Orbital Partners With Reflex Aerospace On Space Data Center Constellation

Orbital Compute has selected German satellite manufacturer Reflex Aerospace as its platform partner to develop the Orbital-1 constellation, planned to include 100,000 satellites for orbital data centers. Reflex will lead satellite integration using a proven bus design that will become exclusive to Orbital, along with the technologies required for the constellation.

“Reflex brings a proven satellite-bus platform and an advanced engineering team capable of adapting it for orbital computing: hundreds of kilowatts of power, substantial heat rejection and volume production designed in from day one,” Euwyn Poon, founder and CEO of Orbital, told DCD. “Data center developers are competing for scarce power, land and water. Space offers a path to scale beyond those terrestrial constraints, with abundant solar energy - but capturing that opportunity requires a fundamentally new kind of spacecraft.”

“Our model is to move at maximum speed by working with the best in the world at every layer, from spacecraft platforms to manufacturing to launch,” Poon said in a statement. “Reflex, as a proven European platform builder, is a cornerstone of that model, and we're proud to be its first US customer."

The demonstrator will test operations, radiation tolerance, thermal performance, and data downlink. Orbital CEO Poon said it could be about one-hundredth the size of the planned Orbital-1 satellites. Orbital filed with the FCC in July for its 100,000-satellite constellation and is awaiting approval. The filing came shortly before the FCC approved changes to streamline its licensing process. In June, Orbital raised $5 million in a pre-seed funding round backed by 15 investors.