Orbital Files FCC Application for 100,000-Satellite Data Center Constellation
June 30, 2026
Orbital Files FCC Application for 100,000-Satellite Data Center Constellation
A five-month-old startup named Orbital has taken a significant regulatory step toward building a massive orbital data center network, filing an application with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deploy up to 100,000 satellites. The Los Angeles-based venture aims to deliver 10 gigawatts of computing power from low Earth orbit to meet surging demand driven by artificial intelligence workloads.
The filings, submitted on June 24, provide new details about a constellation the company first unveiled earlier this month when it emerged from stealth with $5 million in pre-seed funding. A demonstration mission is planned for next year. According to the documents, Orbital intends to deploy 100-kilowatt-class satellites in low Earth orbit at altitudes ranging from 500 to 850 kilometers. Each spacecraft will feature solar arrays and radiators spanning approximately 100 meters, with a dry mass between 1.5 and 2.5 metric tons.
The startup’s Orbital Datacenter System will rely on optical intersatellite links with third-party constellations, such as SpaceX’s Starlink, for its primary data path. This approach mirrors similar orbital data center plans filed earlier this year by Starcloud and Cowboy Space. Orbital CEO and founder Euwyn Poon, a former electric scooter entrepreneur who founded Spin and later sold it to Ford, described the FCC filing as a first regulatory step as the company finalizes its satellite design.
Poon noted that the demonstration payload will be a highly scaled-down version of the final product, roughly one-hundredth the size of a single GPU unit. However, the venture is targeting the design of Orbital-1, its first purpose-built orbital compute satellite slated for 2028, to be as close to the 100-kilowatt-class operational spacecraft as possible. The full constellation is not expected to be deployed until well into the next decade. Performance could increase as Orbital enters final design, Poon added, noting that competitor Starcloud is targeting 200 kilowatts for its proposed 88,000-satellite constellation, while SpaceX has outlined plans for 150-kilowatt-class orbital data centers in a constellation of up to one million satellites.
Orbital is entering a rapidly growing field as terrestrial data centers face mounting constraints in power, cooling, and land availability. Blue Origin and other companies are also pursuing similar concepts. Poon said the emerging orbital data center market remains relatively sparse, but now is the time to coordinate how these large systems will coexist in space. Drawing on his experience in the micromobility industry, he compared the current landscape to the early days of building infrastructure for cities, where multiple companies raced to deploy large fleets. “The question is really, how are we going to start sorting this out from a space management standpoint in space?” he said.
Poon brings a decade of manufacturing experience to the challenge, and the six-person team he has assembled includes veterans from SpaceX, Amazon, and Northrop Grumman. He emphasized that an orbital data center is a relatively simple system at its core compared with a communications network like Starlink, which requires more complex antennas and networking payloads. “The complexity is all launch,” he said, as Orbital joins Starcloud and others waiting on SpaceX’s Starship to be ready in coming years to get their massive constellations into orbit. “The rest of it is first principles physics and manufacturing—solar panels, radiators and electronics. The added complexity is that you’re operating in a vacuum and there’s radiation you need to shield against, but solvable.”
Manufacturing itself presents a unique challenge, Poon noted, particularly in managing different vendors, supply chains, and refining design for manufacturability. “It’s actually a unique skill in this space, because traditionally satellites have been more of a bespoke, one-of-one type build.” He compared the challenge to lessons learned at Spin, where early electric scooter designs with non-removable batteries required workers to bring them back for charging. Adding swappable batteries to later generations simplified operations and improved efficiency. Orbital could see similar gains across successive generations of orbital compute spacecraft, where even small design changes could have an outsized effect when scaled across a 100,000-satellite constellation.
Although Orbital is designing the core satellite platform in-house from Los Angeles, Poon said the venture is also looking to work with manufacturing partners and exploring broader collaboration opportunities.
Source: spacenews
