SpaceX needs to launch a constellation of one million satellites to energy AI wants

Elon Musk and his aerospace firm have requested to construct a community that is 100 instances the variety of satellites which can be at the moment in orbit. On Friday, SpaceX filed an application with the Federal Communications Fee (FCC) to launch one million satellites meant to create an “orbital knowledge heart.” This is not the primary time we’re listening to of Musk’s plans to construct an orbital knowledge heart, because it was talked about by firm insiders following the information that the CEO was reportedly getting ready to take SpaceX public.

In keeping with the submitting noticed by PCMag, this knowledge heart would run off solar energy and ship computing capability for artificial intelligence needs. SpaceX is requesting to “deploy a system of as much as a million satellites to function inside slim orbital shells spanning as much as 50 km every,” as detailed within the submitting. In keeping with SpaceX’s submitting, “orbital knowledge facilities are essentially the most environment friendly option to meet the accelerating demand for AI computing energy” since they use “solar energy with little working and upkeep prices.”

To offer some scale of the astronomical variety of satellites SpaceX is asking for, the corporate just lately hit a milestone of the 11,000th Starlink satellite tv for pc launched. There aren’t as many in orbit because the satellites can run into points, however an unofficial website that tracks Starlink stats claims there are greater than 9,600 satellites in orbit as of January 30, 2026. The FCC is more likely to whittle down the quantity that SpaceX is asking for in its submitting, because the federal company has performed previously. Earlier this month, the FCC authorized SpaceX’s request to deploy 7,500 extra Starlink satellites, following one other 7,500 launched in 2022. Nonetheless, it is a lot lower than the practically 30,000 quantity that SpaceX first requested for in 2020.