SpaceX needs to launch a constellation of 1,000,000 satellites to energy AI wants

Elon Musk and his aerospace firm have requested to construct a community that is 100 occasions the variety of satellites which might be at present in orbit. On Friday, SpaceX filed an application with the Federal Communications Fee (FCC) to launch 1,000,000 satellites meant to create an “orbital information heart.” This is not the primary time we’re listening to of Musk’s plans to construct an orbital information 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 information 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 slender orbital shells spanning as much as 50 km every,” as detailed within the submitting. In keeping with SpaceX’s submitting, “orbital information facilities are essentially the most environment friendly solution to meet the accelerating demand for AI computing energy” since they use “solar energy with little working and upkeep prices.”

To present some scale of the astronomical variety of satellites SpaceX is asking for, the corporate not too long ago hit a milestone of the 11,000th Starlink satellite tv for pc launched. There aren’t as many in orbit for the reason that 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 prone to whittle down the quantity that SpaceX is asking for in its submitting, because the federal company has accomplished prior to now. Earlier this month, the FCC authorized SpaceX’s request to deploy 7,500 extra Starlink satellites, following one other 7,500 launched in 2022. Nevertheless, it is a lot lower than the practically 30,000 quantity that SpaceX first requested for in 2020.