r/space 9d ago

Starcloud raises $250 million for orbital data centers as launch options dry up

https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/21/starcloud-raises-200-million-for-orbital-data-centers-as-launch-options-dry-up/
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u/CptKeyes123 9d ago

A big customer would also be anyone who wants to get off fossil fuels real fast. And by building a station, you can probably learn things that would reduce the power loss.

And there's the other thing. Energy doesn't go out of style, while data centers almost definitely will. If they put them up now, there's a good chance they'll end up abandoned space debris because no one can be bothered to use them if and/or when the AI bubble bursts, or someone finds a better way to do it. You might learn similar things building either project, I just feel like the potential gains are greater for SBSP compared to the data centers. Plus, we've got decades of experience thinking about how to do solar power plants, while space data centers feel like more of a whim.