# Orbital: orbital data center program

> United States (United States), startup. Stage 1 of 7: Concept. It has a $5M pre-seed and an FCC filing; its first hosted GPU pathfinder is planned for 2027.

- Canonical page: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/orbital-compute
- This Markdown version: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/orbital-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 has a $5M pre-seed and an FCC filing; its first hosted GPU pathfinder is planned for 2027. Sources: [GlobeNewswire](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/06/09/3308756/0/en/orbital-raises-oversubscribed-5m-pre-seed-round-to-build-ai-data-centers-in-space.html)

## Key figures

- FCC filing, maximum satellites: 100,000 satellites. Sources: [Broadband Breakfast](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/orbital-seeks-fcc-approval-for-100-000-satellite-data-center-constellation/)
- Filed constellation capacity: 10 GW (company claim). Sources: [Broadband Breakfast](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/orbital-seeks-fcc-approval-for-100-000-satellite-data-center-constellation/)

## Approach

- Orbit: LEO
- Architecture: Many small, independently deployable AI-inference satellites; each production satellite about 2 t, built by Reflex Aerospace (Germany)
- Power: Solar; about 100 kW arrays per production satellite (Reflex describes about 250 kW peak, about 100 kW compute for Orbital-1)
- Cooling: Passive radiative
- Compute: Pathfinder: hosted GPU payload (reported as NVIDIA Blackwell; the release cites Vera Rubin-class for production)
- Customers: AI inference workloads; none named

## Milestones

| Date | Status | Confidence | Milestone | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-04-14 | achieved | Confirmed | Pre-seed (amount undisclosed) led by a16z speedrun; company emerges from stealth. CEO told The Register launch economics do not work yet. The $5M amount was announced on 2026-06-09. | [SiliconANGLE](https://siliconangle.com/2026/04/14/ai-satellite-constellation-startup-orbital-gets-funded-andreessen-horowitz-verify-space-based-data-center-concept/); [The Register](https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/15/orbital_space_datacenter_startup_economics/) |
| 2026-06-09 | achieved | Confirmed | $5M pre-seed announced. Company release. | [GlobeNewswire](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/06/09/3308756/0/en/orbital-raises-oversubscribed-5m-pre-seed-round-to-build-ai-data-centers-in-space.html) |
| 2026-06-24 | achieved | Reported | FCC application for up to 100,000 satellites (about 10 GW). Earlier (April) the company described a 10,000-satellite plan. | [Broadband Breakfast](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/orbital-seeks-fcc-approval-for-100-000-satellite-data-center-constellation/) |
| 2026-09-10 | achieved | Confirmed | Reflex Aerospace selected as exclusive satellite platform partner | [Reflex Aerospace](https://www.reflexaerospace.com/press-releases/orbital-selects-reflex-as-exclusive-satellite-platform-partner-space-data-center-constellation) |

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

- 2027: Pathfinder: hosted GPU payload on a Falcon 9 rideshare. Sources: [GlobeNewswire](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/06/09/3308756/0/en/orbital-raises-oversubscribed-5m-pre-seed-round-to-build-ai-data-centers-in-space.html)
- 2028: Orbital-1, first purpose-built compute satellite (Reflex bus). Sources: [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/09/how-an-e-scooter-founder-raised-5-million-to-build-space-data-centers/); [DatacenterDynamics](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/orbital-partners-with-reflex-aerospace-for-space-data-center-constellation/)
- 2030 (tentative): First full-scale satellite. Sources: [The Register](https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/15/orbital_space_datacenter_startup_economics/)

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

Whether the hosted GPU pathfinder flies in 2027.

## Filings (applications, not approvals)

- FCC, 24 Jun 2026: Application for up to 100,000 data center satellites, about 10 GW. Sources: [Broadband Breakfast](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/orbital-seeks-fcc-approval-for-100-000-satellite-data-center-constellation/)

## Funding

Counted in the tracker's verified total: $5M.

- 9 Jun 2026: Pre-seed, $5M. Round first reported on 2026-04-14 without an amount. The amount was announced on 2026-06-09.. Sources: [SiliconANGLE](https://siliconangle.com/2026/04/14/ai-satellite-constellation-startup-orbital-gets-funded-andreessen-horowitz-verify-space-based-data-center-concept/); [GlobeNewswire](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/06/09/3308756/0/en/orbital-raises-oversubscribed-5m-pre-seed-round-to-build-ai-data-centers-in-space.html)

## Cautions

- Pathfinder chip reported inconsistently (Blackwell vs Vera Rubin-class).
- Constellation size quoted as 10,000 (April) and 100,000 (FCC, June); the filing is the formal figure.

## People

- Euwyn Poon (founder, CEO)

## Sources

- [GlobeNewswire](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/06/09/3308756/0/en/orbital-raises-oversubscribed-5m-pre-seed-round-to-build-ai-data-centers-in-space.html)
- [Broadband Breakfast](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/orbital-seeks-fcc-approval-for-100-000-satellite-data-center-constellation/)
- [SiliconANGLE](https://siliconangle.com/2026/04/14/ai-satellite-constellation-startup-orbital-gets-funded-andreessen-horowitz-verify-space-based-data-center-concept/)
- [The Register](https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/15/orbital_space_datacenter_startup_economics/)
- [Reflex Aerospace](https://www.reflexaerospace.com/press-releases/orbital-selects-reflex-as-exclusive-satellite-platform-partner-space-data-center-constellation)
- [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/09/how-an-e-scooter-founder-raised-5-million-to-build-space-data-centers/)
- [DatacenterDynamics](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/orbital-partners-with-reflex-aerospace-for-space-data-center-constellation/)

## Licence and credits

- Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) for the stage, labels and summaries compiled by SpaceNexus. Cite as "Data: SpaceNexus (spacenexus.us)" with a link to https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/orbital-compute.
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