Patent awarded for orbital data centers that process data without ground links
Sophia Space and the California Institute of Technology received a patent July 14 for a modular space-based data center architecture that lets satellite operators process sensitive information on orbit rather than transmitting it to ground stations, the company announced July 30.
The new patent covers passively cooled, solar-powered computing modules designed to assemble into large-scale orbital data centers. Each Thermal Integrated LEO Edge tile measures one meter square by one centimeter thick and radiates heat directly into space, solving the energy and thermal challenges that have historically limited computing in orbit.
The design traces its roots to Caltech’s Space-based Solar Power Project, which demonstrated wireless power transmission from orbit. Sophia founder Leon Alkalai, a retired NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory technical fellow, told SpaceNews the patent covers one approach to managing energy-in and heat-out, noting there are other viable paths.
On-orbit data processing shrinks the attack surface for signal interception by reducing the need to downlink sensitive information. It also enables real-time analytics aboard satellite constellations without the latency of ground-based processing. As militaries push toward edge computing in contested environments, space-based data centers offer a path to resilient data handling outside national borders.
The seven named inventors include experts from Caltech and JPL specializing in propulsion, deployable structures, electronics packaging and mission assurance.
