Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, revealed in-depth details of "AI1," the company's first-generation orbiting artificial intelligence (AI) data center satellite, in a 30-minute video on the X platform.
This major announcement comes just three days before SpaceX's IPO, scheduled to begin trading on June 12, 2026, with a target valuation of $1.75 trillion.
Specifications and design larger than a passenger aircraft. And designed for chip replacement.
The AI1 satellite is designed to process AI tasks outside of Earth, with the following details:
1. Average processing power of 120 kilowatts, with a peak power of up to 150 kilowatts, equivalent to the power consumption of one Nvidia GB300 server rack on Earth. The satellite has a power density of 70 kilowatts per ton.
2. The satellite has a wingspan of 70 meters when extended and a height of 20 meters. This wingspan is wider than that of a Boeing 747-8 passenger aircraft. The satellite will orbit at an altitude of approximately 600 kilometers above the Earth's surface.
3. The structure is simpler than the Starlink satellite because it does not require complex antennas. Instead, it uses numerous solar panels attached to a central processing module and uses laser connectivity for communication, based on the technology of the Starlink V3 satellite.
4. A key feature is the interchangeable chip payload structure, allowing SpaceX not to be tied to a single chip manufacturer but to utilize hardware from vendors offering the best performance.
The engineering challenge lies in managing heat in a vacuum.
Taking data centers into space presents a significant hurdle: cooling. Because a vacuum lacks air and water for fans and cooling systems to operate like on Earth, the AI1 utilizes a collapsible liquid cooling system with a surface area of up to 110 square meters, along with backup pumping circuits and micrometeor shielding.
Compared to the International Space Station (ISS), which uses a 422 square meter radiator for only 70 kilowatts of cooling at a cost of $500 million, SpaceX's design is groundbreaking. Elon Musk expressed confidence in this approach, citing the company's expertise in managing heat within its Starlink satellite constellation of over ten thousand satellites.
Manufacturing and Infrastructure Plans
SpaceX's goal is to circumvent the power limitations of Earth's data centers and fully utilize solar energy in space. Each satellite will receive power from 150 kilowatts of solar panels (providing 250 watts per square meter). The company has prepared production to support this "terawatt" vision with two massive projects:
1. The Gigasat plant, located in Bastrop, Texas, on over 1,000 acres (11 million square feet) of usable space, will integrate the entire supply chain, from wafer production and solar cells to satellite assembly. Production is expected to begin by the end of 2027.
2. The Terafab chip project: Elon Musk unveiled a collaborative chip manufacturing project between Tesla and SpaceX in Austin to develop a complete AI chip with an investment of up to $119 billion. To guarantee the company has enough chips to meet demand,
SpaceX previously filed documents with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to request permission to operate a network of up to 1 million data center satellites. The company reportedly secured a deal to provide computing services to Google worth up to $920 million per month.
However, this plan has not been without criticism. For example, Sam Almantz, CEO of OpenAI, has stated that the concept of an orbiting data center is nonsense.
Source: SpaceX, Space
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