Image: SpaceX
SpaceX is thinking far beyond Starlink’s already-massive satellite network. According to PCMag, the company has filed a request with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission outlining plans for what it calls an “Orbital Data Center system,” a constellation that could eventually include up to one million satellites designed to deliver unprecedented computing power from space.
The scope of the proposal is staggering. In an FCC filing submitted late last week, SpaceX says it wants to deploy satellites operating between roughly 500 and 2,000 kilometers above Earth, arranged in narrow orbital shells to reduce conflicts with other systems. These satellites wouldn’t just provide connectivity; they would function as solar-powered, space-based data centers capable of running large-scale AI inference and supporting advanced artificial intelligence applications for billions of users.
To put that in perspective, Starlink currently has more than 9,600 satellites in orbit, a number that was already considered enormous by industry standards. SpaceX’s new plan would dwarf that constellation many times over. The company argues that orbiting data centers are a more efficient answer to the exploding energy demands of AI, sidestepping the strain terrestrial data centers are placing on electrical grids around the world.
The filing also highlights how tightly integrated this vision would be with Starlink. The orbital data center satellites would rely heavily on high-bandwidth optical, or laser, links, routing traffic through Starlink’s existing mesh network and down to Earth-based stations. SpaceX is also clearly betting on Starship to make this feasible, pointing to the vehicle’s ability to deliver unprecedented tonnage to orbit at dramatically lower cost.
All of this comes as SpaceX’s long-discussed IPO looks increasingly real, with major banks reportedly lining up to underwrite a public offering that Elon Musk has already confirmed is coming. At the same time, Musk has been openly talking about convergence across his companies. Tesla, for example, is developing next-generation AI chips designed for in-orbit computing, while xAI is deeply involved in building out the AI side of this broader space-based vision.
Of course, a request to launch one million satellites is unprecedented and almost certain to face intense regulatory scrutiny. Even recent approvals for Starlink’s second-generation constellation have come with limits attached. Still, the filing makes one thing clear: SpaceX isn’t just trying to connect the planet — it wants to move a meaningful chunk of the AI economy off it.
