SpaceX's plans to launch a fleet of orbital data centers to perform AI inference tasks are the main driver behind the company's 2-trillion-dollar valuation. Bullish analysts say that the potential for that processing power to fuel SpaceXAI's models or act as an orbital neocloud are unprecedented in the AI boom. But when you talk to subject-matter experts ' whether it's the entrepreneurs behind other space data center startups, the team at Google developing that company's orbital compute project, or engineers who have done the numbers for fun ' you find the same answer: This isn't going to make a big dent until we have much cheaper rockets and the ability to produce high-powered satellites at low cost, en masse. Musk's answer to this is easy to predict: Starship, SpaceX's huge new rocket, is expected to make its 13th test flight as soon as July 16. If Musk's team can get that vehicle to the point where it flies again and again, the data center business case could close. But even if...
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