Kepler Communications opens a 40-GPU compute cluster in orbit

In short: Kepler Communications says it is now selling access to the largest connected group of computing chips currently running in Earth orbit.

What happened

Kepler Communications, a Canadian satellite company, launched what it calls the largest “orbital compute cluster” in January. In simple terms, it is a set of powerful computer chips on satellites that can process data while in space, instead of sending everything down to Earth first.

Kepler says the system includes about 40 Nvidia Orin processors spread across 10 operational satellites. The satellites are linked using laser communications links (like extremely focused beams of light used to send data between satellites).

The company says it now has 18 customers. Its newest customer is Sophia Space, a startup that plans to test software for its own space computer by uploading Sophia’s operating system to one of Kepler’s satellites. Sophia will then try to start and manage the software across six GPUs (specialized chips often used for AI) on two spacecraft, something that is common in Earth-based data centers but has not been attempted in orbit, according to the report.

Why it matters

Space companies collect huge amounts of information, like images and sensor readings. Processing some of that data in orbit can be like sorting and summarizing your photos on your phone before you back them up, it can save time and bandwidth. Kepler and Sophia are betting that this “do it where it is collected” approach will be useful sooner than building full data centers in space, which experts expect are still years away.

Source: TechCrunch AI