A 1-cm-thick server floating in space—The practical solution for orbital data centers shown by Sophia Space
The idea of placing servers in space might have been dismissed as a pipe dream just a few years ago. However, at the end of 2025, a satellite equipped with Nvidia's H100 chip successfully ran AI models in orbit, marking a turning point for "space computing." Shortly after our article covering that news, another development has emerged that cannot be overlooked.
Pasadena, California-based startup Sophia Space announced in February 2026 that it had completed a $10 million seed funding round. Led by Alpha Funds, KDDI Green Partners Fund, and Unlock Venture Partners, this round brought the company's total funding to $13.5 million.
The company is developing a module named "TILE." It is a thin structure measuring 1 meter by 1 meter and only 1 centimeter thick, featuring solar cells on one side and Nvidia chips inside. Space is, needless to say, a harsh environment, but when it comes to "heat management"—the biggest headache for terrestrial data centers—space is actually advantageous. Sophia Space has thoroughly pursued this counterintuitive approach.
Its proprietary passive cooling system uses the extreme cold of outer space itself as a heat sink. This allows 92% of the generated energy to be dedicated to computational processing. Since terrestrial data centers using active cooling typically achieve efficiencies of around 66–72%, the difference is as much as 10–20 percentage points. Considering the ratio of cooling costs to total data center operating expenses, this is a significant advantage.
Another crucial element is the "SOOS (Sophia Orbital Operating System)." In orbit, engineers cannot physically repair servers. This AI-driven autonomous OS handles every task that terrestrial IT engineers would perform, from firmware updates to applying security patches. "Keeping it running in space" is far more difficult than simply "placing it in space." Sophia Space has been addressing this core challenge from the very beginning.
The company's origins are also interesting. It started with intellectual property born from a $100 million grant Caltech invested in space-based solar power research. An engineer's question—"What if we put a server there?"—transformed the space solar power technology that "worked mathematically but didn't make economic sense." Founded in 2023 by a team of researchers from JPL and cloud computing experts, the company is now working to turn that answer into reality.
Looking at the roadmap, the plan is to manufacture and conduct ground testing for the first two TILE units this year, and to carry out a software demo mission within the same year. A full-scale orbital demonstration is expected between late 2027 and early 2028. In the future, there is a concept to launch a 1MW-class array bundled with approximately 2,500 TILEs, folded to fit within a Falcon 9 fairing. In the short term, the goal is to handle orbital edge computing for other satellites, and in the long term, to supplement the processing capacity of terrestrial data centers.
These movements are not limited to Sophia Space alone. Major players are moving in unison, with SpaceX applying to the FCC for a plan involving a million-scale orbital data center, and Google and Planet launching "Project Suncatcher" together. When read in conjunction with this trend, which we have covered in past articles, the significance of Sophia Space's $10 million funding within the context of the entire industry becomes clear.
There are estimates that the orbital data center market will reach approximately $1.8 billion by 2029 and $39 billion by 2035 (BIS Research). Why are such large figures being discussed for technology that is still in the demonstration phase? It is because the two pressures of the energy problems faced by terrestrial data centers and the accelerating demand for AI computation are rapidly strengthening the "reason to use space."
For Sophia Space, which aims to launch commercial services in the 2030s, this $10 million is merely a starting point. Even so, it is certain that a team with JPL-honed technology and a unique cooling design is steadily moving forward step by step. As terrestrial infrastructure approaches its limits, the day when the option of "using computing resources in space" reaches our daily lives may be sooner than we think.
#SpaceBusiness #DataCenter #SpaceDevelopment #AI #SpaceStartup #OrbitalComputing #SpaceInfrastructure #Technology #Innovation #SophiaSpace
Reference Articles
〇Sophia Space Raises $10M for Build Orbital Data Center Tech (February 24, 2026) https://payloadspace.com/sophia-space-raises-10m-to-build-orbital-data-center-precursor/
〇The future AI infrastructure realized by the space-floating data center "Starcloud" (November 2, 2025) https://note.com/space_business/n/n692d41e9851a
〇Musk's grand gamble: The dawn of the space AI era, or a reckless challenge? (February 2026) https://note.com/space_business/n/n91cf3e32bb9f
〇Planet bets on orbital data centers in partnership with Google (December 30, 2025) https://spacenews.com/planet-bets-on-orbital-data-centers-in-partnership-with-google/
〇Nvidia-backed Starcloud trains first AI model in space, orbital data centers (December 10, 2025) https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/10/nvidia-backed-starcloud-trains-first-ai-model-in-space-orbital-data-centers.html