Tag: data centers
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Orbital AI: Seattle-area startup Starcloud hits $1.1B valuation to build space-based data centers
Image of a Starcloud deployment of its space-based data center. (Starcloud Photo) Starcloud, a startup building solar-powered data centers that operate in space, announced $170 million in new funding Monday, vaulting it to unicorn status with a $1.1 billion valuation. The Redmond, Wash.-based company is now the fastest in Y Combinator history to hit that…
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51,600 more satellites? Blue Origin adds another twist to the data center space race with Project Sunrise
An artist’s conception shows a constellation of satellites in orbit. (OneWeb Illustration) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is asking the Federal Communications Commission for authority to send up to 51,600 data center satellites into low Earth orbit, signaling its entry into an increasingly crowded space race. The proposed constellation, dubbed Project Sunrise, would complement…
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SpaceX seeks go-ahead from the FCC to put up to a million data center satellites in orbit
This time-lapse image of Venus and the Pleiades shows the tracks of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. The image received an award in the 2021 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest. (Torsten Hansen / IAU OAE / Creative Commons Attribution) SpaceX founder Elon Musk wasn’t kidding about his plans to go big with orbital data centers: The company is…
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Blue Origin unveils TeraWave, a global satellite network designed to handle terabits of data center traffic
Blue Origin has lifted the curtain on its plan for an ultra-high-speed satellite data network called TeraWave. (Credit: Blue Origin) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says it’ll be ramping up an ultra-high-speed satellite data network called TeraWave, which will compete with SpaceX’s Starlink network for business from data centers, large-scale enterprises and government customers.…
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Starcloud plans its next power plays after training first AI model in space
Starcloud’s founders — CEO Philip Johnston, chief technology officer Ezra Feilden and chief engineer Adi Oltean — wear protective gear as they check out the startup’s Starcloud-1 satellite before launch. (Starcloud Photo) After taking one small but historic step for space-based AI, a Seattle-area startup called Starcloud is gearing up for a giant leap into…
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Jeff Bezos says orbital data centers will be the ‘next step’ for space ventures that make Earth better
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, speaks at Italian Tech Week 2025 in Turin. (Italian Tech Week via YouTube) What’s the next killer app for the final frontier? According to Jeff Bezos, it’s a future fleet of gigawatt data centers, flying in orbit and powered by sunlight. Bezos — who founded the…
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Lumen Orbit changes its name to Starcloud and raises $10M for space data centers
An artist’s conception shows data-center spacecraft being added to an orbital array. (Starcloud via YouTube) Redmond, Wash.-based Starcloud got its start just last year under a different name — Lumen Orbit — but the newly renamed company is already filling out its seed funding round with $10 million in fresh investment for space-based data centers.…
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Amazon Web Services focuses on optimizing artificial intelligence in space
Amazon Web Services demonstrated data processing in orbit in 2022, using a payload on D-Orbit’s ION satellite carrier, shown in this artist’s conception. (D-Orbit Illustration) Artificial intelligence and machine learning are turning into requirements for space operations, and Amazon Web Services is optimizing its products to reflect that view, according to the former Air Force…
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Lumen Orbit emerges from stealth and raises $2.4M to put data centers in space
An artist’s conception shows Lumen Orbit’s satellite in space. (Lumen Orbit Illustration) Bellevue, Wash.-based Lumen Orbit, a startup that’s only about three months old, says that it’s closed a $2.4 million pre-seed investment round to launch its plan to put hundreds of satellites in orbit, with the goal of processing data in space before it’s…
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Microsoft partners with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service for Azure Space cloud platform
Microsoft is partnering with a wide range of satellite and space companies to build its Azure Space cloud computing service. (Microsoft Illustration) Microsoft says it’s taking the next giant leap in cloud computing, in partnership with SpaceX and its Starlink broadband satellite constellation. “By partnering with leaders in the space community, we will extend the…