Sophia Space and Caltech patent orbital data center architecture
Sophia Space · Caltech
Sophia Space and Caltech's new US patent covers a solar-powered, passively cooled modular tile design for space data centers.
what happened
Sophia Space and Caltech were jointly issued US Patent No. 12,679,564, "Space-Based Data Centers," on July 14, filed October 2024, covering a modular "TILE" architecture for large-scale computing and data storage in orbit, per the companies' release and SpaceNews. The patent names seven inventors from JPL, Caltech and Sophia Space, including Caltech's Sergio Pellegrino and JPL's John Brophy; each tile draws power from solar cells on one face and radiates waste heat into space from the other. Sophia Space, founded in 2023 as a Mandala Space Ventures portfolio company, has raised $22 million to date and plans a 2027 on-orbit TILE demonstration aboard an Apex Space bus, per SpaceNews.
why it matters
The patent gives Sophia Space intellectual-property cover in the increasingly crowded orbital-compute race alongside SpaceX's and Blue Origin's own FCC filings for space-based AI data centers, though Sophia has not disclosed a commercial launch customer or contract beyond its own planned demonstration.
for who
In-space compute and data-center investors
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Sophia Space, Caltech
- Category
- product
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-07-30
- Published
- 2026-07-30 17:31 UTC