The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants feedback on a SpaceX proposal to deploy up to 1 million satellites that will function as orbital data centers.
In a Feb. 4 post to X, by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr put out a call for comment on the application submitted by SpaceX, which is owned by former White House Senior Advisor Elon Musk.
According to a public notice about the application, SpaceX asked the FCC to waive several non geostationary satellite orbit rules so its application can be reviewed outside a processing round and with fewer obligations.
Specifically, it wants exemptions from standard deployment milestones and surety bond requirements, plus flexibility on certain technical filing details like channel plans and orbital configurations.
The FCC announced that the SpaceX application will be considered under ex parte procedures, which allow for meetings or discussions outside of the written comment process.
These communications will be permitted under “permit-but-disclose” rules, which require written summaries of discussions for the public record. “The proposed system would serve as a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization and serve other purposes, according to the applicant,” Carr wrote on X.
A Kardashev II civilization is a hypothetical society so advanced it can harness the full power output of its home star.
Separately, in a Feb. 2 SpaceX update, Musk wrote that the launch of many next-generation satellites “will transform our ability to scale compute” and support artificial intelligence (AI) driven applications “for billions of people today.”
“The basic math is that launching a million tons per year of satellites generating 100 kW of compute power per ton would add 100 gigawatts of AI compute capacity annually, with no ongoing operational or maintenance needs,” Musk wrote.
By launching those satellites, Musk suggested that energy shortages needed to power increasing AI innovation back on Earth could be solved by “directly harnessing near-constant solar power.”
“My estimate is that within 2 to 3 years, the lowest cost way to generate AI compute will be in space,” he added. “This cost-efficiency alone will enable innovative companies to forge ahead in training their AI models and processing data at unprecedented speeds and scales, accelerating breakthroughs in our understanding of physics and invention of technologies to benefit humanity.”
In its proposal submitted to the FCC, SpaceX said its fleet of satellites would be spread across low-Earth orbits from 500 to 2,000 kilometers, including 30-degree and sun-synchronous inclinations.
The satellites would use laser-based optical links that would network the fleet and potentially interconnect with Earth-based Starlink.