SpaceX and Nvidia are preparing to take powerful AI computing systems beyond Earth. Nvidia has announced that SpaceXAI is expanding its AI infrastructure for Grok using a space-optimized version of Nvidia's Vera Rubin NVL72 system and is also working on a first-generation Starmind AI satellite. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk said that the project could grow significantly in 2028, pointing to an ambitious plan to extend AI computing from large data centres on Earth into space.Elon Musk says SpaceX and Nvidia are working on an orbital AI systemElon Musk shared the update while reposting Nvidia's announcement about its partnership with SpaceXAI. “SpaceX, in partnership with Nvidia, has designed a space-optimized Vera Rubin NVL72 system for launch to orbit in Q4 next year, with significant scale in 2028,” Musk wrote in the post.“Our design is significantly simpler, lower cost, denser and lighter than a traditional rack,” Musk said in another post.The announcement suggests that the companies are working to adapt powerful AI computing hardware for use in space, where challenges such as power supply, cooling, bandwidth and reliability are different from those faced by traditional data centres on Earth.Nvidia's AI technology to power Grok and space computingAccording to Nvidia, SpaceXAI plans to use its Vera CPUs to support the next generation of agentic AI applications. These applications require computers to perform tasks such as using tools, executing code, processing data and running simulations.Nvidia said SpaceXAI will also expand the AI infrastructure behind Grok using the Nvidia Vera Rubin platform as it works towards gigawatts of computing capacity.“Agentic AI requires a new kind of computing system — one built not only to generate answers, but to take action,” said Ian Buck, vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing at Nvidia.From AI factories on Earth to satellites in orbitThe partnership is also focused on taking Nvidia's accelerated computing technology into orbit. Nvidia said SpaceXAI's planned first-generation Starmind AI satellite will be based on an optimized Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale system.The companies are working to adapt the technology for space while maintaining a common computing architecture and software ecosystem across Earth-based and orbital systems.“Vera gives us the CPU performance and memory bandwidth to run enormous amounts of orchestration, code and data processing while keeping GPUs doing what they do best,” said Mike Nicolls, president of SpaceXAI. “That means higher-performance AI agents and more useful work from every watt of compute.”