The AI industry’s insatiable appetite for computing power has officially outgrown Earth. SpaceX and Blue Origin are both pushing forward with plans to deploy enormous satellite constellations designed to serve as orbital data centers.
SpaceX filed an application with the FCC for up to 1 million satellites aimed at orbital AI computing. Blue Origin followed with its own FCC filing on March 19, 2026, for approximately 51,600 to 52,000 solar-powered AI satellites under what’s being called Project Sunrise, also referred to as TeraWave.
Why leave the ground at all
SpaceX plans to leverage technology it already developed for its Starlink broadband constellation, including advancements in solar arrays and thermal management systems. Elon Musk stated in June 2026 that the AI satellites would heavily utilize Starlink’s existing infrastructure, with the company aiming for new manufacturing capacity by the end of 2027 and targeting operational solar-powered computing in orbit by 2028.
Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos has positioned Project Sunrise as complementary to ground-based data centers rather than a replacement, framing the project around clean energy utilization and the elimination of terrestrial constraints. Bezos remarked in May 2026 that the timeline for deploying space data centers is “likely too ambitious” given current energy, chip, and launch costs.
