SpaceX Eyes Space-Based Solar Power to Run Massive AI Data Centers
SpaceX has outlined plans for what could become one of the most unconventional energy-hungry infrastructure projects ever proposed: up to one million satellites operating as orbital data centers to power artificial intelligence from space.
The concept would place large numbers of computing-equipped satellites into low and medium Earth orbit, where they would process data for AI training and inference rather than relying solely on terrestrial data centers. According to the company, space offers a unique energy advantage: near-constant access to sunlight.
Unlike Earth-based facilities, orbital data centers would not require massive battery systems or backup generators. Solar panels in space can generate power continuously as satellites move through sunlight-rich orbits, while the vacuum of space allows systems to shed heat using passive radiative cooling. Together, these factors could sharply reduce the energy, cooling, and infrastructure costs that dominate modern data center operations.
SpaceX says the satellites would operate between roughly 500 and 2,000 kilometers above Earth, spread across multiple orbital shells. High-speed laser links would connect satellites to each other and into the Starlink network, creating a space-based computing mesh capable of petabit-scale data transfer. Processed data would then be routed to authorized ground stations around the world.
The proposal comes as global electricity demand from data centers surges, driven by rapid growth in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and edge computing. On Earth, utilities are struggling to keep up with the pace of new hyperscale data center construction, while communities increasingly push back against projects that strain grids and water supplies.
By moving large portions of AI computing into orbit, SpaceX argues that some of this pressure could be shifted away from terrestrial energy systems. Elon Musk has suggested that space could become the lowest-cost location for AI computing within three years, largely because of abundant solar energy and the absence of traditional cooling and building requirements.
If approved, the project would represent a radical rethinking of where energy-intensive digital infrastructure is located. It also hints at a future where space-based solar power is not only used for communications and navigation, but as a primary energy source for large-scale computation.
For now, the plan remains conceptual, but it underscores how the race to power artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming a race for new energy solutions — even beyond Earth’s atmosphere.