WASHINGTON, Jan 31 - SpaceX has submitted a request to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposing a network of as many as one million satellites intended to capture solar energy and supply power to orbital artificial intelligence data centers, according to the recent filing.
The FCC document, posted a day after reports emerged that SpaceX and Elon Musk's xAI are discussing a potential merger in advance of a planned public offering this year, frames the constellation as a route to significantly lower the cost and environmental footprint of AI computing. The filing states that by "directly harnessing near-constant solar power with little operating or maintenance costs, these satellites will achieve transformative cost and energy efficiency while significantly reducing the environmental impact associated with terrestrial data centers."
Regulatory approval from the FCC would be required before SpaceX could proceed with the plan. The filing acknowledges practical and regulatory hurdles implicitly by pursuing formal authorization.
Observers note the disparity between the requested number of satellites and the current scale of space-based systems. The filing seeks permission for up to one million satellites in orbit, while the broader space environment currently contains roughly 15,000 satellites in total. The document and related industry practices reflect a common pattern: satellite operators sometimes apply to regulators for more units than they ultimately intend to deploy in order to preserve design flexibility. SpaceX previously sought approval for 42,000 Starlink satellites before starting full deployment of that system. Today, SpaceX's Starlink network has about 9,500 satellites in orbit.
SpaceX's proposal links the feasibility of a massive on-orbit processing infrastructure to reductions in launch cost enabled by its next-generation reusable rocket, Starship. The company argues that fully reusable launch vehicles like Starship, when operating at rate, can deploy "millions of tons of mass per year to orbit," enabling on-orbit processing capacity to scale faster and with lower environmental impact compared with terrestrial buildouts.
Starship has undergone 11 test launches since 2023, and Elon Musk expects the rocket - a key element for expanding Starlink with more capable satellites - to place its first payloads into orbit this year. The FCC filing ties the overall satellite-data-center concept closely to these anticipated advances in launch economics and cadence.
The filing emphasizes the power-intensive nature of AI data centers and positions the proposed constellation as a way to meet those demands by leveraging near-constant solar power. The document describes the concept as offering transformative cost and energy efficiency, while asserting a significant reduction in environmental impact relative to conventional terrestrial data centers. Moving forward would require both FCC clearance and the successful maturation of Starship’s launch capabilities.
Contextual note: The filing presents the proposed satellite constellation and its claimed advantages as part of SpaceX's long-term planning. The ultimate scale of any deployment and the timeline for achieving on-orbit AI computing depend on regulatory decisions and on the operational performance and economics of the Starship program.