Elon Musk's SpaceX has submitted a request to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for permission to launch a constellation of 1 million satellites for data centers in orbit.
The company likely understands that the regulator will not approve such a massive network and is using the inflated number as a starting point for negotiations.
The project aims to create a network of data centers in low Earth orbit connected by laser links. The proposal includes bold claims such as being the "first step towards a Type II civilization on the Kardashev scale."
Even if only a small portion of the requested 1 million satellites are launched, the number of artificial objects in space will significantly increase. According to estimates from the European Space Agency, there are already about 15,000 satellites orbiting Earth, over 9,600 of which belong to SpaceX.
Experts are concerned about the increase in space debris and the risk of collisions in orbit. Meanwhile, Musk's company claims that orbital data centers will be a cheap and environmentally friendly alternative to ground-based facilities.
Instead of depleting water supplies in populated areas, contaminating groundwater, and raising electricity bills, the space-based facilities could rely on solar energy in real-time and cool themselves in a vacuum.
Data for AI
Musk's ambitions in AI are growing. On January 15, SpaceX revised the Starlink privacy policy to allow the collection of customer data for training neural networks.
The new version of the document states that information may also be shared with service providers and "third-party partners" without additional notice.
Starlink collects large amounts of user data, including credit card information and IP addresses.
Earlier, reports indicated that Musk's three companies—SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla—are in talks for a merger. The deal could occur before the space company's IPO, combining Grok, X, Starlink, and rockets into one entity.
The potential merger would accelerate the integration of AI services into SpaceX products, while xAI would gain vast datasets for training models.
Notably, in January, Musk announced that Tesla would revive the Dojo3 project—a previously shelved initiative to create a third-generation chip for electric vehicles. It will now be utilized for computations in space.