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Why Would Anyone Put a Data Center in Orbit? · Sourcery

Sourcery

Inside Starcloud’s $2B Space Factory

I went inside Starcloud’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, right outside of Seattle, to tour the $2.3B company building AI data centers in space. Philip Johnston, CEO & Co-Founder led the tour, alongside technical features with Co-Founder & CTO Ezra Feilden, Co-Founder & Chief Engineer Adi Oltean, as well as Bailey Montaño, Miguel Rivera and Camilo…

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Notes

  1. How Much Did Starcloud Pay for a Broken Vibration Table? at 2:13

    Philip Johnston says Starcloud bought a secondhand broken vibration table for 200 grand after the team could not find a table in the US that would test a… Full answer

  2. Where Are Most New Satellites Built? at 7:36

    Philip Johnston says Starcloud is based in the Seattle region because 90% of all satellites launched in the last few years by mass were designed, built, and… Full answer

  3. How Does Starcloud Cool Computers in Space? at 10:51

    Adi Oltean says Starcloud cools computers in space with the liquid cooling that data centers on Earth switched to in 2025, because liquid cooling is the only… Full answer

  4. How Big Is the Starcloud 3 Spacecraft? at 24:43

    Ezra Feilden says Starcloud 3 is the company's largest platform, a vehicle of about two tons, and as many as 50 can deploy on one Starship launch. Full answer

  5. How Easy Is Booking a Falcon 9 Rideshare? at 27:17

    Ezra Feilden says booking a Falcon 9 rideshare is unbelievably easy. Full answer

  6. Why Would Anyone Put a Data Center in Orbit? at 32:23

    Philip Johnston says a data center in orbit gets cheaper than one on Earth once launch falls to about $500 a kilogram. Full answer

  7. What Is Starcloud One Doing With Satellite Imagery? at 35:54

    Philip Johnston says Starcloud One runs inference on satellite imagery in orbit, so the coordinates of a vessel can come down in minutes rather than hours and… Full answer

  8. Why Does Everyone Leave a Starcloud 2 Test? at 44:44

    Philip Johnston says everyone leaves the building for a Starcloud 2 vibration test because a xenon tank under the satellite has about half the explosive power… Full answer

  9. What Did Miguel Rivera Do at Helion? at 53:13

    Miguel Rivera was the welder for Helion Energy, where the team built fusion generators, and he ran their fabrication shop for more than a year before becoming… Full answer

  10. What Did Bailey Montaño Do Before Starcloud? at 1:00:18

    Bailey Montaño started at SpaceX in aerospace, spent about four years there, tried biotech and consumer product design, and then spent three years in fusion… Full answer

  11. Why Is Shooting Down a Satellite So Hard? at 1:06:46

    Philip Johnston says shooting down a satellite is a lot harder than blowing up a data center in Virginia, because satellites travel at about 17,000 miles an… Full answer

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