"Elon Musk's SpaceX has filed plans with U.S. regulators to launch up to one million satellites into low-Earth orbit. Together, these satellites will act as an orbital data center to power artificial intelligence. SpaceX currently operates more than 9,600 of the 15,000 or so satellites that are orbiting Earth; those SpaceX satellites provide the company's Starlink Internet service to millions of customers worldwide. The scale of the new proposal is far and away the largest of any planned satellite constellation."
"SpaceX offers few details about the satellites, such as their size, specific orbits or even cost. But the company does say it plans to stick the satellites in largely unused orbital altitudes within an altitude range of 500 to 2,000 kilometers. The spacecraft would be positioned to maximize time in the sun so that they could run on solar power."
SpaceX filed plans with U.S. regulators to launch up to one million satellites into low-Earth orbit to create an orbital data center for powering artificial intelligence. The company already operates more than 9,600 of roughly 15,000 satellites currently orbiting Earth and provides Starlink Internet service to millions. If fully deployed, the proposal could result in about 1.7 million satellites in orbit. Details such as satellite size, precise orbits, and costs remain sparse, but SpaceX says satellites would occupy largely unused altitudes between 500 and 2,000 kilometers and be positioned to maximize solar power. The build-out could support SpaceX’s plans to go public and possibly merge with xAI.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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