FCC approves 1 million orbital Starlink satellites plan

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has accepted for filing SpaceX’s application to deploy and operate a new non-geostationary orbit satellite system consisting of up to 1 million Starlink satellites. The newly published notice initiates a period for public comments on the proposal, formally known as the SpaceX Orbital Data Center system.

SpaceX filed the application on January 30, 2026, seeking authority to launch and operate satellites equipped with significant onboard computing capabilities to support advanced artificial intelligence models and related applications. The satellites are designed to function as orbital data centers, harnessing near-constant solar power with minimal operating and maintenance requirements. This approach aims to provide transformative cost and energy efficiency compared to terrestrial data centers while reducing associated environmental impacts.

The proposed system would operate at altitudes ranging from 500 km to 2,000 km, with orbital inclinations of 30 degrees and sun-synchronous orbits. Satellites would be grouped in narrow orbital shells spanning up to 50 km each, allowing SpaceX to optimize hardware variations across different shells and minimize conflicts with other operators.

Communication within the constellation would rely primarily on high-bandwidth optical inter-satellite links. These links would route data among the orbital data center satellites and connect to the existing Starlink constellation through its laser mesh network for transmission to ground stations.

SpaceX describes the initiative as an initial step toward harnessing greater solar energy on a civilizational scale. The company highlights the potential to scale compute capacity rapidly using the Starship launch vehicle, which could enable substantial annual additions to orbital processing power without expanding terrestrial electrical infrastructure.

The FCC is seeking comments and petitions on the application until March 6, 2026, with oppositions and responses to comments due by March 16 and replies due March 23. SpaceX has also requested several waivers of commission rules to facilitate the system’s deployment and operations, including processing round exemptions and bond requirement adjustments.

This development expands on SpaceX’s existing Starlink network and reflects growing demand for high-capacity computing to support large-scale AI inference and data processing for global users. The acceptance for filing marks the beginning of the regulatory review process for what would be one of the largest satellite constellations proposed to date.