The model connects orbital illumination to solar arrays, batteries, radiators, mass, useful-compute cost, networking, and launch cadence. It sets out a path for testing the architecture and its customer value before scaling a fleet.
Research manuscript / 02
Near-Continuous Solar Orbital Compute: A Falsifiable Project Thesis for 2029–2030
Examines a conditional infrastructure thesis for solar-powered orbital compute. It separates processing data already generated in orbit from serving Earth-generated workloads, then identifies the physical and commercial conditions each would need.
Scope
The question behind the study.
- Which workloads benefit from processing before downlink?
- Can power, cooling, communications, and launch close together?
- What incremental customer value would justify the system under the stated assumptions?
Reading the results
Assumptions stay visible.
This memorandum presents first-order engineering estimates and explicit economic scenarios. Customer value, launch prices, hardware reliability, and network performance remain conditions to validate. It does not establish an operating service or a demonstrated market.