Cowboy Space plans to deploy 20,000 AI data-centers in space
What's the story
Cowboy Space, a California-based company led by Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt, has unveiled its ambitious plan to revolutionize space technology. The company plans to deploy a constellation of 20,000 artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in low Earth orbit (LEO). These satellites will be built in-house and launched using a newly unveiled rocket called Big Iron.
Rocket innovation
'Big Iron' rocket to launch satellites into orbit
Big Iron is a two-stage rocket that can transform its upper stage into a satellite.
"It's a fundamentally novel approach to rocketry in the modern era, in our opinion," Bhatt said at the unveiling event.
The 282-foot tall and 15.4-foot wide stainless-steel rocket will be powered by Cowboy Space's Clydesdale engines, which burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane (methalox).
Reusability feature
Big Iron's 1st stage will land on ship at sea
The first stage of Big Iron will be reusable, landing on a ship at sea after launch. The upper stage will remain in orbit as a Big Iron satellite.
This spacecraft will weigh around 14,969kg on Earth and measure about 433 feet (132m) long once its solar panels are deployed.
Satellite specifications
Stampede constellation to be built with 20,000 launches
Each Big Iron satellite will carry five racks of GPUs, providing about one megawatt of compute payload.
Cowboy Space plans to operate around 20,000 such satellites in LEO, forming a constellation called Stampede.
Each rocket will carry one of these satellites into orbit, meaning it would take 20,000 launches to build Stampede and likely several thousand more every year to maintain it at that number.
Commercial plans
First launch expected in December 2028
Along with building the Stampede constellation, Cowboy Space will also offer launch services for customers.
The company intends to launch Big Iron for the first time in December 2028.
"Now, a lot of things have to go right for that to happen; it's not a guarantee," Bhatt said. "I think it's ambitious. But if it wasn't ambitious, I wouldn't be an entrepreneur."