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Starcloud Plans Late-2026 Mission to Mine Bitcoin in Orbit

The startup cites the lower per-kilowatt cost of mining ASICs over GPUs as its case for moving compute off Earth.

Overview

  • CEO Philip Johnston said the company’s second spacecraft will carry Bitcoin mining ASICs with a launch targeted for the latter part of 2026.
  • Starcloud has filed with the FCC for authorization to operate a constellation of 88,000 solar-powered orbital data-center satellites.
  • Johnston estimated ASICs at roughly $1,000 per kilowatt versus about $30,000 for GPUs such as Nvidia’s B200, arguing this favors space deployment.
  • The company previously flew an Nvidia H100 payload in November 2025 and later disclosed one of five GPUs on that satellite was unresponsive before launch.
  • Johnston acknowledged the economics remain unproven as conditions shift, noting Bitcoin mining difficulty is down about 7% since November and the price is roughly 48% below its October 2025 peak.