- Starcloud and Crusoe need to take knowledge facilities off Earth
- Nvidia’s H100 GPUs will function past Earth’s environment for the primary time
- Orbital knowledge facilities might attain gigawatt capability utilizing unfiltered photo voltaic radiation
Plans to launch Nvidia’s H100 GPUs into orbit are shifting from hypothesis to actuality, led by Starcloud and Crusoe.
The two corporations are collaborating to construct the world’s first knowledge facilities in house, with the aim of exploiting photo voltaic vitality past Earth’s environment.
Starcloud, a Redmond-based Nvidia Inception-backed firm, is growing scalable orbital computing platforms able to reaching gigawatt capacities.
Convert daylight into laptop cycles
Crusoe, identified for its cloud computing companies, will deploy its Crusoe Cloud platform on one among Starcloud’s satellites scheduled to launch in 2026.
In early 2027, the corporate hopes to ship restricted GPU-based computing energy from orbit, describing it as “a new paradigm for AI factories.”
The central concept behind these house knowledge facilities lies in using direct photo voltaic vitality.
Without the filtering results of the Earth’s environment, photo voltaic panels in orbit can harness daylight at most depth.
The corporations say it will allow “nearly unlimited, low-cost renewable energy” to energy AI workloads in house.
Estimates recommend that such infrastructure might scale back vitality expenditures by as much as ten instances in comparison with ground-based installations, even considering launch prices.
Starcloud will launch the primary Nvidia H100 GPUs into house in November 2025, a transfer that would redefine how large-scale computing is dealt with.
Crusoe plans to run AI and LLM fashions immediately on these GPUs by means of its cloud platform.
In concept, house techniques might supply quicker entry to photo voltaic vitality and extra predictable thermal circumstances.
Nvidia has recommended that the vacuum of deep house might function “an infinite heat sink,” permitting for unconventional cooling strategies that differ from these used on Earth.
However, the long-term viability of such an strategy stays unsure, particularly given the absence of conventional convection in zero gravity.
The ambition behind these orbital knowledge facilities is obvious, however questions stay about their sensible and financial viability.
Space launches, {hardware} upkeep, and radiation publicity introduce dangers that would offset the vitality financial savings.
The concept of an off-planet knowledge infrastructure could seem futuristic, though its execution will rely on overcoming advanced operational and engineering challenges.
Through Tom Hardware
