confirmed supplier:Star Catcher

Announced, no named customer:Rocket Lab, Redwire (ROSA), Atomic-6

Thermal

In-house:SpaceX, Starcloud, Orbital Chenguang, Sophia Space

Announced, no named customer:Atomic-6 (Hot Wing)

Operators and integrators

Operators:Starcloud, Axiom Space, Kepler Communications, Sophia Space, Lonestar Data Holdings, ADA Space / Zhejiang Lab, Orbital Chenguang, Atomic-6 ODC.space

What each player supplies, with sources, and adjacent players

Launch

SpaceX (Falcon 9 rideshare, Transporter, Bandwagon) (confirmed supplier): Launched Starcloud-1 (Bandwagon-4), the Kepler tranche with Axiom's nodes, Aethero Phobos (Transporter-16), and the Suncatcher prototype, MOI-1A and Altair-1 (Transporter-18); Lonestar StarVault manifested on Bandwagon-6[1][2]
CAS Space (Kinetica-1) (confirmed supplier): Kinetica-1 Y15: Chenguang-1 and two Three-Body satellites; Y18: Super Intelligent Computing-1[1][2]
CASC (Long March 2D) (confirmed supplier): First 12 Three-Body / ADA Space computing satellites (14 May 2025)[1]
ISRO (PSLV) (confirmed supplier): TakeMe2Space MOI-TD as a hosted payload on PSLV-C60 POEM-4 (30 Dec 2024); MOI-1 lost on PSLV-C62 (12 Jan 2026)[1]
Rocket Lab (announced for orbital data centers, no named customer): Silicon solar arrays aimed at space data centers; says it will not operate data centers[1][2]
Firefly Aerospace (confirmed supplier): Starcloud SC-1L lunar-orbit compute payload, NET 2028 (from r5)[1]
Blue Origin (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): No ODC launch flown[1]

Satellite buses, hosts and integrators

Astro Digital (confirmed supplier): Corvus-Micro+ bus for Starcloud-1[1]
Apex (confirmed supplier): Nova bus for Sophia Space's 2027 TILE demo[1]
Reflex Aerospace (Germany) (confirmed supplier): Exclusive bus under a development agreement for Orbital's Orbital-1, approaching 250 kW[1]
Muon Space (announced for orbital data centers, no named customer): Condor-Ultra: 20 kW, variants to 100 kW; integrates Starlink laser terminals (25 Gbps); optional NVIDIA Space-1; pathfinder 2028; "worked with hyperscalers" on requirements[1][2]
K2 Space (announced for orbital data centers, no named customer): Gravitas (20 kW class) flew 30 Mar 2026 without a named compute payload; Giga (100 kW class, second half of 2028) pitched to hyperscalers; $500M Series D on 30 Jul 2026[1]
EnduroSat (confirmed supplier): FRAME-15 bus for Aethero Titan (not yet launched)[1][2]
Planet Labs (confirmed supplier): Built and launched the Suncatcher prototype (1 Oct 2026); runs Jetson inference on its own Pelicans[1]
Kepler Communications (confirmed supplier): Hosts Axiom ODC nodes 1 and 2; sells Jetson Orin compute on 10 relay satellites[1]
Sidus Space (confirmed supplier): Builds and flies Lonestar StarVault payloads on LizzieSat-4/5; $120M deal is preliminary[1]
Loft Orbital (confirmed supplier): $1B, 50-satellite AI program with Marlan Space (announced 9 Sep 2026; funded by Loft, Marlan and partners, not a firm contract); Altair-1 launched 1 Oct 2026[1]
D-Orbit (ION) (edge-class supplier (watts to a few kw)): Hosted Unibap SpaceCloud, AWS software and SkyServe edge compute since 2021[1]
Spacebilt (confirmed supplier): Built Lonestar's Freedom server (as Skycorp); building the petabyte-class Axiom ISS node (2027)[1]
Thales Alenia Space (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): Led EU ASCEND feasibility study[1]

Compute silicon and storage

NVIDIA (confirmed supplier): H100 on Starcloud-1; Jetson Orin/Thor modules for Kepler, Planet and Aethero; Space-1 Vera Rubin module, available "at a later date"[1][2]
Google (TPU) (built in-house): 4 Trillium TPUs on the Suncatcher prototype (reported); radiation-tested to 15 krad(Si) with no hard failures[1]
AMD (Xilinx Versal XQR) (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): Versal AI Edge XQRVE2302 (Class B qualified, shipping from fall 2025); Versal AI Core XQRVC1902 sampling for 15-year missions. Uses cited: NEC optical constellation, Blue Origin flight computers. No ODC program named.[1][2]
Microchip (PIC64-HPSC) (confirmed supplier): HPSC processor for the Axiom/Spacebilt ISS node (2027); a Microchip RISC-V processor on Lonestar Freedom[1]
Phison (confirmed supplier): Over 1 PB of SSDs for the Axiom ISS node (2027)[1]
Ramon.Space (with Ingrasys, a Foxconn subsidiary) (announced for orbital data centers, no named customer): About 50 missions of heritage; ODC platform prototypes planned 2027 and 2028[1]
Ubotica (edge-class supplier (watts to a few kw)): 11 flown missions, 30+ models in orbit; ESA and NASA JPL since 2020; IBM watsonx one-click deployment[1][2]
Unibap (edge-class supplier (watts to a few kw)): Flown on D-Orbit ION since 2021; NASA iX10 order; KSAT, Leonardo[1]
Aethero (edge-class supplier (watts to a few kw)): Deimos (100 TOPS), Phobos (157 TOPS) flown; Titan with four NxA-ECM (Jetson Thor) modules, "more than 16,000 teraflops", 3.4 kW peak, October 2026[1]
EDGX (Belgium) (edge-class supplier (watts to a few kw)): First in-orbit payloads 9 Apr 2026; EUR 1.1M deal with an unnamed operator[1]
KP Labs (edge-class supplier (watts to a few kw)): Intuition-1 (2023); ESA OPS-SAT VOLT[1]
Red Hat / IBM (confirmed supplier): Device Edge on Axiom AxDCU-1 (ISS); RHEL on Voyager Space Edge (ISS)[1]

Optical links, networking and ground

SpaceX Starlink lasers (confirmed supplier): 50+ Starlink Mini Laser terminals across 25+ Starcloud satellites, two per satellite, up to 25 Gbps over 4,000 km; first hardware in orbit within a year[1]
Tesat (Airbus) (confirmed supplier): SDA-standard terminals for Kepler's constellation, which hosts Axiom nodes and sells compute[1]
Skyloom (confirmed supplier): Optical Communication Terminal on Axiom/Spacebilt ISS ODC node (2027)[1]
Space Development Agency standard (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): Kepler fields 2.5 Gbps SDA-standard links; GA-EMS demonstrated air-to-space link with an SDA Tranche 0-compatible Kepler satellite[1]
Mynaric (Rocket Lab) (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): Capella SAR satellite at 2.5 Gbps; Northrop Grumman (SDA); ESA HydRON. No ODC link found.[1]
Aalyria (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): $100M Series B at $1.3B (2026-02); AFRL Space Data Network Experimentation; SpinLaunch Meridian. No ODC link found.[1][2]
Space Force Space Data Network (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): $12M each to Amazon Leo for Government, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Rocket Lab and York (13 Aug 2026)[1]

Power: arrays and space power

Rocket Lab (announced for orbital data centers, no named customer): Silicon arrays pitched for kilometre-scale data center power[1]
Redwire (ROSA) (announced for orbital data centers, no named customer): Concept orbital compute node on ROSA and Redwire radiators; 65+ arrays delivered or in development; ROSA for Axiom Station module 2 (5 Oct 2026)[1][2]
Atomic-6 (announced for orbital data centers, no named customer): Deployable arrays and radiators; resells orbital compute from $575,000 a month[1]
Solestial (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): 10 kW wing with DCUBED targeted for 2026; no ODC customer named[1]
Star Catcher (confirmed supplier): Power-beaming agreements with Starcloud, Astro Digital, Loft Orbital and Aethero; $65M Series A led by B Capital; first space-to-space beaming test still pending. Contracted, technology not yet demonstrated[1][2]
Overview Energy (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): Meta reserved up to 1 GW (27 Apr 2026); demo 2028, power 2030. Powers terrestrial data centers: an alternative to ODCs, not a supplier.[1]

Thermal

SpaceX (built in-house): AI1 design: about 1,400 W/m² radiator (as presented 8 Jun 2026)[1]
Starcloud (built in-house): Starcloud-2 "largest commercial deployable radiator" (COMPANY_CLAIM)[1]
Orbital Chenguang (built in-house): Graphene flexible radiative panels flown on Chenguang-1 (validation began August 2026)[1]
Sophia Space (built in-house): TILE: passive radiator on the back of solar/compute tiles (US Patent 12,679,564)[1]
Atomic-6 (Hot Wing) (announced for orbital data centers, no named customer): Announced April 2026 for orbital compute[1]
Sierra Space (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): Prototype passed thermal-vacuum testing at NASA JSC[1]
INVENT GmbH (LiDeR) (adjacent: no orbital data center link found): Small-satellite class[1]

Operators and integrators

Starcloud (operator): Own satellites and radiators; buys Astro Digital buses, NVIDIA GPUs, Starlink lasers, SpaceX launch, Star Catcher power[1]
Axiom Space (operator): Nodes on Kepler and ISS; buys Spacebilt, Microchip, Phison, Skyloom, Red Hat[1]
Kepler Communications (operator): 18 customers for compute and relay; Tesat terminals[1]
Sophia Space (operator): Software on Kepler; hardware demo on Apex 2027[1]
Lonestar Data Holdings (operator): Payloads built by Spacebilt and Sidus; hosts on landers and LEO satellites[1]
ADA Space / Zhejiang Lab (operator): Builds own computing satellites; launches on Long March and Kinetica[1]
Orbital Chenguang (operator): Consortium of about 24 to 30 organizations; RMB 57.7B bank credit intent[1]
Atomic-6 ODC.space (operator): Brokers capacity from 1U to 42U; no named customers[1]

Source: company releases, filings and reports, corrected by our fact-check; SpaceNexus analysis, as of 5 Oct 2026

Back to contents

The market is betting anyway, and the argument is about cost, not physics

Exhibit 9

Vendor forecasts for the 2035 market differ by 4.7×, from $8.4B to $39.1B a year

Market forecasts as ranges, labelled by who made them, beside the five most recent named arguments against. Forecasts are estimates, not promises.

US dollars a year, log scale. Open circle: first year; filled: last year. BCG gives one year (2040) as a range.

Projections and expected dates are estimates based on public information at the time shown. They can and do change, they are not promises or guarantees, and they are not investment advice. Full disclaimer

The skeptics, most recent first

Orbital compute is not yet proven.
Bank of America (SpaceX initiation), 7 Jul 2026[1]
Radiators and arrays take 65 to 70% of satellite mass.
Andrew Cavalier (ABI Research), in IEEE Spectrum, 11 Jun 2026[1]
Only sovereign cloud is viable today.
Brandon Karpf (NTT), via Via Satellite, 2 Jun 2026[1]
The 51,600-satellite filing lacked the transparency, rigor and coordination needed for space safety.
NASA (FCC comment on Blue Origin Project Sunrise), 5 May 2026[1]
Launch plus build must cost only $250 to $1,000/kg, and current Falcon 9 pricing is a factor of 3.4 to 13.5 off.
Slava G. Turyshev (NASA JPL), arXiv 2604.27197, 29 Apr 2026[1]

All arguments and forecasts

Source: the named analysts, vendors, executives and publications; SpaceNexus analysis, as of 5 Oct 2026

Back to contents

SpaceNexus view, not a prediction. Reviewed 5 Oct 2026.

What to watch, Oct 2026 to Sep 2027

Steps the companies themselves have announced, dated inside this window, soonest first. The last column is our note on what would show the plan is on track.

Announced steps due between Oct 2026 to Sep 2027, with a SpaceNexus note on each
Program	Announced step	Date, as stated	What would show it is on track
Aethero	Titan: Jetson Thor compute cluster on EnduroSat FRAME-15	October 2026	Whether Titan launches in October 2026.
ADA Space	Deploy Group 02 and Group 03 computing satellites	2026	Whether the 8 Group 02 satellites launch, and the outcome of the Hong Kong listing application.
Three-Body	10 computing satellites this year (2 launched by October)	2026	Launches of the next batches toward the stated 100 satellites by 2027.
Ramon.Space	Fly early samples	2026	Whether early samples fly in 2026.
Agnikul and NeevCloud	Pilot launch (300 to 350 kg unit)	end of 2026	Whether Agnikul reaches orbit, which the pilot depends on.
Pixxel and Sarvam	Launch Pathfinder	as early as Q4 2026	Whether Pathfinder launches in Q4 2026.

Data centers in space: questions and answers

Answers are computed from the tracker and its fact-checked summaries, reviewed 5 Oct 2026.

Who is building data centers in space?: The tracker lists 59 programs in 15 countries, from startups to big tech, launch providers and state labs. Kepler sells compute from orbit. Three have flown a network of compute satellites: ADA Space, Three-Body and Tiansuan (BUPT). Ten more have flown a compute satellite of their own: Aethero, Altair, Google Suncatcher, KP Labs, Orbital Chenguang, Planet, Space String, Starcloud, Supersmartcompute and TakeMe2Space. The largest plans on paper are FCC applications: SpaceX for up to 1,000,000 satellites and Orbital for up to 100,000 satellites. Companies whose main business is orbital compute hold $820.3M in verified funding.
Has any orbital data center launched?: Not as a data center: none yet runs one in orbit. 21 of 53 programs have flown their own computing or storage hardware, as hosted payloads, on the ISS or on satellites of their own. Kepler is the only one selling compute, and it is edge-class: small modules of tens of watts, not data-center racks. Launches carrying computing or storage hardware: 7 in 2024, 7 in 2025 and 8 so far in 2026 (2 failed).
How much does an orbital data center cost?: No one has published the price of a working orbital data center. Published cost models put parity with data centers on the ground at about $50 to $500 per kg of launch; launch prices quoted today run $600 to $7,000 per kg. Model runs below parity all assume more than cheaper launch: lighter or cheaper hardware, compute left out, or a narrow scope.
Why put data centers in space?: Supporters point to near-constant sunlight for solar power in the right orbit, and to needing no land, grid connection or cooling water on the ground. Whether that beats a data center on Earth depends mostly on the launch bill, which is why the published cost models turn on the price per kilogram.
What are the problems with data centers in space?: The constraints in the tracker: heat rejection; power per satellite; radiation; links between satellites; downlink and latency; launch cost; servicing and refresh; debris and regulation. Heat is one example. In vacuum all waste heat must be radiated, so radiator area grows with power. Estimates: about 1.4 m² of radiator per 700 W H100 at 60 °C (ABI); about 2,500 m² per MW (Turyshev). Every constraint adds mass, and mass costs launch. 15 named skeptics and studies are on record in the tracker, beside the forecasts.
What is Starcloud?: Starcloud has flown one 60 kg satellite carrying an NVIDIA H100 and holds the most verified funding of any company in the field, $443.4M across five rounds. Every step after the demonstrator depends on launch access and on thermal hardware that has not flown: Starcloud-2 has moved from October 2026 to 2027.; Starcloud: the full record
What is Google Project Suncatcher?: Google Research is testing whether solar-powered satellites carrying its TPUs could one day host machine-learning clusters; Planet built the first prototype, launched on 1 Oct 2026. It is a research effort with no commercial commitment, and Google ties the economics to launch prices of about $200/kg in the mid-2030s.; Google Project Suncatcher: the full record
Is SpaceX building an orbital data center?: SpaceX has filed with the FCC for up to one million compute satellites and shown a draft design, AI1; its prospectus filings say it will fly the first ones in 2027 and could begin deploying as early as 2028. The same filings warn that orbital compute involves unproven technology and may not be commercially viable.; SpaceX orbital data center plan: the full record
What is the Three-Body Computing Constellation?: Zhejiang Lab's Three-Body constellation shares its first 12 satellites with ADA Space and added two more in July 2026, 14 in all. Its 2025 target of more than 50 satellites was missed by a wide margin, and its compute and link figures come from state and company sources.; Three-Body Computing Constellation: the full record
Is anyone building a lunar data center?: Lonestar Data Holdings has flown data storage, not computing, to the Moon. Lonestar sells off-planet data storage and has flown small storage payloads on the ISS and two lunar landers; its LEO StarVault service rides on Sidus Space satellites. It always flies as a rider, and its dates have followed host delays: StarVault moved from October 2026 to no earlier than April 2027. Firefly Aerospace signed Starcloud on 30 Sep 2026 for a lunar-orbit compute demo launching no earlier than 2028.; Lonestar Data Holdings: the full record

Appendix A

The program database

Showing 12 of 59 entries

Orbital data center programs, sorted by stage, furthest first. C marks a company claim; the glyph after a figure or milestone is its confidence label.
		Lead figure		Next announced step
KeplerCA · Startup	Stage 7 of 7: Operational service	10 satellitesConfirmedSatellites in Tranche 1	13 Apr 2026 ReportedCompute opened to commercial customers	2028Next tranche across multiple launches, including a dedicated Rocket Lab launch, with up to 100 Gbps links	Not counted (see page)
ADA SpaceCN · Startup	Stage 6 of 7: Pathfinder constellation	12 satellitesConfirmedComputing satellites launched (Group 01)	1 Sep 2026 ReportedDeparture ceremony for the first 8 Group 02 satellites	2026Deploy Group 02 and Group 03 computing satellites	Not counted (see page)
Three-BodyCN · Research lab	Stage 6 of 7: Pathfinder constellation	14 satellitesConfirmedConstellation satellites launched (13 computing, 1 remote sensing)	29 Jul 2026 ReportedTwo satellites report an 8-day continuous laser link	202610 computing satellites this year (2 launched by October)	Not disclosed
Tiansuan (BUPT)CN · Research lab	Stage 6 of 7: Pathfinder constellation	16 satellitesReportedSatellites reported in orbit	Sep 2026 ReportedReported at 16 LEO satellites and 7 ground stations, over 60 institutions supported	UndatedPhase 2: 24 satellites; Phase 3: 300 satellites	Not disclosed
AetheroUS · Startup	Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown	157 TOPS (peak)^{C (company claim)}Company claimPhobos compute	16 Apr 2026 Company claimTitan mission on EnduroSat FRAME-15 announced for October 2026	Oct 2026Titan: Jetson Thor compute cluster on EnduroSat FRAME-15	$8.4M
AltairAE · Consortium	Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown	50 satellites^{C (company claim)}Company claimPlanned satellites	1 Oct 2026 ConfirmedAltair-1 launched on Transporter-18; signal acquired, commissioning	2027The other nine satellites of the first ten	Not disclosed
Google SuncatcherUS · Big tech	Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown	4 Trillium TPUsReportedTPUs on the prototype	1 Oct 2026 ConfirmedFirst Suncatcher prototype launched on Transporter-18; contact confirmed	2027Two-satellite mission testing inter-satellite laser links	Not disclosed
KP LabsPL · Supplier	Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown	3 TOPS^{C (company claim)}Company claimLeopard DPU	11 Jul 2026 Company claimCollaboration with Parsimoni (Leopard plus SpaceOS)	Mid-2026Leopard DPU on ESA OPS-SAT VOLT	Not disclosed
Orbital ChenguangCN · Startup	Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown	25 PFLOPS^{C (company claim)}Company claimChenguang-1 compute (claimed, precision not stated)	4 Sep 2026 ReportedPre-A+ round led by Yuande Capital (amount undisclosed)	2025 to 2027First computing constellation and key technologies	Not counted (see page)
PlanetUS · Supplier	Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown	None stated	1 Oct 2026 ConfirmedLaunched the Suncatcher demo satellite with 19 other Planet satellites on Transporter-18	2027Pair of Suncatcher satellites with Google	Not disclosed
Space StringCN · Startup	Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown	more than 1,000 satellites^{C (company claim)}Company claimPlanned satellites (long run)	26 Sep 2026 ReportedAgricultural Bank of China and ICBC sign RMB 5B credit lines each	Q4 2027G1 verification satellite (11.5 kW compute payload)	Not counted (see page)
StarcloudUS · Startup	Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown	60 kgConfirmedStarcloud-1 mass	30 Sep 2026 ConfirmedFirefly signs Starcloud SC-1L lunar-orbit compute payload	2027Slipped from October 2026Two Starcloud-2 satellites (8 kW each) on rideshare	$443.4M

KeplerCA · Startup
Stage 7 of 7: Operational service
Latest
13 Apr 2026: Compute opened to commercial customers
Next
2028: Next tranche across multiple launches, including a dedicated Rocket Lab launch, with up to 100 Gbps links
Funding
Not counted (see page)
ADA SpaceCN · Startup
Stage 6 of 7: Pathfinder constellation
Latest
1 Sep 2026: Departure ceremony for the first 8 Group 02 satellites
Next
2026: Deploy Group 02 and Group 03 computing satellites
Funding
Not counted (see page)
Three-BodyCN · Research lab
Stage 6 of 7: Pathfinder constellation
Latest
29 Jul 2026: Two satellites report an 8-day continuous laser link
Next
2026: 10 computing satellites this year (2 launched by October)
Funding
Not disclosed
Tiansuan (BUPT)CN · Research lab
Stage 6 of 7: Pathfinder constellation
Latest
Sep 2026: Reported at 16 LEO satellites and 7 ground stations, over 60 institutions supported
Next
Undated: Phase 2: 24 satellites; Phase 3: 300 satellites
Funding
Not disclosed
AetheroUS · Startup
Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown
Latest
16 Apr 2026: Titan mission on EnduroSat FRAME-15 announced for October 2026
Next
Oct 2026: Titan: Jetson Thor compute cluster on EnduroSat FRAME-15
Funding
$8.4M
AltairAE · Consortium
Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown
Latest
1 Oct 2026: Altair-1 launched on Transporter-18; signal acquired, commissioning
Next
2027: The other nine satellites of the first ten
Funding
Not disclosed
Google SuncatcherUS · Big tech
Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown
Latest
1 Oct 2026: First Suncatcher prototype launched on Transporter-18; contact confirmed
Next
2027: Two-satellite mission testing inter-satellite laser links
Funding
Not disclosed
KP LabsPL · Supplier
Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown
Latest
11 Jul 2026: Collaboration with Parsimoni (Leopard plus SpaceOS)
Next
Mid-2026: Leopard DPU on ESA OPS-SAT VOLT
Funding
Not disclosed
Orbital ChenguangCN · Startup
Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown
Latest
4 Sep 2026: Pre-A+ round led by Yuande Capital (amount undisclosed)
Next
2025 to 2027: First computing constellation and key technologies
Funding
Not counted (see page)
PlanetUS · Supplier
Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown
Latest
1 Oct 2026: Launched the Suncatcher demo satellite with 19 other Planet satellites on Transporter-18
Next
2027: Pair of Suncatcher satellites with Google
Funding
Not disclosed
Space StringCN · Startup
Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown
Latest
26 Sep 2026: Agricultural Bank of China and ICBC sign RMB 5B credit lines each
Next
Q4 2027: G1 verification satellite (11.5 kW compute payload)
Funding
Not counted (see page)
StarcloudUS · Startup
Stage 5 of 7: Own satellite flown
Latest
30 Sep 2026: Firefly signs Starcloud SC-1L lunar-orbit compute payload
Next
2027 (slipped from October 2026): Two Starcloud-2 satellites (8 kW each) on rideshare
Funding
$443.4M

C = company claim, not independently verified. ● confirmed, ◐ company claim, ○ reported, ◌ single source. Funding is verified equity counted in the tracker total; the method defines it.

Back to contents

Appendix B

Flight log: every flight, result and target

112 entries. Agency and research precursors appear under All regions.

Latest five

1 Oct 2026Related launch, not compute
Reason-1 launched (power-beaming demonstration)
Launched on SpaceX Transporter-18 on an Apex Aries bus; Apex reported contact within 10 minutes, nominal (2 Oct 2026). Power-beaming demo, not compute.
ConfirmedCowboy Space[1][2]
1 Oct 2026Flight with compute or storage
MOI-1A launched on Transporter-18
1 Oct 2026 UTC (10-02 in India). No post-launch contact statement found as of 5 Oct 2026.
ConfirmedTakeMe2Space[1][2]
1 Oct 2026Flight with compute or storage
First Suncatcher prototype launched on Transporter-18; contact confirmed
Google says it is operating as expected. Reports (not Google) describe 4 TPUs, about 1 kW, 15 to 20 minute compute bursts (Payload) and a one-year mission; a peer-reviewed economics paper in Joule was reported the same day.
ConfirmedGoogle Suncatcher Planet[1][2][3][4]
1 Oct 2026Flight with compute or storage
Altair-1 launched on Transporter-18; signal acquired, commissioning
Built by Orbitworks with NVIDIA GPUs. Edge class.
ConfirmedAltair[1][2][3]
28 Sep 2026Related launch, not compute
Starship Flight 14 reaches orbit and deploys 26 Starlink V3 satellites
V3 is the bus SpaceX says compute satellites will share; these V3s are broadband satellites.
ConfirmedSpaceX[1]

By year

20501 entries, 1 target

2050Announced target
1,300 building blocks, 1 GW
Company claimASCEND[1]

20361 entries, 1 target

2036 (project manager, as reported)Announced target
13 building blocks totalling 10 MW
Company claimASCEND[1]

20352 entries, 2 targets

2035Announced target
Complete the 2,800-satellite computing network
Company claimADA Space[1]
2035Announced target
Gigawatt-scale space data center via in-orbit docking
Company claimOrbital Chenguang[1]

20311 entries, 1 target

2031Announced target
64 SAR satellites operational (data source for the orbital data center)
Company claimHanwha Systems[1]

20307 entries, 7 targets

2030 (Musk)Announced target
100 GW per year of orbital AI compute
Company claimSpaceX[1]
~2030 (CAST paper)Announced target
500 kW-class satellites (about 20,000 kg each)
Company claimCASC / CAST[1]
2030Announced target
About 1,000 satellites networked and commercial service starts
Company claimADA Space[1]
2030 (tentative)Announced target
First full-scale satellite
Company claimOrbital[1]
2030 (as reported)Announced target
Industrial-scale Space Cloud
Company claimCASC / CAST[1]
2028 to 2030Announced target
Link space systems with ground data centers
Company claimOrbital Chenguang[1]
2030Announced target
Orbital data centers
Company claimSophia Space[1]

20291 entries, 1 target

2028 to 2029 (CEO expects Starship access then)Announced target
Starcloud-3: 200 kW, about 3 t, deployed from Starship
Company claimStarcloud[1]

202811 entries, 11 targets

as early as 2028Announced target
10-satellite TILE constellation under the SLI lease framework
Company claimSophia Space[1]
as early as 2028 (IPO prospectus)Announced target
Begin deploying orbital AI compute satellites (IPO prospectus)
The CFO separately targets a first flight in 2027.
Company claimSpaceX[1]
2028Announced target
Condor-Ultra pathfinder delivery
Company claimMuon Space[1]
NET end of 2028Announced target
First launch of its own rocket (upper stage = 1 MW data center); Stampede launches from 2028
Company claimCowboy Space[1]
2027 to 2028Announced target
Initial orbital data center launches (prototype 2027)
Company claimRamon.Space[1]
Japanese FY2028 (by March 2029)Announced target
Launch HummingSat GEO optical relay
Moved from satellites 2025, operations 2026 (2021 plan).
Company claimSpace Compass[1]
2028Announced target
Operational commercial and national security constellations begin deployment
Company claimK2 Space[1]
2028Announced target
Orbital-1, first purpose-built compute satellite (Reflex bus)
Company claimOrbital Reflex Aerospace[1][2]
2028 (Overview Energy)Announced target
Overview Energy orbital demonstration (supplier milestone)
Company claimMeta[1]
NET 2028Announced target
SC-1L lunar-orbit compute demo on Firefly Elytra (Blue Ghost Mission 3)
Company claimStarcloud Firefly[1]
late 2028Announced target
Two 100 kg orbital data center satellites (NVIDIA Thor, 100 TB) on Falcon 9
Company claimTakeMe2Space[1]

202721 entries, 21 targets

early 2027 (set October 2025, tied to the Starcloud-2 satellite)Announced target
Crusoe offers limited GPU capacity from orbit
Company claimStarcloud[1]
Q1 2027 (December 2025 target, not repeated since the May 2026 pivot)Announced target
First Galactic Brain commercial data center node
Company claimCowboy Space[1]
before March 2027Announced target
First satellite, Fuxi-1
Company claimXingshu Tiansuan[1]
early 2027 (Planet executive, as reported)Announced target
Owl satellite compute demo with NVIDIA GPUs
Company claimPlanet[1]
Q1 2027Announced target
SPAC close and Nasdaq listing
Company claimAstro Digital[1]
by March 2027Announced target
Two-satellite high-power in-space compute demonstration
Company claimComospace group[1]
NET April 2027Announced target
First StarVault storage payload on Sidus LizzieSat-4 (Bandwagon-6)
Moved from October 2026.
Company claimLonestar[1]
late 2027 (Musk target, as reported)Announced target
1 GW per year of orbital AI compute capacity
Company claimSpaceX[1]
2027Announced target
About 100 computing satellites
Company claimThree-Body[1]
2027Announced target
AxODC Node ISS (petabyte-class, optical link) delivered to the ISS
Company claimAxiom Space Spacebilt[1]
~2027 (CAST paper)Announced target
Experimental 10 kW-class computing satellite (about 1,000 kg)
Company claimCASC / CAST[1]
2025 to 2027Announced target
First computing constellation and key technologies
Company claimOrbital Chenguang[1]
2027Announced target
First orbital compute satellites
Company claimSpaceX[1]
Q4 2027Announced target
G1 verification satellite (11.5 kW compute payload)
Company claimSpace String[1]
2027Announced target
Pathfinder: hosted GPU payload on a Falcon 9 rideshare
Company claimOrbital[1]
2027Announced target
Reason-2: high-rate optical downlink plus thermal and power tests
Company claimCowboy Space[1]
2027Announced target
Second StarVault payload
Company claimLonestar[1]
Q4 2027Announced target
TeraWave deployment begins (the backhaul Sunrise depends on)
Company claimBlue Origin Sunrise[1]
2027Announced target
TILE in-orbit demo on an Apex Nova bus
Company claimSophia Space Apex[1]
2027Announced target
Two Starcloud-2 satellites (8 kW each) on rideshare
Moved from October 2026.
Company claimStarcloud[1]
2027 (Nov 2025 plan said "by early 2027")Announced target
Two-satellite mission testing inter-satellite laser links
Company claimGoogle Suncatcher Planet[1][2]

202633 entries, 12 flight entries, 10 targets

11 Jan 2026Flight with compute or storage
ODC Nodes 1 and 2 launched on Kepler Tranche 1
Falcon 9 from Vandenberg; Axiom workload results not published.
ConfirmedAxiom Space Kepler[1][2][3]
12 Jan 2026Launch failure
MOI-1 lost in PSLV-C62 third-stage anomaly
ConfirmedTakeMe2Space[1]
Jan 2026Launch failure
Two experimental satellites lost in a launch failure (per prospectus)
One customer 3D-printed satellite and one internal test satellite.
ReportedADA Space[1]
Feb 2026Result or status report
Six-satellite laser chain; 10 AI models validated in orbit
ReportedThree-Body[1]
16 Mar 2026Result or status report
Kepler Compute commissioned: 40 Jetson Orin modules across 10 satellites
ConfirmedKepler[1][2]
25 Mar 2026Result or status report
Pelican-4 detects aircraft onboard with a Jetson Orin
About 80% accuracy on raw imagery.
ConfirmedPlanet[1][2]
early 2026 (no launch found as of 2026-10-05)Target date passed, no launch found
Edge1 first orbital mission
Target date has passed; no launch or completion found as of 5 Oct 2026.
Company claimOrbitsEdge[1]
Mar 2026Flight with compute or storage
First in-orbit demo flown on Transporter-16
Company claimEdge Aerospace[1][2]
30 Mar 2026Related launch, not compute
Gravitas (first Mega class, 20 kW) launched and operating
Company claimK2 Space[1][2]
30 Mar 2026Flight with compute or storage
Phobos launched on Transporter-16
Multiple software customers onboard.
Company claimAethero[1]
13 Apr 2026Commercial service opened
Compute opened to commercial customers
ReportedKepler[1]
11 May 2026Software on existing hardware
RHEL 10.1 deployment on Space Edge (ISS) announced
Red Hat and Voyager announcement.
ConfirmedVoyager / LEOcloud IBM / Red Hat[1][2]
mid-2026 (launch status not verified as of 2026-10-05)Target date passed, no launch found
Leopard DPU on ESA OPS-SAT VOLT
Target date has passed; no launch or completion found as of 5 Oct 2026.
Company claimKP Labs[1]
24 Jul 2026Flight with compute or storage
Chenguang-1 launched on Kinetica-1 Y15
ConfirmedOrbital Chenguang[1]
24 Jul 2026Flight with compute or storage
Jitianxing A-04 and Xiguang-2 03 launched on Kinetica-1 Y15
One computing and one remote-sensing satellite (23:33 UTC on 23 Jul 2026); 14 constellation satellites in all. Weather AI models run in orbit. Shared launch with Chenguang-1.
ConfirmedThree-Body[1][2]
29 Jul 2026Result or status report
Two satellites report an 8-day continuous laser link
192 hours 8 minutes 45 seconds at 99.99% availability, up to 1,000 km.
ReportedThree-Body[1]
5 Aug 2026Flight with compute or storage
STAR.VISION pair launched on Jielong-3 Y12
Edge class; described by Hangzhou outlets as Space String's starting satellites.
ReportedSpace String[1]
11 Aug 2026Result or status report
Chenguang-1 reported in planned orbit; validation of solar cells and graphene radiators begins
ReportedOrbital Chenguang[1]
20 Sep 2026Flight with compute or storage
Super Intelligent Computing-1 launched on Kinetica-1 Y18 with 8 other satellites
12:03 Beijing time (04:03 UTC) on Kinetica-1 Y18; CelesTrak lists 21 Sep 2026.
ConfirmedSupersmartcompute[1]
Q3 2026 (no launch found as of 2026-10-05)Target date passed, no launch found
Pilot data center payload launch
Target date has passed; no launch or completion found as of 5 Oct 2026.
Company claimMadari Space[1]
Sep 2026Result or status report
Reported at 16 LEO satellites and 7 ground stations, over 60 institutions supported
ReportedTiansuan (BUPT)[1]
28 Sep 2026Related launch, not compute
Starship Flight 14 reaches orbit and deploys 26 Starlink V3 satellites
V3 is the bus SpaceX says compute satellites will share; these V3s are broadband satellites.
ConfirmedSpaceX[1]
1 Oct 2026Flight with compute or storage
Altair-1 launched on Transporter-18; signal acquired, commissioning
Built by Orbitworks with NVIDIA GPUs. Edge class.
ConfirmedAltair[1][2][3]
1 Oct 2026Flight with compute or storage
First Suncatcher prototype launched on Transporter-18; contact confirmed
Google says it is operating as expected. Reports (not Google) describe 4 TPUs, about 1 kW, 15 to 20 minute compute bursts (Payload) and a one-year mission; a peer-reviewed economics paper in Joule was reported the same day.
ConfirmedGoogle Suncatcher Planet[1][2][3][4]
1 Oct 2026Flight with compute or storage
MOI-1A launched on Transporter-18
1 Oct 2026 UTC (10-02 in India). No post-launch contact statement found as of 5 Oct 2026.
ConfirmedTakeMe2Space[1][2]
1 Oct 2026Related launch, not compute
Reason-1 launched (power-beaming demonstration)
Launched on SpaceX Transporter-18 on an Apex Aries bus; Apex reported contact within 10 minutes, nominal (2 Oct 2026). Power-beaming demo, not compute.
ConfirmedCowboy Space[1][2]
October 2026Announced target
Titan: Jetson Thor compute cluster on EnduroSat FRAME-15
Company claimAethero[1]
2026Announced target
5 to 8 more satellites
Company claimPowerBank / Orbit AI[1]
2026Announced target
Deploy Group 02 and Group 03 computing satellites
Company claimADA Space[1][2]
2026Announced target
Fly early samples
Company claimRamon.Space[1]
Q4 2026Announced target
Launch Pathfinder
Company claimPixxel and Sarvam[1]
end of 2026Announced target
Pilot launch (300 to 350 kg unit)
Company claimAgnikul and NeevCloud[1]
Q4 2026Announced target
Sophia software (SOOS) running on Kepler satellites
Company claimSophia Space[1]

202513 entries, 7 flight entries

26 Feb 2025Flight with compute or storage
Freedom payload launched on IM-2 Athena
8 TB storage payload on Falcon 9.
ConfirmedLonestar Spacebilt[1][2][3]
5 Mar 2025Result or status report
In-transit storage and edge-processing tests completed
Company says tests ran en route to the Moon.
Company claimLonestar[1]
6 Mar 2025Result or status report: failed
Athena landed on its side; lander operations ended less than 13 hours after landing
Lonestar said its payload was intact; no surface data operations confirmed.
ConfirmedLonestar[1][2]
14 Apr 2025Software on existing hardware
Space Compass and Microsoft ship-detection demo cuts downlink by 98.1%
On Loft Orbital YAM-6.
ConfirmedMicrosoft Azure Space Space Compass[1]
25 Apr 2025Software on existing hardware
Space Llama: fine-tuned Llama 3.2 on SBC-2
With Meta, HPE and NVIDIA.
ConfirmedBooz Allen Meta[1]
14 May 2025Flight with compute or storage
12 computing satellites (Group 01) launched on Long March 2D from Jiuquan
Also the first batch of the Three-Body Computing Constellation with Zhejiang Lab.
ConfirmedADA Space Three-Body[1][2][3]
17 May 2025Flight with compute or storage
BUPT-2 and BUPT-3 launched on Zhuque-2E Y2 (first Phase 2 satellites)
ReportedTiansuan (BUPT)[1]
24 Aug 2025Flight with compute or storage
AxDCU-1 prototype to the ISS on CRS-33 with Red Hat
Kubernetes (MicroShift) in orbit; ISS National Lab sponsored.
ConfirmedAxiom Space IBM / Red Hat[1][2]
14 Sep 2025Flight with compute or storage
Space Edge launched to the ISS
Voyager calls it the first multi-cloud region in space.
Company claimVoyager / LEOcloud[1]
2 Nov 2025Flight with compute or storage
Starcloud-1 launched with an NVIDIA H100
60 kg satellite on an Astro Digital Corvus-Micro+ bus, launched on SpaceX Bandwagon-4 (Falcon 9). Orbit about 495 x 503 km; still in orbit as of 3 Oct 2026.
ConfirmedStarcloud Astro Digital NVIDIA[1][2][3]
Nov 2025Result or status report
Alibaba Qwen3 inference tested on a constellation satellite
ADA Space says it deployed Qwen3 to its Group 01 computing satellites in November 2025 (company executive, 26 Jan 2026); inference, not training. Query uplinked, answer returned in under two minutes (reported).
Company claimADA Space[1][2]
28 Nov 2025Flight with compute or storage
iX10 flew on D-Orbit "We Need More Space" mission
Company claimUnibap[1]
Dec 2025Result or status report
Gemma inference and nanoGPT training on Starcloud-1
Company says it ran Google Gemma and trained a small nanoGPT model on the works of Shakespeare; reported by CNBC on 10 Dec 2025. Not independently verified.
Company claimStarcloud[1][2]

202410 entries, 8 flight entries

30 Jan 2024Flight with compute or storage
Upgraded SBC-2 to the ISS on NG-20 with over 130 TB of flash
Most data storage flown to the ISS on one mission (HPE and ISS National Lab).
ConfirmedHPE Spaceborne[1][2]
22 Feb 2024Flight with compute or storage
Independence payload: data storage test from the lunar surface (IM-1)
Launched 15 Feb 2024 on Odysseus; store-and-return test after landing.
Company claimLonestar[1]
4 Mar 2024Flight with compute or storage
CogniSAT-6: sustained onboard AI inference
Ubotica reported over 100,000 onboard inferences in its first year.
Single sourceUbotica, Open Cosmos (precursor)[1]
Mar 2024Flight with compute or storage
IMAGIN-e edge computing payload launched to the ISS
Thales Alenia Space hardware running a Microsoft on-orbit application framework.
ConfirmedMicrosoft Azure Space[1]
11 Jul 2024Software on existing hardware
LLM application operational on SBC-2 (announced 1 Aug 2024)
Retrieval-augmented generation app; inference on the ISS, not a free-flying satellite.
ConfirmedBooz Allen[1]
16 Aug 2024Flight with compute or storage
Deimos launched on Transporter-11
18-month SSO mission for onboard inference and edge training.
Company claimAethero[1]
16 Aug 2024Flight with compute or storage
PhiSat-2: AI apps uploadable from the ground
ConfirmedESA, Open Cosmos, Ubotica (precursor)[1]
Sep 2024Flight with compute or storage
Claims China's first AI large model computing satellite
Company claimADA Space[1]
2024Software on existing hardware
STORM deployed on Denali and Matterhorn missions
Denali on Loft Orbital YAM-6; Matterhorn on D-Orbit ION.
ReportedSkyServe[1]
30 Dec 2024Flight with compute or storage
MOI-TD flown as a hosted payload on PSLV-C60 POEM-4
Company claimTakeMe2Space[1][2]

20233 entries, 2 flight entries

Jan 2023Flight with compute or storage
First primary satellite BUPT-1 launched
ReportedTiansuan (BUPT)[1]
3 Mar 2023Related launch, not compute
SSPD-1 MAPLE: first wireless power transfer in space
Launched 3 Jan 2023 on Transporter-6; relevant to designs that beam power between collectors and compute.
ConfirmedCaltech (precursor)[1]
Nov 2023Flight with compute or storage
Intuition-1 launched with Leopard DPU
ConfirmedKP Labs[1]

20223 entries, 1 flight entry

Jan 2022Software on existing hardware
AWS edge software runs on a D-Orbit ION carrier with a Unibap computer
42% image size reduction reported.
ConfirmedAWS D-Orbit[1]
8 Apr 2022Flight with compute or storage
AWS Snowcone runs ML on the ISS during Ax-1
Earlier precursor on Axiom Mission 1.
ConfirmedAxiom Space AWS[1][2]
25 May 2022Related launch, not compute
TBIRD CubeSat launched; later reached a 200 Gbps optical downlink (28 Apr 2023)
Up to 4.8 TB in a single pass using commercial fiber-optic transceivers.
ConfirmedNASA, MIT Lincoln Laboratory (precursor)[1]

20213 entries, 2 flight entries

20 Feb 2021Flight with compute or storage
Spaceborne Computer-2 to the ISS on NG-15, linked to Azure
Genomics test processed 182 GB on station and downlinked 13 MB.
ConfirmedHPE Spaceborne Microsoft Azure Space[1][2][3]
30 Jun 2021Flight with compute or storage
SpaceCloud iX5 on D-Orbit ION Wild Ride (Transporter-2)
Hosted third-party apps; D-Orbit reported its Nebula in-orbit cloud demo from the same flight.
ConfirmedUnibap[1]
17 Dec 2021Software on existing hardware
First software-defined payload test on the ISS
Ran an Ubuntu VM on an existing ISS server.
ReportedLonestar[1]

20201 entries, 1 flight entry

2 Sep 2020Flight with compute or storage
PhiSat-1: onboard neural network screens out cloudy images
Intel Movidius Myriad 2; widely credited as the first satellite with an onboard deep neural network; about 30% downlink saved.
ConfirmedESA, Intel, Ubotica, cosine (precursor)[1]

20171 entries, 1 flight entry

14 Aug 2017Flight with compute or storage
Spaceborne Computer-1 to the ISS on CRS-12
About 1 teraFLOP; 9 of 20 SSDs failed during the mission.
ConfirmedHPE Spaceborne[1][2][3]

Back to contents

Appendix C

Every argument, forecast and policy item

The case against (15)

Bank of America (SpaceX initiation), 7 Jul 2026: Orbital compute is not yet proven; heat dissipation and chip performance in space are unsolved.[1]
Andrew Cavalier (ABI Research), in IEEE Spectrum, 11 Jun 2026: Radiators and arrays take 65 to 70% of satellite mass; even at $44/kg, orbital compute costs at least 10× terrestrial.[1]
Brandon Karpf (NTT), via Via Satellite, 2 Jun 2026: Only sovereign cloud is viable today; space links are one to two orders of magnitude below a 7.2 Tbps NVIDIA cluster.[1]
NASA (FCC comment on Blue Origin Project Sunrise), 5 May 2026: The 51,600-satellite filing lacked the transparency, rigor and coordination needed for space safety.[1]
Slava G. Turyshev (NASA JPL), arXiv 2604.27197, 29 Apr 2026: Launch plus build must cost only $250 to $1,000/kg, and current Falcon 9 pricing is a factor of 3.4 to 13.5 off; credible near term only for space-native preprocessing and edge compute.[1]
Glenn Zorpette, IEEE Spectrum, 26 Feb 2026: Revised modeling finds orbit about 3× costlier: roughly $51B vs $16B for 1 GW over 5 years.[1]
Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO), 23 Feb 2026: Called the idea "ridiculous" in the current landscape; failed chips cannot be repaired; will not matter at scale this decade.[1][2]
Jim Chanos (short seller), 18 Feb 2026: "AI Snake Oil": electricity is only 5 to 7% of AI data center revenue, and launch, radiation, insurance and redundancy costs are higher in orbit.[1]
CNBC analysis, 2 Feb 2026: The SpaceX-xAI merger is driven by xAI's need for capital; data centers in space "are still a dream."[1]
Bill Ray (Gartner), Feb 2026: "Peak insanity": money pouring into an orbital data center bubble despite launch cost and cooling problems.[1]
Jensen Huang (NVIDIA CEO), as reported, Feb 2026: Economics are poor today because of heat dissipation. NVIDIA launched its Space-1 module a month later.[1]
Astronomers (John Barentine; Olivier Hainaut, ESO) and the American Astronomical Society, Feb 2026: A million-satellite constellation would undo brightness mitigation and degrade detection of hazardous near-Earth objects.[1][2]
The Intercept, 12 Jan 2026: Questioned the sudden promotion of orbital data centers; raised environmental and hype concerns.[1]
Andrew McCalip (aerospace engineer), cost model, Dec 2025: At the calculator's current default of $500/kg (as run 5 Oct 2026), 1 GW for 5 years costs $51.1B in orbit vs $15.9B on the ground, excluding GPUs: about 3.2× by our division.[1]
ASCEND consortium (Thales Alenia Space-led, EU), 27 Jun 2024: Feasible in principle, but a CO₂ benefit needs a launcher about 10× less emissive over its life cycle.[1]

The forecasts and the case for (12)

ForecastBCG, 27 Aug 2026: Space data centers could take 10 to 15% of the global AI data center market by 2040, $240B to $320B a year. Cost today 2.5× to 3× terrestrial per MW, narrowing to about 1.5× to 1.8× by 2030 to 2035.[1]
ForecastGoldman Sachs Global Institute, 11 Aug 2026: Global space economy $1.8T by 2035; orbit being recast as compute infrastructure (no orbital data center figure).[1]
ForecastDeutsche Bank, 14 Jul 2026: A 1 GW orbital constellation costs about 6× terrestrial today excluding compute; 1.0× to 1.5× by end of decade; cheaper in the early-to-mid 2030s.[1]
ForecastARK Invest (Brett Winton), 11 Jun 2026: SpaceX could earn $300B a year from tens of GW of orbital data center capacity by the late 2020s at current rental rates.[1]
OpinionIndustry voices in Via Satellite (Ramon.Space, Planet, Lonestar, Alpha Funds), 2 Jun 2026: Micro data centers in orbit in 3 to 5 years (Ramon.Space CEO); useful clusters in 2 to 3 years and competitive in about a decade (Planet); full scale in 5 to 10 years (Lonestar CEO); revenue in the early 2030s (Alpha Funds).[1]
AnalysisJLL, Jun 2026: Relays about $500/kg, which it attributes to Starcloud's CEO in a McKinsey interview, as the launch price at which space compute becomes cost-competitive; hyperscaler pilots 2027 to 2028.[1]
Company claimSpaceX (S-1), 20 May 2026: Total addressable market $28.5T, of which $26.5T AI; risk factor says orbital data centers "may not achieve commercial viability".[1]
AnalysisGoogle Research (Suncatcher paper), 4 Nov 2025: Launch below about $200/kg by the mid-2030s could make orbital compute roughly comparable per kW-year to terrestrial power spend. The same paper estimates about 1,800 Starship launches for the cumulative mass.[1][2]
AnalysisASCEND study, 27 Jun 2024: Return of several billion euros by 2050 for 1 GW, conditional on a 10× less emissive launcher.[1]
Vendor forecast (low rigour)BIS Research, undated: In-orbit data center market $1.77B in 2029 to $39.09B by 2035.[1]
Vendor forecast (low rigour)DC Market Insights, undated: $471.45M in 2025 to $26.23B by 2035.[1]
Vendor forecast (low rigour)Globe Market Research, undated: $1.9B in 2026 to $8.4B by 2035.[1]

Regulation and policy log, newest first

Regulation and policy affecting orbital data centers, newest first. The five FCC applications are in the exhibit above.
Date	Body	What it does
1 Oct 2026	Legal commentary	Data sovereignty and jurisdiction. WilmerHale: GDPR and the US CLOUD Act still apply to data processed in orbit.[1][2]
20 Aug 2026	US Department of Commerce	Office of Space Commerce certification pilot. Voluntary, non-binding certification for novel activities that names orbital datacenters.[1]
23 Jul 2026	FCC	FCC 26-47: Space Modernization for the 21st Century. New licensing framework.[1]
12 Jan 2026	US Congress	Export controls: Remote Access Security Act. Passed the House 369 to 22.[1]
2026	China (CASC, MIIT, Beijing)	China: space computing industrial policy. 15th Five-Year Plan includes integrated communication-navigation-sensing-computing.[1][2]
Dec 2025	ITU	ITU: China filings for about 193,000 satellites (CTC-1 and CTC-2). Part of over 200,000 satellites filed in late December 2025.[1]
2023 to 2026	Agencies	Public funding: ESA Space Cloud, EU ASCEND, Texas, JAXA. EU Horizon ASCEND study EUR 2,047,882.[1][2][3][4][5]

Method

How this tracker is built

How stages are assigned

A program sits at the highest stage its own evidence supports, never at a stage it has only announced. The reason and its source are on each program’s page.

1.Concept: Plans, filings or designs with no ODC hardware built or flown.
2.Funded study: A funded feasibility or design study.
3.Ground prototype: Hardware in development, nothing flown.
4.Payload demo flown: Compute or storage flown as a hosted payload or on the ISS.
5.Own satellite flown: Its own compute satellite flown.
6.Pathfinder constellation: Several compute satellites flown as a network.
7.Operational service: In-orbit compute sold to customers.

Funded feasibility studies count as “Funded study”. Hosts with a signed demo, filings-only players and suppliers with unflown products are “Concept”. Programs at stage 4 or higher are marked when what flew was software only, or a part supplied to someone else’s satellite; only the rest count as having flown their own hardware. “Edge class” marks a satellite that computes on small modules rather than data-center hardware.

Confidence labels

Every milestone and every stated figure carries one. In dense tables the glyph stands for the word.

ConfirmedA primary source (an official release or filing) or two reputable outlets.
Company claimThe company says so; not independently verified.
ReportedOne reputable outlet reports it.
Single sourceOne source of lower or unclear quality. Treat with care.

What the counts and totals include

Verified funding ($820.3M): Sum of disclosed USD equity rounds for companies whose main business is orbital compute or storage, counting only rounds backed by a company or regulatory release or by two independent outlets. Excludes single-source rounds, credit lines, program commitments, government grants, non-USD rounds (not converted) and enabler companies (K2 Space, Kepler, Ramon.Space).
Flight attempts: launches carrying compute or storage hardware, failures included, each launch counted once however many payloads it carried. On-orbit results, software uploads, product announcements and launches without compute (broadband satellites, power beaming, a bus with no compute payload) are in the flight log but are not counted or drawn as flown.
Satellites requested (1,259,600): the maximum in each FCC application for an orbital compute constellation. Communications constellations and China’s ITU filings are not added in.
Schedule record: only promises with a dated statement and a dated outcome or restatement from two sources. How far a date moved is shown as a range, from the end and from the start of the promised window. No grades or ratings.
Cost models: each point is one published run. Where the source gives totals, the ratio is our division, marked as such; where we mapped a scenario to a launch price, that is marked too. Scopes differ and are named.
Next steps are only targets the organisation or its executives announced, in their words. “Our note” lines are SpaceNexus notes, not predictions.

Fact-checking, updates and corrections

Researched by hand from 327 public sources, then checked in two independent fact-check passes against primary sources (company releases, FCC and SEC filings, CelesTrak and government pages). Last reviewed 5 Oct 2026. Claims we could not verify to our standard are left out, or shown with a confidence label that says so. We update when a program launches, announces, slips, raises or files, and re-check the whole list each quarter. Spotted an error or a missing program? Report a correction.

Nothing on this page is sponsored, and no company can pay to change, reorder, annotate or preview its entry.

Looked at and left out

Lockheed Martin: SmartSat edge AI and Space Data Network connectivity demos; no orbital data center program found.
Northrop Grumman: Launched HPE computers on Cygnus; no orbital data center activity of its own.
Airbus Defence and Space: ASCEND consortium member only; folded into the ASCEND entry.
EDGX (Belgium), ReOrbit (Finland), Ubotica (Ireland): Edge-compute or data-transfer suppliers; Ubotica appears in the precursor timeline.
Crusoe, Sidus Space, Overview Energy, Vast, Star Catcher: Covered inside partner entries (Starcloud, Lonestar, Meta, NVIDIA list, Astro Digital).
Amazon Leo, Rocket Lab and others in Space Force Space Data Network demos: Connectivity, not compute.

Data and citation

Free under CC BY 4.0 with attribution: every program as CSV, the full dataset as JSON with sources, or the Markdown version for AI agents.

Cite this trackerAPA, Chicago or BibTeX, with this page's link and dates. The page is live, so cite its as-of date

APA

SpaceNexus. (2026, October 5). Orbital Data Centers: Tracker [Data set]. Retrieved October 5, 2026, from https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers

Chicago

SpaceNexus. "Orbital Data Centers: Tracker." Data as of October 5, 2026. Accessed October 5, 2026. https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers.

BibTeX

@misc{spacenexus_orbitaldatacenters_2026,
  author       = {{SpaceNexus}},
  title        = {{Orbital Data Centers}: Tracker},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = oct,
  howpublished = {\url{https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers}},
  url          = {https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers},
  urldate      = {2026-10-05},
  note         = {Data as of 2026-10-05; each fact links its primary source}
}

Not investment advice. For information only, not investment advice. SpaceNexus is not a registered investment adviser, broker or dealer, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. Data may be delayed, estimated or incomplete; check the source before acting. Full disclaimer

Back to contents

At a glance

What is an orbital data center?

Fewer than half the programs have flown their own hardware; one sells compute

21 of 53 programs have flown their own computing hardware; one sells compute

7Operational service

6Pathfinder constellation

5Own satellite flown

4Payload demo flown

3Ground prototype

2Funded study

1Concept

Seven flight attempts carried computing hardware in 2024, seven in 2025 and eight so far in 2026; most are hosted payloads or edge-class satellites

Every dated promise that has come due was met late or missed: 7 delivered late, by up to 24 months, and one missed (8 in all)

The physics can be engineered; the launch bill decides

Published models put parity at about $50 to $500 per kg of launch; prices quoted today run $600 to $7,000

Scope of each model run

Published parity thresholds

Models that give a cost ratio but no launch price

Every constraint costs mass, and mass costs launch

Money is concentrated in two US startups, and licence requests run far ahead of hardware

Two US startups hold 94% of the $820.3M in verified funding

FCC applications seek up to 1.26 million satellites; 14 programs have flown a compute satellite of their own

SpaceX launched most Western compute flights so far, and plans a compute constellation of its own

Launch

Satellite buses, hosts and integrators

Compute silicon and storage

Optical links, networking and ground

Power: arrays and space power

Thermal

Operators and integrators

The market is betting anyway, and the argument is about cost, not physics

Vendor forecasts for the 2035 market differ by 4.7×, from $8.4B to $39.1B a year

The skeptics, most recent first

What to watch, Oct 2026 to Sep 2027

Data centers in space: questions and answers

Who is building data centers in space?

Has any orbital data center launched?

How much does an orbital data center cost?

Why put data centers in space?

What are the problems with data centers in space?

What is Starcloud?

What is Google Project Suncatcher?

Is SpaceX building an orbital data center?

What is the Three-Body Computing Constellation?

Is anyone building a lunar data center?

The program database

Flight log: every flight, result and target

Latest five

By year

Every argument, forecast and policy item

The case against (15)

The forecasts and the case for (12)

Regulation and policy log, newest first

How this tracker is built

How stages are assigned

Confidence labels

What the counts and totals include

Fact-checking, updates and corrections

Looked at and left out

Data and citation

Related on SpaceNexus

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