Nvidia-backed startup Starcloud, founded in 2024 by CEO Philip Johnston, has announced plans to launch its first commercial mission, Starcloud-2, in 2026. The spacecraft will feature a GPU cluster and Bitcoin mining ASICs to establish operations in orbit.
The mission is part of a four-launch strategy to move data centers to space, utilizing continuous solar energy and radiative cooling. While the official project page omits Bitcoin details, Johnston notes ASICs cost $1,000 per kilowatt versus $30,000 for GPUs.
Relocating hardware to a vacuum addresses cooling challenges, as convection cooling is ineffective in space. By leveraging radiative cooling and cheaper ASIC hardware, Starcloud aims to prove the viability of orbital mining and high-density data processing.