Hyperscalers are coming to an orbit near you. Power will decide the winners.
Amid the explosive growth surrounding telecommunications megaconstellations, orbital data centers and next-generation payloads, the space ecosystem is entering a period of rapid and irreversible change.
Announcements and filings for satellite constellations numbering in the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and now even 1 million-plus are becoming commonplace. The waves that even a fraction of these constellations will make will affect everyone.
The limiting factor in this new orbital economy, and the lever that will determine who wins, is power.
On Earth, hyperscalers, the world's largest cloud and network providers, learned that data center and network growth are ultimately constrained by access to reliable, plentiful power. As demand outpaced the grid, energy became the moat. Capital-intensive solutions like dedicated, on-site generation reinforced hyperscaler dominance, while many smaller players were squeezed out.
Left unchecked, the same supply-chain constraints and unit-economic moats that advantage hyperscalers terrestrially will reassert themselves in orbit. Arguably they already have, and without deliberate investment in shared power infrastructure, the gap between vertically integrated players and the rest of the ecosystem will only widen.
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With no power grid, SpaceX encountered the power constraint immediately in orbit and was forced to innovate, iteratively deploying some of the largest solar arrays ever flown simply to meet growing demand. The latest generation of Starlink satellites can achieve roughly 28 kW of peak power and 10-20 kW average power, which makes them 20-30x more power-per-mass efficient than the conventional satellite bus.
What's unique about SpaceX is not their power demands; the average power a satellite requires is quickly jumping from under a kilowatt to tens of kilowatts even for existing markets. What is unique, however, is their ability to vertically scale. When you own the full stack, you have economies of scale on your side.
Most players do not have that advantage. Coupled with the fact that electrical power systems (from solar arrays and batteries to converters, cabling and thermal management) are already among the most constrained supply-chain elements in space, power is emerging as the primary lever and bottleneck in this new regime of orbital compute, sensing and communications - just as it did on Earth.
Terrestrial hyperscalers have been closely studying SpaceX's ascent, noting how scale, vertical integration and cost compression are reshaping the value and return on investment of the space domain. With its acquisition of xAI and forthcoming IPO to fund the creation of its own data centers in space and expand its telecommunications constellation, SpaceX is poised to become a hyperscaler in its own right as an AI-first, space-first service provider. And with direct-to-cell capabilities coming online, their existing Starlink infrastructure has the ability to position them as the hyperscaler to rule them all.
As tech giants like Amazon, Google and others set their sights on space, hoping to compete with SpaceX, this new class of capital and scale brings with it the economic forces of creative destruction that promise to upend or evolve many of the space incumbents of today while creating opportunities that will birth the business models, technologies and hyperscalers of tomorrow.
Hyperscaler entry timelines span from today through the mid-2030s, leaving a critical window to deliberately shape the foundation of the space ecosystem.
A coordinated push across industry and government starting today can harness hyperscaler momentum, capital and capability while preserving competition, resilience and long-term sustainability through shared power infrastructure, similar to how the power grid enables innovation on Earth.
To compete in this new paradigm, operators can either spend years to decades trying to vertically integrate and optimize like SpaceX has, or they can do what terrestrial hyperscalers do and invest in the grid (and if you're one of these looking to get into space, invest in the space grid).
For too long, the space ecosystem has operated without a power grid, relying on limited, onboard power alone with extreme capital costs and supply chain limitations. We have to move past the model for a space economy to truly emerge.
Space-to-space optical power beaming, compatible with existing solar arrays, allows power to be decoupled from individual satellites and scaled, aggregated and shared. This lowers capital costs across the industry, perpetually enabling new and diverse market entrants to evolve the ecosystem.
Here's what needs to happen:
For satellite operators and constellation builders: Sign long-term power purchase agreements now, reserving power capacity for future capabilities before the end of 2026 to lock in favorable rates. Designing for enhanced power augmentation will further multiply the benefits of a space energy grid.
For hyperscalers entering orbit: Partner now on shared power infrastructure rather than building proprietary systems or attempting unparalleled SpaceX-scale vertical integration that requires time you don't have. First movers who secure power capacity will have lower CapEx and faster deployment than those who build from scratch.
For DoD and policymakers: Fund space power infrastructure initiatives now, and increase funding in the FY2027 budget cycle. Create incentives/requirements for shared infrastructure in government contracts, and treat this as strategic deterrence against China's orbital dominance strategy. Power density has long been the limiting factor of warfighter capability, so it must be unlocked in space.
The energy foundation built this decade will decide who scales, who endures and who controls orbit for the next half century. The next 18 to 24 months will determine whether space power remains competitive infrastructure or becomes a hyperscaler moat.
Like terrestrial markets, power is the fundamental enabler that unlocks new technologies and economies of scale. The question is not whether space power infrastructure will be built, it's whether it will be built as a competitive utility or a proprietary advantage.
The choice, and the opportunity, is ours. For now.
Andrew Rush is the CEO of Star Catcher, the space energy company developing shared orbital power infrastructure via space-to-space optical power beaming. The views expressed are informed by firsthand experience with power constraints across multiple space programs, including prior space founder and leadership roles.
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