FCC Opens Public Comment Period on SpaceX's Proposal for Massive Orbital Data Center Constellation
February 10, 2026
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has initiated a public comment period on a landmark proposal from SpaceX that could fundamentally reshape the geography of high-performance computing. The plan, which envisions deploying a constellation of up to one million data center satellites in orbit, represents one of the most ambitious attempts to move critical digital infrastructure beyond Earth, aiming to address the surging global demand for artificial intelligence compute capacity.
The regulatory process began when the FCC, the U.S. agency governing satellite communications, published SpaceX's application and called for stakeholder input. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr stated the agency "welcomes" the proposal, signaling a readiness to evaluate its technical and regulatory merits. SpaceX's filing outlines a vision where, upon the full operational readiness of its Starship launch system, it could annually launch one million tonnes of satellite hardware into space. The company projects that this mass, generating an estimated 100 kilowatts of computing power per tonne, would add a staggering 100 gigawatts of new AI compute capacity to the global pool each year. In its application, SpaceX argued that the unique environment of space could ultimately offer the lowest cost for generating AI compute, stating, "Freed from the constraints of terrestrial deployment, within a few years, the lowest cost to generate AI compute will be space." The company also requested a waiver from standard FCC deployment milestones, which typically require half of a licensed satellite constellation to be launched within six years and the full system within nine, indicating the unprecedented scale and complexity of the project.
The public now has until March 6 to submit initial comments to the FCC. The Commission will then issue its responses by March 16, followed by a final round of public replies due by March 23. This decision will set a critical precedent for the future of space-based infrastructure and has significant implications for the data center industry, potentially introducing a new layer of orbital competition for cloud and hyperscale providers while prompting new discussions on space debris, spectrum allocation, and the environmental impact of mega-constellations.
Source: datacenterdynamics
