Overview
- U.S. Patent No. 12,679,564 was issued to Sophia Space and the California Institute of Technology on July 14, 2026 for a ‘Space-Based Data Centers’ architecture that Sophia calls TILE.
- The patent names seven inventors from JPL, Caltech and Sophia Space and describes a modular tile approach in which each tile draws power from sun-facing solar cells and radiates waste heat from its dark side.
- Sophia Space says it has raised $22 million, expanded a sponsored research agreement with Caltech, and plans a technology demonstration on an Apex Nova bus in 2027 as the next development step.
- Company timelines call for commercial sales of TILE systems in 2028 and small-constellation tests in 2029–2030 but those targets are company projections that depend on successful demonstrations, financing and launch integration.
- The work traces to Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project and JPL R&D and aims to meet rising demand for on-orbit AI inference and satellite data processing while facing technical, launch, regulatory and competitive hurdles.