Architectural Design Concepts
Which orbit, and which spacecraft design, suits a datacenter?
Chapter summary
Orbit choice sets latency, coverage, radiation exposure and launch cost. The study compares LEO, MEO and GEO, weighs modular against monolithic spacecraft, and recommends LEO at 500–1,200 km with a phased constellation build-out.
Key takeaways
- 1
LEO round-trip latency is 25–40 ms end to end, against 110–150 ms for MEO and 500–600 ms for GEO.
- 2
Continuous global coverage needs at least 66–72 LEO satellites; datacenter-grade redundancy points to 200–400.
- 3
A 500 kg datacenter satellite costs $2.15–2.7M to launch on a dedicated mission, or $1.1–1.5M on rideshare.
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