Blue Origin has outlined an ambitious plan to build an orbital data center system designed to handle artificial intelligence workloads through a large satellite constellation called Project Sunrise. The company wants to launch 51,600 satellites into space, where they will provide computing capacity without relying on traditional infrastructure on Earth, and this approach targets the growing demand for AI processing power across industries.
Project Sunrise will place satellites in sun-synchronous orbits at altitudes between 311 and 1,118 miles, with each layer holding hundreds of satellites spaced a few miles apart to maintain coverage and efficiency. The system relies on solar energy, which allows the satellites to operate without land use or grid dependency, while also reducing the cost of compute capacity compared to ground-based data centers.
According to filings reported by The Wall Street Journal, Blue Origin believes this system will support US companies working on AI and accelerate developments in machine learning and predictive analytics.
“By adding compute capacity to orbit, the constellation will expand total industry capacity and introduce new sources of clean power for compute workloads,” the company said in its FCC filing.
At the same time, Blue Origin joins SpaceX and other firms pushing similar ideas, although engineers continue to highlight cost and technical challenges that could affect large-scale deployment.
