Starcloud Sets Sights on Bitcoin Mining in Orbit with Solar-Powered Spacecraft

Starcloud is pushing the boundaries of Bitcoin mining by planning to launch a rig aboard its Starcloud-2 spacecraft in 2027. The mission aims to utilize solar power in sun-synchronous orbit, where energy-intensive computing can run without weather or grid constraints.

The CEO, Philip Johnston, has acknowledged that terrestrial miners can access electricity generated from natural-gas flaring at roughly two to three cents per kilowatt-hour. However, the cost of launching and maintaining a satellite mining operation must be offset before orbital solar power becomes cheaper.

Cooling is another significant challenge in space, as heat from ASICs must conduct through the spacecraft structure into radiator panels that reject it by emitting infrared radiation into space.

Johnston has compared the cost of a B200 GPU to an ASIC at similar power draw, but notes that profitability for an orbital mission depends on a range of variables, including launch and spacecraft costs, Bitcoin network difficulty, coin price, communications reliability, and hardware obsolescence.