The "data center" part of orbital data center is what I think a lot of people get tripped up on. The satellite isnt a data center, the orbit itself is the data center.
Each satellite has ~72 GPUs and functions like a rack in a data center, xAI colossus has ~200k GPUs or about 3500 racks of GPUs.
For comparison, there are over 10k satellites in the starlink constellation. If SpaceX matches that with its AI constellation they will have over 3x the compute of the world's largest datacenter (xAI colossus, which they own), and they wont even have a power bill.
They filed in January to put 1 million of these in orbit, which would be the equivalent of several times what is currently available in all of earth's datacenters combined.
SpaceX has just officially unveiled its AI1 satellite, the first generation of its AI satellite.
Overall Specs:
• 150 kW peak compute payload
• 120 kW average compute payload
• 70 kW per ton
• Compute provider interchangeable
Dimensions:
• Wingspan: 70 meters
• Deployed height: 20 meters
Thermal System:
• 110 m² deployable liquid radiator
• Redundant pumping loops
• Integrated micrometeoroid shielding
• Deployable liquid radiators
Solar Power System:
• 150 kW solar array
• 250 W/m²
• SpaceX-manufactured solar technology from Bastrop, Texas
Architecture:
• Centralized compute module
• Large deployable solar arrays
• Deployable liquid-radiator thermal management system
• AI-focused compute satellite design ("AI1 satellite")
Elon: "The AI satellite is much simpler than a Starlink satellite. The AI satellite is essentially a lot of solar cells, you still need some laser links, but you don't have all of the super complex antennas that you have on a Starlink satellite. The easier one to design for is the AI satellite. It's bigger. A lot of this is technology we've already made with the Starlink V3 satellites."