Starcloud Proposes Massive 88,000-Satellite Orbital Data Center Constellation to FCC

An orbital data center startup named Starcloud has submitted an application to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for approval to deploy a constellation of up to 88,000 satellites.

Application Details

The FCC accepted Starcloud's application on March 13. The Redmond, Washington-based company proposes to operate these satellites in low Earth orbits, ranging from 600 to 850 kilometers in altitude, within orbital shells up to 50 kilometers thick. The satellites are planned for dusk-dawn sun-synchronous orbits to facilitate near-continuous power generation.

Starcloud stated in its filing that the satellite system is designed to address the increasing demand for data centers, particularly from artificial intelligence (AI), which faces scaling challenges terrestrially.

The company projects space-based data centers will offer a cost-effective and scalable solution for compute needs in the current decade.

Constellation Scale and Comparisons

A constellation of 88,000 satellites would significantly exceed current operational constellations; for example, SpaceX's Starlink has approximately 10,000 satellites in orbit.

However, Starcloud's proposal is smaller than a separate application filed by SpaceX in January, which proposed up to one million orbital data center satellites.

Communications and Orbital Safety

The Starcloud system is intended to primarily utilize optical intersatellite data links for communications, interfacing with existing broadband systems like Starlink, Amazon's Project Kuiper, and Blue Origin's Tera Wave.

The FCC filing also requests authorization for some Ka-band spectrum for telemetry, tracking, and control (TT&C) communications, which the company stated would operate on a non-interference basis.

Starcloud emphasized its commitment to the safe and sustainable use of orbits. The company plans to adhere to best practices for satellite operations, including coordination with other operators and deploying satellites at lower orbits for initial checkouts before moving them to operational altitudes.

The satellites are designed for full demisability, ensuring complete burn-up upon reentry to prevent ground debris. Starcloud also intends to collaborate with the astronomy community to mitigate brightness issues.

Company History and Future Plans

Previously known as Lumen Orbit, Starcloud has launched one small satellite to date: Starcloud-1, a 60-kilogram satellite launched in November via a SpaceX rideshare mission.

This satellite reportedly carried an Nvidia H100 processor and ran a version of Google's Gemini AI model in orbit.

The company's website indicates plans for a first commercial spacecraft, Starcloud-2, scheduled for a 2027 launch into sun-synchronous orbit, featuring a cluster of processors and proprietary thermal and power systems.

Starcloud also has future plans for Starcloud-3 and Starcloud-4 constellations, with Starcloud-4 potentially involving massive satellites deployed by SpaceX Starship vehicles, with some conceptual designs showing arrays four kilometers on a side to support a five-gigawatt data center.