Open Source Factory

HARDWARE & DESIGN Google Suncatcher: Orbit Is the Start of the Test Open Source Factory · Oct 05, 2026 · 7 min read Getting a compute prototype into orbit answers a launch question. Sustained useful work raises others: heat rejection, radiation errors, links and replacement cost. Google's Suncatcher announcement is a reason to examine those engineering conditions rather than assume that solar energy makes orbital computing economical. In this article Using sunlight where it is collected Heat rejection in vacuum Links between computing satellites Launch costs in the cost model On October 1, 2026, Google announced that its first Project Suncatcher prototype had launched with Planet on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission. The team confirmed contact and said it was operating as expected. The question now is whether the sunlight advantage can pay for the hardware, cooling and networking needed to do useful AI work up there. I went through the launch update, the engineering notes and t...

MODELS & COSTS Orbital AI: Follow the Payload Through Power and Cost Open Source Factory · Aug 05, 2026 · 5 min read AI Space NVIDIA SpaceX and NVIDIA’s Orbital AI Plan: Payloads, Power and Cost Starmind's AI1 design and the assumptions behind orbital computing costs. A planned orbital compute payload has to become more than a launch announcement. Power delivery, heat rejection, links and service life determine whether it can do economical work. The SpaceX–NVIDIA proposal is useful to examine through those requirements and the competing cost assumptions. In this article The proposed AI1 payload Demonstrations and announcements Power and thermal trade-offs Competing economic assumptions Other orbital-computing projects Linked source documents The filing, payload design and factory plans are different stages of that proposal. Their scale makes it important to distinguish requested capacity, production targets and demonstrated hardware. The proposed AI1 payload Back on J...