SpaceX Applies to FCC for 1 Million AI Satellites in Space

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SpaceX has applied to build orbital data centers in space using up to 1 million AI inference satellites.

The application references that this will be a first step to creating a Kardashev 2 civilization. A Kardashev civilization uses all of the energy of the sun. This is about 5 trillion times more than civilization is using now.

8 thoughts on “SpaceX Applies to FCC for 1 Million AI Satellites in Space”

  1. I wonder how he will be able to do this economically. Kurt Sorensen of Flibe company(molten salt reactors) said he once worked on a contract where they were trying to cost Solar Satellite Power states in space. Now Kurt is about as pro-space colonization as you can anywhere but he said they added all the cost up and cut the launch cost to zero, and it still didn’t make economic sense. Maybe things have changed but that’s what he said. He said it here,

    ” PROTOSPACE on Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVSmf_qmkbg

    And this is one of the best simple explanations of nuclear and thorium salt reactors I’ve seen.

  2. This fits with SpaceForce asking for bids on a new Launch complex at Vandenberg with the requirements tailored to Starship. SpaceX IPO this year will provide the Capital for all those. They’ll have to get the new Vandenberg Starship LC up and running quick. That will be the main LC for this sun synchronous orbit ring.

  3. OMG. I really hope the FCC or even Trump puts an end to Musk’s endless and unsafe expansions into LEO (it’s NOT “a Kardashev 2 civilization”). We’re barely 2 days from a Kessler even according to new research, if a precipitating event were to disable a satellite. The chain reaction could disable LEO space for years, while reining debris on people and property uncontrollably the entire time.
    And is there even a thought to what beaming constant AI high bandwidth data will do to life and property and airplanes (still the way normal people travel)?
    This unregulated, unquestioned, LEO givaway is insane.

    • The starling satellites are in a very low orbit and need thruster to stay in orbit. If the thrusters fai the satellite will burn up in the atmosphere. SpaceX has designed theses satellite to completely burn up in the atmosphere. so no debris reach the ground. So the starling settles are not adding debris in low earth orbit. because they al reenter the atmosphere in less the 5 years

      The AI sattelite concept is the same many satellite in low orbit that will nee thrusters to stay up in orbit. So these satellite won’t increase the collision risk. Most of the worry about space debris is not about starling or the spaceX AI satellite proposal.

      The satellite of concern are in orbits much hire were if they fail they will likely stay in orbit for about 100 year or more. If these satellite fail they stay up there for a very long time. There are satellites launched in the early 1960s that are still up there today.

  4. “The application references that this will be a first step to creating a Kardashev 2 civilization.”

    This is SO Musk: He calls a chemical rocket “Starship”, and says something is a step to creating a Kardashev 2 civilization when we’re at about K 0.05.

    I mean, he’s not technically wrong about that latter: A journey of a billion miles begins with a millimeter twitch…

    Seriously, if you can start building them with extraterrestrial resources and make them self replicating, I guess K2 would be achievable in 50-80 years.

  5. A Type II Khardeshev civilization? Sounds great, but will people still be able to get a cheeseburger and a beer? Not to mention fries and onion rings. Actually, this is insane. One million satellites is a prime setup for a Kessler Syndrome event.

    As an old Star Trek Fan, I remember a episode from the original series titled the “The Ultimate Computer.” In it, Starfleet Command replaces 95% of the Enterprise crew with an advanced AI called M5. At one point in the show, Captain Kirk, who is one of the few crew members who has not been replaced by M5, is sparring with the computer’s inventor about the value of human beings in space. During the argument, Kirk makes a statement that all the AI groupies should keep in mind as they go boldly and unthinkingly into the future: “There are some things men must do in order to remain men.”

    Later on in the episode, Mr. Spock comments to Kirk, “Computers make excellent servants, but I have no wish to serve under one.”

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