SpaceX, the rocket company led by Elon Musk, has tapped NVIDIA to provide the company’s new Starmind AI satellite network with computing power. Both companies rallied on Tuesday on the news. The update also came hours before spaceflight company SpaceX is set to report its first quarterly figures as a public company.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Extends NVIDIA Partnership
Elon Musk’s company SpaceX wants to be known for is its proposed orbital computing platform, called Starmind. The company intends to deploy in space AI-powered data centres. The satellites will be powered by NVIDIA’s newest Rubin GPUs in addition to Vera CPUs. NVIDIA has branded them as part of its emerging space computing business.
On March 16, NVIDIA launched its space computing platform for the first time. It unveiled six launch partners at that time. They were Aetherflux, Axiom Space, Kepler Communications, Planet Labs, Sophia Space, and Starcloud. SpaceX wasn’t included in that initial announcement. The aerospace firm is included in the list in Tuesday’s update.
Earlier this year, SpaceX also applied for approval to launch a large constellation of satellites. The company asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to launch as many as one million orbital data center satellites.
The proposed network would be at an altitude of 500 to 2000 kilometers above the earth’s surface. According to SpaceX the system would be based on a ‘petabit-scale’ laser communications network between the satellites.
The proposed satellite population is much more significant than the current population of satellites orbiting the Earth of approximately 15,000.
Both SPCX and NVDA Stocks Gain
The announcement helped to raise investors’ confidence in both companies. The NVIDIA stock was up 3.03% to $212.91 on Tuesday afternoon. SpaceX stock climbed 8.67% to $124.46. The SpaceX rally came only after the company had been about 35% lower than it was in early July when it joined the Nasdaq-100 index.
According to NVIDIA, Space-1 Vera Rubin Module offers up to 25 times the AI processing power of an H100 GPU. Commercial deliveries should start later this fall.
The satellite project has not yet been approved. In February, the FCC granted SpaceX’s application. The final decision is yet to be made. SpaceX’s earnings release also is under close scrutiny as investors watch closely the company’s Starlink financials and also its funding for the firm’s growing AI objectives.
