# Firefly Aerospace (lunar-orbit compute host): orbital data center program

> United States (United States), launch provider. Stage 1 of 7: Concept. It signed Starcloud on 2026-09-30 for a lunar-orbit compute demo launching no earlier than 2028.

- Canonical page: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/firefly-lunar-compute
- This Markdown version: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/firefly-lunar-compute.md
- Data as of: 2026-10-05 (last evidence review)
- How the numbers are made: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers#method

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## Stage evidence

- It signed Starcloud on 2026-09-30 for a lunar-orbit compute demo launching no earlier than 2028. Sources: [Firefly Aerospace](https://fireflyspace.com/news/firefly-aerospace-signs-starcloud-as-commercial-customer-demonstrating-data-center-capabilities-around-the-moon/)

## Approach

- Orbit: Lunar orbit
- Architecture: Elytra orbital vehicle will carry Starcloud's SC-1L AI payload to test a future data center around the Moon
- Power: Not disclosed
- Cooling: Not disclosed
- Compute: Starcloud SC-1L
- Customers: Starcloud

## Milestones

| Date | Status | Confidence | Milestone | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-09-30 | achieved | Confirmed | Starcloud signed for lunar-orbit AI computing demo on Blue Ghost Mission 3 (Elytra). SC-1L ingests Solux camera data and runs AI in lunar orbit. | [Firefly Aerospace](https://fireflyspace.com/news/firefly-aerospace-signs-starcloud-as-commercial-customer-demonstrating-data-center-capabilities-around-the-moon/) |

## Announced next steps (as the organisation stated them)

- NET 2028: Blue Ghost Mission 3 launch carrying SC-1L. Sources: [Firefly Aerospace](https://fireflyspace.com/news/firefly-aerospace-signs-starcloud-as-commercial-customer-demonstrating-data-center-capabilities-around-the-moon/)

## What to watch (SpaceNexus note, not a prediction)

Blue Ghost Mission 3 schedule.

## Cautions

- CNBC listed Firefly as an NVIDIA Space-1 partner; NVIDIA's own release did not.

## People

- Ray Allensworth (VP Spacecraft)

## Sources

- [Firefly Aerospace](https://fireflyspace.com/news/firefly-aerospace-signs-starcloud-as-commercial-customer-demonstrating-data-center-capabilities-around-the-moon/)

## Licence and credits

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