Starcloud to Perform First Bitcoin Mining in Space

American startup Starcloud, operating with the support of NVIDIA, has announced it will become the world's first company to begin Bitcoin mining in Earth's orbit by the end of this year. This innovative step is expected to take space technology and the cryptocurrency industry to a new level. This was reported by Ixbt.com reports .

According to ixbt.com, specialized ASIC miners will be installed on the Starcloud-2 satellite, marking the company's first commercial mission. CEO Philip Johnston stated that his team is becoming a pioneer in cryptocurrency mining in space.

Space Data Centers and AI

Initially, Starcloud was established to create orbital data centers specializing in AI. Now, the company is rapidly developing cryptocurrency computing as another promising direction.

In addition to specialized mining chips, the satellite will include a cluster of graphics accelerators. This will allow for the execution of not only digital asset mining but also other complex, energy-intensive tasks in space.

Advantages of Orbital Computing

Experts believe the main advantage of space computing is the ability to utilize solar energy almost continuously. Orbital stations are not affected by land scarcity and energy infrastructure issues faced by large data centers on Earth.

According to Philip Johnston, Bitcoin mining could be one of the most economically attractive scenarios for orbital technologies. Comparing device costs, for instance, an NVIDIA B200 accelerator consuming 1 kW of power costs approximately 30,000 USD, while an ASIC miner with the same power consumption costs only 1,000 USD.

Technical Challenges and Future Plans

However, there are significant engineering hurdles to implementing the project. Once launched into orbit, equipment cannot be repaired or replaced, and traditional air cooling systems do not function in a vacuum. Therefore, specialized radiators and thermal regulation systems must be used to dissipate heat.

Interestingly, the official page for the Starcloud-2 mission did not initially mention Bitcoin or ASIC devices, with the cryptocurrency experiment added to the project later. Overall, Starcloud plans to conduct four orbital missions to test the viability of space-based data centers.