New FCC filing by SpaceX for constellation of million data center satellites for AI apps.

AkaSci 🛰️

# of sats: up to 1 million!
Orbit: 500 km and 2,000 km altitude and 30°inclinations. Multiple orbital shells 50 km apart.
Cooling: radiative
Schedule: unspecified
Sat size, weight, power, cost, ..: unspecified
Launches: millions of tons of mass per year

There goes the neighborhood.
Or is this just marketing fluff and orbital hoarding?

@sundogplanets
https://www.scribd.com/document/990116826/Orbital-Data-Center-LOA-Narrative
https://fccprod.servicenowservices.com/icfs?id=ibfs_application_summary&number=SAT-LOA-20260108-00016
1/n

AkaSci 🛰️

To keep the clueless masses intoxicated, SpaceX threw in these flowery words in the FCC filing -

"Launching a constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers is a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization—one that can harness the Sun’s full power—while supporting AI-driven applications for billions of people today and ensuring humanity’s multi-planetary future amongst the stars."

Earth must be destroyed to save it?

https://www.scribd.com/document/990116826/Orbital-Data-Center-LOA-Narrative
2/n

Donald Ball

@AkaSci @sundogplanets Nothing about this makes any practical sense from a computer engineering perspective.

mkj

@AkaSci also https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/115990824453785411

@sundogplanets

Patch Arcana

@AkaSci That's... also wrong, isn't it?

I thought a dyson swarm (which this isn't even) was a Cardi One typa thing.

Kierkethumbs up convincingly

@AkaSci lmao kardashev 2??

Walrus 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

@donaldball @AkaSci @sundogplanets

Epstein's chum, Chainsaw Boy, needs to lay off the Ketamine.

AkaSci 🛰️

@Kierkegaanks
Kardashian ii perhaps?

Rob Pumphrey

@AkaSci @sundogplanets
You have got to hope this is about as practical as a hyperloop.

Kierkethumbs up convincingly

@AkaSci full kardashev 3 in 18-36 months

Judy Schmidt

@AkaSci his hubris is insufferable

Ray McCarthy

@AkaSci @sundogplanets
BONKERS!

...a pleasant rascal

@AkaSci We won't be able to explore outer space because we will be trapped with near-orbit satellite debris. No really. We'll be entombed in SpaceX floaties.

Andy H

@AkaSci and all ground-based astronomy can just fsck off, right?

David

@AkaSci Just in case anyone needs to see it: this can't work with today's or even near-future technology.

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/12/01/ai-data-centres-in-space-why-dcs-in-space-cant-work

#OrbitalAI #DataCentersInSpaceCantWork

...a pleasant rascal

@AkaSci @sundogplanets If any of you need talking points related to NOT building AI Data centers... straight from the horses mouth. Elon admits environmental impacts AND that AI is outpacing earth's ability to effectively build and manage them.

AkaSci 🛰️

The filing is short on details and long on lofty goals and promises.

And also a bit sloppy -
"Global electricity demand for data centers is projected to more than double by 2035 driven by growth in AI — reaching ~1,200-1,700 Terawatt hours and ..."

You gotta specify TW or TW-hours per month or per year.

Also, I suspect the million satellite number comes from 1 million * 100 kw = 100 GW total power.

For comparison, Starlink v3 satellites will generate 20 kW with a 60x8 m array.

3/n

Mike Torr

@AkaSci @sundogplanets OK, this has gone far enough. Does anyone actually have a way of shooting these fucking things down as they launch? Just asking.

trainguyrom

@donaldball @AkaSci @sundogplanets especially when we could simply lay more fiber trunks across the world (technology that already exists and is awesome) and achieve multiple magnitudes more bandwidth for more people at far greater speeds and consistencies! But that wouldn't further inflate Musk's wealth so we can't have that!

rich

@AkaSci @sundogplanets we should start crowdfunding "Kessler Takedown Rockets"