Orbital Sets Date For First Test Mission To Put AI Data Centers In Low Earth Orbit

(MENAFN- GlobeNewsWire - Nasdaq) Orbital is building and operating AI data centers in space, using solar power and radiative cooling to remove the energy and cooling constraints that limit terrestrial AI infrastructure. Backed by funding from a16z Speedrun, the company plans to launch its first test mission in 2027 and is opening Factory-1, its R&D facility in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, CA, April 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The demand for AI compute is surging, but the bottleneck is no longer chips, it's the power required to run them. Orbital was founded on the belief that the only way to scale compute and unlock future progress on artificial intelligence is to stop competing for power on Earth and generate it in orbit.

Today, the company announced funding from a16z Speedrun to support Orbital-1, the company's first test mission on its aim of deploying data centers in space. "Speedrun backs founders to explore ambitious ideas - the harder the problem, the better," said Andrew Chen, General Partner, a16z speedrun. "Orbital is taking on AI's biggest constraint with a bold and radical idea."

Orbital is designing and manufacturing a constellation of satellites to operate in low Earth orbit, each housing a cluster of NVIDIA-powered servers. Each satellite is powered by solar arrays and cooled by radiating heat directly into space. In orbit, solar power is available 24/7 in sun-synchronous orbit and stronger, with no weather, no night, and no dependence on the power grid.

Poon. "This is the solution."

Media images can be found here.

About Orbital
Orbital builds and operates GPU data centers in low Earth orbit. Each satellite houses a small cluster of NVIDIA Space-1 Vera Rubin GPUs, powered by solar arrays and cooled by radiating heat directly into space. The first satellite, Orbital-1, launches April 2027 on a SpaceX Falcon 9. For more information please visit

CONTACT: For further information please contact the Orbital press office via Bilal Mahmood on... or +447714007257

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